Why did Sigtryggur Jónasson emigrate to America?
What caused an almost twenty-year old, single man to consider emigration to America? We need to keep in mind the fact that emigration to America from Iceland had hardly begun around the time Sigtryggur Jónasson became restless. He was a labourer on the farm Ytri-Skjaldarvík, then in Glæsibæjar township, on the south side of the river Hörgá in Eyjafjörður. (Now, in the 21st century, the farm is located in the Hörgár settlement following the consolidation of the Skriðu- and Öxnadals townships.)
Historian Júníus H. Kristinsson’s Vesturfaraskrá lists Sigtryggur as labourer while Þorsteinn Þ. Þorsteinsson in his Saga Íslendinga í Vesturheimi (Vol. II, p. 132) maintains he had been a clerk in Sheriff’s Pétur Hafstein’s office “despite his young age”. Historian, Bergsteinn Jónsson, in his book, Til Vesturheims (p. 65) shares the latter opinion. Here we lack church registers of those years for the Möðruvallaklaustur parish, which are nowhere to be found, and the census for Eyjafjarðarsýsla 1870 is also in most part lost. However, in the register for Glæsibær Parish, 1871, Sigtryggur is listed without occupation mentioned.
The above is a little bit beside the point but illustrates the challenges for historians. Instead, let us try to figure out the young man’s considerations in the beginning of 1872. The reader is reminded that “America” includes Canada and the United States in this article.
In written material in 19th-century Iceland on emigration to America, we only find a statement saying Sigtryggur was one of the first of us to become a Western-Icelander. Nothing is said about his reasons for emigration. However, we are in luck as in March 1901, at a meeting of the Manitoba Historical and Scientific Society, Sigtryggur himself spoke about his decision to leave Iceland.
Around that time (1870), interest in emigration to America was growing, said Sigtryggur. He had read letters published in a newspaper in Akureyri (Norðanfari) from men already in America, and many in his own district were earnestly considering emigration and making efforts to gather as much information on America as possible.
Sigtryggur admitted having been smitten and his mind was made up.
This agrees with an article Rev. Friðrik J. Bergmann wrote about Sigtryggur, published in Almanak in 1907. Here Rev. Friðrik writes: “When Christiansen replaced Pétur Hafstein as Sheriff in the North, he (Sigtryggur) was offered to become his (Christiansen´s) clerk. But his mind was made up by then, he wanted to see the World, learn about other nations’ traditions and culture. This desire undoubtedly grew with his brief study of the English language.”
A few decades later, Sigtryggur represented the Government of Canada at the 1930 Althing Celebration in Iceland. There by pure chance he ran into a journalist from the daily newspaper Morgunblaðið and, after a brief conversation, the journalist wrote in his paper on August 31, 1930: “and then I realized who this man actually was”.
Consequently, there is little doubt that Sigtryggur is the man quoted in this article, written in 3rd person. He recalls that Þórunn, daughter of Sheriff Pétur Hafstein arrived at Möðruvellir and from her he learned some English. “This led to the direction he later took in life”, wrote the reporter in Morgunblaðið, repeating Sigtryggur’s exact words.
Asked why he eventually decided to emigrate, the article stated: “When the Government forced Pétur Hafstein to leave office, Sigtryggur took it very much to heart, convinced the Sheriff had wrongly been accused. He felt he no longer could live in countries governed by the King of Denmark. This resulted in his emigration to America.”
This is an old man’s romantic view since Sigtryggur was two months short of being eighty when he attended the celebration in Iceland in 1930. He had fought many battles in Canada and was used to the criticism leaders in society often face when they have to make a decision. But whether he, just short of twenty, had established a firm conviction within and was filled with such a sense of justice that the Danish despotism forced him to leave Iceland will not be decided here. On the other hand, one can only speculate that Sigtryggur never gave the true reason for his emigration. Further discussion must await the outcome of a more thorough research.
The above is based on research by the Icelandic Historian, Jón Hjaltason and his article “Af hverju flutti Sigtryggur Jónasson til Ameríku?”. English version by Thor group.