On Thursday, March 23, 1972, Lögberg-Heimskringa published the first part of an article by Reverend Gísli Brynjólfsson, but the seamen’s magazine Víkingur in Iceland first published this article, which is from an essay written by Reverend Gísli about the pastors serving Grindavík. Reverend Gísli calls it the “Nnarrative of Reverend Oddur Vigfús Gíslason” and in the introduction he says, among other things, “Reverend Oddur Gíslason must have been among the most the original thinkers in the Icelandic clergy. His career has therefore created a colorful story, somewhat different from the everyday, as is always the case about such men.” But here comes the first part of the article.
Séra Oddur Vigfús Gíslason. Photo: L.-H.
“Now one of the greatest visionaries of the Icelandic clergy in the last century came to Staður. He was also so keenly interested in his parishioners’ struggles, that it can be said that he brought the proclamation of the gospel to the fishing industry and the seamenship. He did not just sit and preach it on the chair. He wanted to make it a living force in people’s lives and find a way into the hearts of the people by working selflessly, diligently and faithfully to make the ideals a reality. This man was Rev. Oddur Vigfús Gíslason. Although he is perhaps most famous for the “bride robbery” in Kirkjuvogur on New Year’s Day 1870, Icelandic fishermen may remember him first and foremost as a pioneer in accident prevention and his fight in their interest for improved working methods and a better income.”
Family and upbringing
“Rev. Oddur was born in Reykjavík on April 8, 1836. His parents were Gísli Jónsson a carpenter, Húnvetningur (from Húnvatnsysla) by birth, and Rósa Grímsdóttir. She was from Eyjafjörður. They lived well in Reykjavík. Rev. Oddur graduated from middle school on July 8, 1858. Two years later he graduated from the seminary. But he did not immediately enter the service of the church. The authorities did send him to Grímsey three years later, but he submitted a certificate from the national doctor about poor health and then escaped exile. The versatility, intelligence and desire for reform of this great talent and visionary were expressed in many ways in the following years. He lived in Reykjavík and was a member of the town council for 6 years. He sailed to England, learned the English language thoroughly, taught and wrote a textbook in English, the first in this country, translated books and became a guide for foreign tourists. But mainly his mind turned to the fishing industry and various innovations and improvements in that field, such as herring fishing, liver melting, etc. “He profited greatly from it,” says one place (Blanda V. p. 155), but there it will be proven more often than not that many people keep wealth in someone else’s garden. Apparently the income of Rev. Oddur in these years was up and down. According to Bishop Þórhall’s words when he remembered him in his Kirkjublaði, among other things, in this way: “He was the biggest risk-taker in the country for a while, to use a poor description. But all these risks benefitted him the least.”
“I thought he was nice”
“We have only one interesting story from Oddur Gíslason’s life from this time. It is his sea journey from Reykjavík south to Njarðvík in the beginning of winter 1888. Then some northern fishermen got a ride with him. One of them was Símon Eiríksson from Djúpadal in Skagafjörður. It his travelogue printed in V.B. Blanda and begins by giving this elegant description of Oddur: “I thought he was handsome, quick-witted and boyish on the field.” And he proved himself well to those comrades, provided them generously and kept them entertained on the way, as the ship sailed well in good northerly wind so that the land seemed to be flying. “All passengers enjoyed.” When they reached Njarðvík, Oddur showed them his smelting house and pots and various tools and explained to them the working methods. Then he gave them food, bread and meat, which came in handy because they were all hungry. In the end, Símon says that he considers Oddur Gíslason to be one of the most considerate and honest men he has ever met”.
Love of his life
“Two years after this, Oddur made the visit to Njarðvík, which made him famous all over the country. It was when he kidnapped and brought to Reykjavík, against her father’s will, his beloved Anna, daughter of Vilhjálmur the Rich in Kirkjuvogur. This famous journey is detailed in the Annals of the 19th century and elsewhere. “Newspapers did not cover such material at the time, but there were many stories about the “bride kidnapping” in letters and speech all over the country.” (N. Kbl). Anna and Oddur were married in their home in Reykjavík by Rev. Ólafur Pálsson, cathedral priest, on New Year’s Day 1870. Their witnesses were health supervisor Jón Hjaltalín and Hans Anton Sivertsen manager of Knutsons store and chairman of the town council. These names show unequivocally that Oddur has enjoyed the favor of the town’s nobles, even though his wedding was held in such an unusual way. For the next 5 years, Anna and Oddur lived in Reykjavík and two daughters were born to them. The first one, b. March 17, 1872 bore the names of his maternal parents, Vilhjálmína Þórunn. It indicates that reconciliation was quickly achieved with the father and son-in-law. But the farmer of Kirkjuvogur proved to be right, that being married to Oddur Gíslason was not a cakewalk in the world. The couple were always very poor, as they had 15 children. Of those, 10 made it to adulthood. They all moved west across the ocean except for two, Steinunn, Ólaf Ketilsson’s wife at Kalmannstjörn, and Vilhjálmur the farmer at Höfn”.
