Guðrún Hannesdóttir

Guðrún Hannesdóttir

Guðrún Hannesdóttir was born in Húnavatnssýsla on December 7, 1863. She took the last name Harold in the west.

Spouse: Páll Guðmundsson Harold

Children: 1. Hannes Jón Harold 2. Hólmfríður.

Guðrún came west alone to Ontario, Canada in 1884 and lived in Parry Sound. She married Páli the same year and it is, therefore, obvious that they knew each other in Iceland. (It may well be that this was Páll Guðmundsson who was 17 years old in 1880, a relief boy at Undirfell in Húnavatnssýsla.) They had two children but Pál did not enjoy a long life, he died before 1890. Guðrún moved to Keewatin where the couple, Jón Pálmason and Þórunn Ingibjörg, took little Hannes into foster care. In 1902, Guðrún went to Winnipeg with Hólmfríður, who graduated from Wesley College in 1908. The women lived together in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where Hólmfríður taught for 18 years. They settled in New Hampshire in 1930, where Hólmfríður worked at a library.