Margrét J Benedictsson wrote of Árni in Almanak in 1925 and said: “He came with his parents west across the ocean and lived with them through the disasters in New Iceland, the infamous smallpox, scarlet fever and its other ills. He saw his two sisters die there that winter, his mother watched over the children alone for long and strict nights, while their father struggled to get supplies and traveled by foot all the way to Winnipeg. One thing Árni says is deeply etched in his memories from that time. He himself was sick, but not so that he didn’t notice what was going on around him, and yet he was no older than six years old. It was a great storm outside, the snow piled up against the doors and windows. His mother had been awake all night and he thought he knew that one of sisters did not have long to live, perhaps from his mother’s appearance rather than the fact that he himself had some sense of it. Then there was a knock at the door and one of the neighbors came. The child’s soul was filled with unspeakable joy, because now his mother would no longer have to be alone, because he was thinking of her. This neighbor would probably stay until dad came home. But that was not the case. When the neighbor heard what was going on, he didn’t even dare to come inside. And who can blame him? Perhaps he also had a wife and children at home. But Árni wasn’t thinking about that, he was too much of a child for that. But the disappointment was unforgettable for him. The incidents were peculiar enough to stick in his memory, because there his two sisters died shortly apart.”
Moving – New Life
“With his parents, Árni went south to Pembina and from there to Victoria, B.C., where he started working for himself; he started young as was often the case. He came to Point Roberts with land surveyors from Victoria,…settled land like them, but later left it to Ingvar Goodman (Vigfús Ingvar Guðmundsson from Árnesysla Inns. J.Þ.), who now lives there. In 1902, Árni settled on his father’s homestead, who then went to Victoria. Árni has lived there ever since. He has enlarged and improved the house, and was the first man, and for a short time the only one at Point Roberts, to have his house lit by electricity. Árni is a peculiar man in many respects. Great genius, but his mind was particularly inclined early on to mechanics. He is usually funny, but most funny when he is explaining the laws of mechanics or electricity to an observant audience. He early became one of the best men in A.P.A. of the fishing association (Alaska Packers Assocation), for many years was in charge of the machines in that association’s cannery on the Semiamo-peninsula opposite Blaine. But in later years, he has been the supervisor of that company at its fishing station at Point Roberts. Árni is widely read; never buys anything but the most important books, and of these he has a large and elaborate collection. He is, in the best sense of the word, a self-educated man.”
English version by Thor group.