Hjörtur and siblings. Standing are Halldóra and Kristín. Hjörtur is seated in front of Kristín (on the right), Ólafur Kristján in the middle, and lastly Þórður. Photo: L.-H. Dec. 3, 2004.
Hjörtur Ólafsson was born in western Iceland on May 9, 1886. He died on May 10, 1937 in St. Louis County in Minnesota. He took the name Harry Olafsson in the west.
Spouse: Effie Genevieve b. September 28, 1890 in Wisconsin, d. September 23, 1970. Of Swedish descent
Children: 1. Harry Goodwin b. August 10, 1918 2. Lloyd b. October 31, 1919.
Hjörtur was the son of Ólafur Ólafsson and Þuríður Guðmundsdóttir in Snæfells- and Hnappadalssýsla who both died before 1891. He came west to Winnipeg, Manitoba before the turn of the century and went from there to Duluth, Minnesota. He is said to have come to the United States in 1903 and lived in Duluth many years, but moved before 1930 to Proctor, west of the city. He worked on the railroad all his life, but in his last years, he suffered greatly from tuberculosis and ended that struggle by committing suicide.