Examination and priestly ordination
“In those years, it was the duty of theology candidates to answer a few questions in theology annually to show how well they maintained their knowledge and at the same time how suitable they were for priesthood. These exams were conducted through the respective provost. As a sign of the fact that Oddur had a lot of other things to attend to than studying theology during his Reykjavík years, the following letter to the bishop from Rev. Þórarn in Garðar on January 8, 1873. “With this letter, I send you, your Holiness, the examination results of theolog. cand. Oddur V. Gíslason in Reykjavík, which was sent to me with the above letter on January 11, but which said candidate pretends that he has not had time to resolve until now.” The delay in Oddur’s answer will not have been caused by any of his apostasy from the faith or doubts about the value of Christianity and ecclesiastical activities, since even though he did not have good experience in his dealings with the authorities, when they wanted to send him to Grímsey, as was said earlier. Now he decides to get a post. The choice will be Lundar in Borgarfjörður, which was vacated by Rev. Bjarni Sigvaldason who moved from there to Staðar in Steingrímsfjörður. No one else but Oddur applied for the position. In his response, the bishop, Dr. Pétur Pétursson, states that the applicant is a “hard-working and energetic man. In fact, his activities have not been closely related to pastoral service other than what he has preached and answered the annual theological questions, translated an English theological dictionary into Icelandic and supported the publication of Christian tracts.” But since no one else has applied for Lundur, the Bishop allows himself to recommend Oddur and he was given the post on 3rd September 1875 and ordained on 28th November of the same year, together with Reverend Brynjólfur Gunnarsson from Kirkjuvogur. He later became Reverend Oddur’s successor in Staður in Grindavík”.
Pastor at Lundur
The following spring, the couple moved up to Lundur together with their two daughters and the pastor’s mother, who was then a widow in her seventies. He immediately prepared them for farming and hired many servants from various sources. The shepherd came from Gufunes, the maids, who were four, from Reykjavík, from Hrúðunes in Leiru, Geitaskarði in Langadal and Signýjarstaðir in Hálsveit, while the workers (2) from Elliðavatni and Miðskála under Eyjafjöll. This clearly shows how many workers moved between regions during these years. Furthermore, this spring, 2 adopted children came to the couple, so that the household became 14 people in total. Lundur was the least profitable postd in Borgarfjörður at that time. The land was considered to be able to support 6 cows, 300 sheep, 25 horses. The field was very rough, unfenced and poorly cultivated, the land was man- and horse-intensive, and farming was therefore costly. The houses were in rather poor condition, the church made of sod, built in 1860, has somewhat started to decay. But she had almost 800 krónur in her fund, which was a lot of money and would have been mostly enough for her improvement at the time. Of course, her fund can be counted in the hundreds of thousands when compared to the current price level. Outgoing pastor, Rev. Bjarni, paid the church’s fee to his successor in full, as required by law. Most of it was used by Rev. Oddur to buy livestock and household goods at an auction that took place in Lundur during the change of pastors. This was mostly natural, there were no banks or funds to accept money at interest. But this did not turn out well. Farming was not doing well, the population was high, the seasonal cycle was unpredictable, and the animals were ill-treated. It also didn’t help that the pastor consumed a great deal of wine during those years and was therefore away from obligations at home. It so happened that when he left Lundur, he owed the church almost one thousand ISK. It turned out to be very difficult for him to pay that debt”.
Those interested in the conclusion of Reverend Oddur’s article are referred to Lögberg-Heimskringla March-May 1972.
We parted with Reverend Oddur struggling at Lundur in Borgarfjörður, but better things took place when he was granted Staður in Grindavík in 1878, where he served until May 9, 1894, the year he moved west to Canada. There he served the congregations in New Iceland in the West but after that he served congregations in Westbourne, Manitoba and the Þingvalla settlement in Saskatchewan. His interest turned more and more to medicine, he studied at Rochester, New York, and a certificate from the New York Institute of Physicians & Surgeons issued on March 23, 1904, shows that he had graduated with the highest honors in biology, psychiatry and hypnotism. Furthermore, he studied in Chicago where he received a Diploma from the American College of MechanoTherapy.