Oak Point

Vesturfarar

Grunnavatnsbyggð (Shoal Lake settlement) was southeast of Lundar on both sides of the lakes. Icelandic post offices were in Otto, Markland and Vestfold.

Oak Point is located east of Lake Manitoba where this small village was established during 1867-1870. The surrounding area was good for livestock and, for example, around 1870 the Hudson´s Bay Company had some 500 oxen grazing there. An 1870 census showed some 150 souls living there, most were Métis, the oldest born 1810. The Oak Point School District was established in 1898 and a school built in the village. The Canadian Northern Railway put down tracks from Winnipeg to the village in 1904 and from there onwards through Lundar, Eriksdale, all the way north to Steep Rock.

Icelanders

Emigration from Iceland to Canada increased gradually from 1882-1890. Most headed to Winnipeg in Manitoba, some resting there for some time before they headed on to their choice of settlement site, either in Canada or the United States; others stayed longer in Winnipeg, some never left the city. The first Icelanders to choose to settle east of Lake Manitoba in 1887 were Jón Sigfússon (John Sigfuson) and his wife Anna Kristjánsdóttir, with their daughters Kristjana and Júlíana. They immigrated to Canada in 1883. A large group arrived in Winnipeg in 1887 direct from Iceland. Among them was Sigfús Sveinsson, his wife Ólöf, and their children Skuli and Sigríður. During the next few years many Icelanders settled in rural areas north and east of Oak Point. Þorsteinn Þorkelsson from Eyjafjarðarsýsla was probably the first to settle in the village. He emigrated in 1890 with his wife, Helga Grímsdóttir, from Skagafjörður. She passed away in Winnipeg in 1893. They had one son, Grímur. Þorsteinn married Guðbjörg Guðmundsdóttir in 1893, they lived in Winnipeg where Þorsteinn opened a grocery store in 1897 and ran it for five years. They left Winnipeg in 1902 and moved to Oak Point where Þorsteinn opened a grocery store and homesteaded near the village and also started farming, raising livestock. It should be pointed out that Þorsteinn was a qualified blacksmith and worked as one in Oak Point as well. Once the railway reached the village in 1904, Icelanders took the train from Winnipeg to Oak Point and homesteaded either in Grunnavatnsbyggð (Shoal Lake Settlement) or the Lundar Settlement. Only a few settled in the village.