Jóhann Sveinsson and family. Photo: SÍND
Jóhann Sveinsson was born in N. Múlasýsla before 1860. He died in Alberta in 1924.
Spouse: 1883 Steinunn Jasonardóttir b. in Skagafjarðarsýsla in 1867.
They had 15 children, 12 lived. See names of children in Steinunn’s card.
Jóhann would have come west with his parents, Sveinn Þorsteinsson and Sigurbjörg Björnsdóttir, and siblings in 1876. They moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba and settled in New Iceland. Sveinn died that autumn. Jóhann moved from there in 1880 and settled southwest of the village of Pembina, N. Dakota. In the spring of 1882, he made his way west and settled north of Mountain in the Thingvalla Settlement. Then he moved west to the Markerville Settlement in Alberta in 1887 and lived there a long time. Steinunn came west with her parents, Jason Þórðarson and Anna Jóhannsdóttir. Source Saga Íslendinga í Norður-Dakota p.440. (History of Icelanders in North-Dakota). Jóhann Sveinsson is not listed in Vesturfaraskrá nor does that name appear in the 1860 census in Iceland. His mother is listed there as housemaid, mother of Jóhannes Vigfusson age 6. Jóhannes Vigfússon traveled with his mother and Sveinn Þorsteinsson west to New Iceland in 1876. He must have changed his name before he settled in North Dakota in 1880.