Eggert Gunnarsson, brother of Tryggvi Gunnarsson, President of the Gránufélag (trading company) in Northern Iceland, Member of Parliament as well as a Bank Director, was an enthusiastic man of action, eventually pushing his luck too far. Yet he was a popular man, highly respected by all. As a token of support of this, Ólafur Davíðsson folklorist, once debated with a friend in which part of Iceland her most prominent individuals had their roots. Ólafur argued that “district´s quarrels made little sense” and it was beneath him to degrade persons from other districts, yet he could not overlook the fact that “some Northerners surpass contemporaries from other districts as more industrious and productive individuals”. As examples, he mentioned the two brothers, Eggert and Tryggvi Gunnarsson as not having equals anywhere else in Iceland.
In early spring of 1884, Eggert had exhausted all his options in Iceland and saw no other alternative but to leave his motherland in haste. Jóhannes Daníelson, a student in Reykjavik, described the turn of events in a letter to his father, Rev. Daníel Halldórsson in the vicarage of Hólmar in Reyðafjörður, former pastor at Hrafnagil in Eyjafjörður and archdeacon for the Eyjafjörður deanery. . Father and son knew Eggert quite well, who after all had been most active in Eyjafjörður, participated in the founding of Gránufélag trading company as well as in other, significant associations in the North.
Student Jóhannes made every effort to send his father a precise description of the turn of events, Eggert Gunnarsson’s last days in Iceland. His letter is dated March 25, 1884:
“…nothing of interest transpired except Eggert Ólafsson´s escape; he arrived the same night the mail-boat left, men from all over gathered in order to demand payments for outstanding debt, and lawyer Jóhannes Ólafsson was also on hand hoping to catch him. Eggert managed to avoid confrontation, fully clad, having his rubber boots on, he threw himself on his bed, exhausted after a long journey he had started just before last Christmas. He slept until the first whistle from the mail-boat was heard and men he had hired to help him to the mail-boat arrived. They had awaited down on the beach through the night, prepared to row a boat, with Eggert aboard, out to the mail-boat at the right time; these men awakened Eggert, rowed out to the ship and hid him aboard. This is the last anyone in Iceland saw of him.”
News later reached Iceland from Copenhagen where Eggert Gunnarsson had been spotted and men there assumed his intentions were to head west to Pembina County in North Dakota. It turned out that his brother Tryggvi had paid the fare, they both had friends in America, and funds awaited Eggert. This was to guarantee that he would not start a new life empty handed. However, Eggert never showed up in North Dakota, but news reached Iceland saying he was somewhere in America. To this day, no one knows the fate of the Icelandic entrepreneur, Eggert Ólafsson.
The above is based on research by Icelandic Historian Jón Hjaltason and his article “Maðurinn sem hvarf”. English version by Thor group