Jóhanna Geirlaug Jóhannsdóttir (Lauga Geir) wrote an article about her mother, Anna Geir, which was published in “Pembina County Pioneer Daughter Biographies” created for printing by George A. Freeman and published in N. Dakota in 2004. The article is in English and this is how it is published in the English section of the website, but below is an article based on Lauga Geir’s work:
Iceland and America – a fateful journey to the west
Anna Kristín Jónsdóttir was the daughter of Jón Jónsson and his second wife, Guðrún Bjarnadóttir, who lived at Kolsstaðir in Miðdállir in Dalasysla. Here she grew up playing and working with her brothers, Jón, the older one, and Gunnlaug, the younger one, but both of them moved west and lived in Thingvallabyggð in N. Dakota. Her mother died when the aforementioned children were small, and now an older sister took over the role of mother, unselfish and demanding. When the father got married for the third time, a widow came to the house with her group of children. Unlike “bad” stepmothers, she proved to be extremely gentle and didn’t make a difference between the children. The years passed, Anna grew from a child to a teenager and finally a beautiful woman. At the time of the story, she is 26 years old, and people in the countryside thought that she would soon be happily married. At this time, Icelanders had started moving west across the ocean to settle in the United States or Canada. News from there reached Anna’s ears, she read what she found about America and her mind flew. It was said about a large body of water in the middle of Canada, Lake Winnipeg, which was full of fish, surrounded by a large, sheltered forest that could be used for building materials, and where the government ensured that all settlers had the opportunity to make a good living for themselves. Canada is the promised land, said the representatives of the Icelandic government, and many Icelanders believed this in 1876. That year, about 1,200 of them went west across the ocean, and among them was our Anna Jónsdóttir. She announced her decision to her nearest and dearest, and when they opposed this decision and tried to call her a delusion, she said she was sure America was better than Iceland. She said goodbye to her aged father and other household members, boarded the Verona in Borðeyri along with many people from the surrounding countryside. No doubt the crowd was so great that she didn’t particularly notice Jóhann Geir Jóhannesson, his elderly father, Jóhannes Grímsson or Jóhann’s sons, Einar Kristján or Jóhannes Magnús, but that was about to change. Jóhann had made an effort to learn a little English, used a dictionary for that and was tireless in helping his countrymen on the voyage west. Anna was fascinated by this man and didn’t let the almost twenty year age difference interfere with her thoughts about him and decided that she wanted to have that man. They traveled together from Quebec to New Iceland and it was probably agreed that she would live with him in the colony.
Marriage in the wilderness of Canada – Disaster in an Icelandic settlement
The world that awaited her at Lake Winnipeg was different from what the agents back in Iceland had described. Certainly there was a lot of forest by the lake, but few new arrivals had any ability to start farming or hunting. The previous winter had played hard on the natives in New Iceland when between 35-40 people died of scurvy, and Anna and Jóhann had barely settled into a hut in the fall when word reached the colony that some had fallen ill at Íslendingafljöt from a serious illness. It turned out to be smallpox, which spread rapidly throughout the colony. Jóhann suffered the shock of losing his second son during the winter, the smallpox did not spare Einar Kristján. They settled in a hut south of the so-called Hnausabyggð and got married in 1877, but by then Reverend Jón Bjarnason had arrived in the colony. Men tried their best during the summer to clear spots in the forest for cultivation and cut the grass they found because there was hope for cows. Despite her happiness, Anna began to doubt that she was in a better place than Iceland and began to think about where to find a better one. Jóhann contributes to the development of human life under devastating circumstances. He had leadership skills because his advice and ideas worked well. He had collected books on various subjects, was not lazy in reading them and shared various knowledge about indigenous work. The happiness in the hut in Hnausabyggð bore fruit because Anna went to see Reverend Jón Bjarnarson with her newborn son in 1879 and was baptized by priest Kristján Einar. He was barely a year old when his parents decided he should become an American citizen.
Transportation to North Dakota
Reverend Páll Þorláksson also became a priest in New Iceland and it was people from his congregation who encouraged emigration from New Iceland, they were convinced that there was no future there. Their priest went to North Dakota for a survey committee and there they found an area that could be suitable for Icelandic settlers. Soon people went south there, and when they crossed the border, a stone’s throw from Pembina village, the land was flat, relatively treeless but grassy. Jóhann was a thinker, he wasn’t getting any younger, and starting once again to work on a new land seemed to him a matter of contemplation, the work that awaited him discouraged him, but his wife was unbecoming. Let’s go, she said, because here there is no future for us and the children. It was in May, 1880 that Jóhann started the business south, the few artifacts he had to take with him. Lauga Geir says that they had great Canadian patriotism and did not want to follow the master, but things were different when Anna arrived on the scene. She now walked a few miles ahead and the animals followed her without warning and Jóhann brought them south. Later in the summer, Anna was ready to travel and went with a few housewives who had waited while their husbands brought the family over the roof in a new country in a new country. They were given a boat trip from New Iceland along Lake Winnipeg and up the Red River south to Pembína village. There, ox teams and wagons awaited the women, which took the group west one 100 km to new homelands.
