Magnús Bjarnason was born at Vík in Sæmundarhlíð in Skagafjörður. His parents were Bjarni Þorleifsson, d. 1872 in Iceland, and Hólmfríður Magnúsdóttir who died in Glenboro, Manitoba on November 19, 1912. Magnús worked as a carpenter in Akureyri before he went west by sea in 1887. He got a railroad job in Winnipeg and soon began to learn blacksmithing. He worked at that trade in Mountain but mostly in Hallson, N. Dakota. In Lundar’s anniversary publication, “Lundar Diamond Jubilee” which was published in Manitoba in 1947 this is said about Magnús: “Magnús Bjarnason, commonly known as Magnús Black, was an excellent blacksmith. He was from Skagafjörður by descent and came to America at a young age. He lived on N.W. 1/4 section, Tp. 16, 5.* He moved to his land in 1902. After a few years he then moved to the Vatnabyggð settlement (Lakes Settlement) in the province of Saskatchewan. He could be called a genius in his trade, as he had practiced it for a long time, working as a blacksmith with Sigurður Anderson in Dakota for many years.** He had quite a few inventions, among other things he invented a tool for cleaning floors. He did not introduce this invention, as he is quite a stubborn man. Guðmundur Johnson, his nephew from Glenboro, invented a machine for steaming grain bundles and Magnús built the machine and must have had something to do with the design. It was considered well-functioning, although it never made it to the market, as all local practices soon changed.”
*This is a reference to the Canadian land surveying system. Magnús’ land in question was in the North-West, Tsp is the Township that was numbered, then it was R. for Range as it was measured from certain vertical lines from north to south and his land in this measured field was number 5.
**This refers to Sigurð Andrésson from Rangárþing, who went west in 1886.
English version by Thor group.