Rev. Jón Bjarnason and his wife, Lára Guðjohnsen. Photo taken in 1910 in Winnipeg. MR.
Jón Bjarnason was born at Þvottá in Álftafjord in S. Múlasýsla on November 15, 1845. He died in Winnipeg on June 3, 1914.
Spouse: Lára Guðjohnsen b. 1842 in Reykjavík, d. 1921.
Childless.
Bjarnason home at 118 Emily St. in Winnipeg. Photo: MR.
They emigrated west to Canada in September, 1873 and landed in Quebec on the 27th of the same month. They went directly south to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States and from the to St. Louis, Missouri. There they met Pál Þorláksson, who had studied theology there. He connected Jon with the board of the Norwegian Synod, who hired Jón to teach at the synod’s Latin School in Decorah, Iowa. Jón worked there until July, 1875, and in the same year he was appointed editor of “Skandinaven”, which was published in Chicago. He began his work there on January 1, 1876, but after a few weeks he realized that he was not suited for this job, and applied for another editorial job at “Budstikken” a Norwegian magazine published in Minneapolis. He was hired and began work at the beginning of March, 1876. From there, their married couple traveled to New Iceland where Jón served as pastor until 1880, when he returned to Iceland. He served in the East Fjords until spring in 1884, but in July of that year he returned west to Winnipeg, Canada. They arrived there on August 10, 1884 and lived there for the rest of their lives.