Ólafur Jónasson was born in S. Þingeyjarsýsla in 1836.
Spouse*: Elín Magnúsdóttir b. in 1832 in S. Þingeyjarsýsla.
Children: With Guðrún Þorsteinsdóttir 1. Una b. 1865 2. Ásta b. 1875.
Ólafur and Elín emigrated west to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1876, he with his two daughters; she as a widow, with six children. He had worked for Elín at Halldórsstöðum in Iceland. They traveled to New Iceland and took land in the Víðirnes Settlement south of Gimli and called the farm Melstað. There started the family name Melsted and all Elín’s sons took the name. In 1881 they moved south to the Garðar Settlement in N. Dakota.
*The publication Saga Íslendinga í N. Dakota says that Ólafur was the stepfather of Elín’s children when they settled in the Garðar Settlement. It can be assumed that they married after they emigrated.