New Home in a New Settlement
Nowhere does Lauga say that her mother was shocked when she saw her new home in N. Dakota for the first time. In a rather small hill, Jóhann had dug a very large room and covered it. The door was small and a small window above it let in daylight. The Dakota soil is black and so were the walls and floor. Anna knew that this was the family’s temporary home and she didn’t have to wait long, because a little over a year later a hut was built with two windows, a bathroom and a kitchen. The furniture was sparse, a bed, one table, chairs and a stove. Later another room was added. This two-room shack was Anna Geir’s home, a home that often brought her so much happiness, but it was also home to sadness. Life in a small community took shape little by little, the human life so Icelandic but the ways of working foreign in many respects. Jóhann Geir plowed his field with the help of oxen, sowed in the spring and harvested in the fall. This is how value was created. In the winter, he invited nearby boys to his home to learn English, and they benefited. There in the cottage Anna gave birth to her children, first Margrét was born in 1881, Anna joined the group in 1883 and Kristín in 1884. The daughters were Anna’s pride, her contribution to society. Most of them thought that Margrét was the best of them, Anna extremely gentle and considerate, Kristín careful and inquisitive. That’s how the years passed one after the other, the food chest in N. Dakota never closed empty, so little seemed to change, but it did.
Jóhann’s death – The fight for life intensifies
In 1887, Jóhann fell ill and did not recover. He was just 57 years old, only seven of which he had enjoyed in Dakota. In the spring of 1888, a daughter was born, she was given his name and baptized Jóhanna Geirlaug, in everyday speech always called Lauga Geir. The widow and mother Anna was now faced with seeing her five children die. She turned to her stepson, just a 17-year-old youth, and he turned out well. The work was intense from morning to night, but together they worked and found solutions. One day a neighbor woman came to the garden, Þórdís was called Guðmundsdóttir, wife of Davíð Jónsson from Syðri Reykjam in Torfastaða District in Húnavatnsysla. Little Lauga had a hard time that day and the mother had to take care of the baby a lot. She said she saw that Anna had more than enough to do with the children’s group and then all the work. Her youngest would be a few years old and my older children help a lot. Then asked Anna how it would be if she took Lauga in and took care of her until Anna was better at taking care of her. Þórdís had given birth to 14 children and 8 were still in her home, but Anna trusted her and accepted the offer. They took care of the baby, packed her clothes while Magnús used an ox for a cart. In silence they made their way home to Þórdís, little Lauga fell asleep there after a while and then Anna snuck away from her, into Magnús’s cart and they went home in silence. Around this time, Anna’s brothers were settled in the Icelandic settlement in Dakota, and it can be said that there the family from Kolstaðir was reunited to some extent. The brothers were good to their sister and she was able to share her experience. Five years had passed since Jóhann’s death when her son, Magnús, fell ill and died.
Unexpected savior – Giver of joy
Anna was facing difficult times, her son Kristján just 14 years old. She hired a worker, his name was Eggert, sometimes said to be from Sandar, but he was not enough, he passed away after a few months. But then an Icelandic migrant arrived, homeless and penniless. Here Káinn had arrived with all his advantages and faults and offered his services to Anna. Lauga says that he liked his drink, but when he was tipsy, verses and poems gushed out from him to the great joy and amusement of everyone who heard. Anna endured his drinking just like anything else and perhaps she can be credited with a large part in his creative work because many verses and poems were created during Káin’s years in Anna Geir’s home. The children loved him, were attracted to him, he worked on the farm and proved invaluable in the winter of 1896 when he was indispensable. At Christmas 1895, the three daughters fell ill one after the other and were bedridden with a high fever. The next doctor lived in a small village, Park River and in the dead of winter it was almost impossible for him to travel. Káinn helped him with a trip and twice he visited Anna’s cottage, but his advice was not enough. Anna was 12 years old on December 23rd when she died, Margrét was 14 years old on New Year’s Day when she died, and little Kristin followed her sisters on January 13th. Anna now only had Kristján left, she couldn’t think of demanding Lauga’s return, she was too attached to Þórdís’ family. Anna never talked about this winter with any apprehension, but she said years later that if my children who live me have something good to say about me, I will be grateful, God Almighty will take care of those who are gone. Kristján, her son, did all the household chores together with the help of Káinn, who always proved to be incredibly loyal to Anna. In 1901, Anna moved to a new house, said goodbye to her hut with sadness, but celebrated when Kristján got married in 1908 and built next to Anna’s house, one for himself, his wife and children. To have your grandchildren so close until death.
End of the Journey
Lauga says that December 21, 1923 was an unusually mild and bright winter day in the light of N. Dakota. The whole family gathered around Anna Geir’s bier, they felt as if the stillness of the winter respected her departed spirit. That day she was laid to rest next to her husband, right next to her three daughters and one stepson. One chapter in the travel history of Icelanders to N. Dakota was completed.
Káinn wrote:
Í dánarheim vitja ég þín dapur í kvöld
í draumi þig litið ég hef.
Við gröfina sit ég, þó golan sé köld,
og grátandi flyt ég þér stef.
Þú vissir það ein, hvað ég unni þér heitt,
og ást þín var stöðug til mín;
vinan mín bezta, sú bón er nú veitt,
þú baðst mig að koma til þín.
Svo flyt ég þér kveðju frá henni, sem hér
í heimi þig elskaði bezt,
og gleymir því aldrei, hvað góð þú varst sér,
en grætur og syrgir þig mest.
Og börnin þín smáu, sem misstu þó mest,
þau muna, hvað amma var góð,
og geta ekki hugann við gullin sín fest.
en ganga um stofuna hljóð.
Og hún, sem að var þér svo hugljúf og blíð
og hjúkraði á síðustu stund,
við sorgina heyir hið sárbitra stríð
með saknaðar blæðandi und.
Og þegar að veturinn víkur á braut
og vorfuglar kveða sín ljóð,
og blómin síg vefja um brekkur og laut,
ég bý um þig, elskan mín góð
English version by Thor group.