Jóhannes Einarsson was in a way a noteworthy immigrant to Canada from day one as it was evident he knew exactly how he intended to establish himself in the new, fast growing community on the prairie. After some exploration in N. Dakota, where his mother lived near Mountain, he went to Winnipeg where he spent some time before heading west on the prairie to where Saskatchewan later became a province. As luck would have it, one of his travel companion was the very experienced Gísli Egilsson, who was heading to the same destination. Gísli emigrated from Iceland in 1876, settled first in New Iceland but moved south to Hallson in N. Dakota in 1880. Jóhannes probably would have struggled much during the first years had Gísli not been his neighbor. During the years 1890-1892, quite a few, young Icelanders moved to a new, young settlement called Lögbergsbyggö. Many of those were forced off their land due to a dry spell which started there in 1892. Not a drop of water was found anywhere, all wells had dried up. When the move away from the settlement began, Jóhannes, just like Gísli, chose to stay and struggle. Jóhannes lived in Saskatchewan all his life, a very successful farmer and well to do. The editor of Almanak in Winnipeg, Dr. Richard Beck knew Jóhannes well and wrote an article about him which he published in the Almanak in 1944. Let us look at parts of his article:
Roots, Youth and Education
“Jóhannes is born June 19, 1863 in Grenivík in Eyjafjarðarsýsla. His parents were Einnar Jóhannesson from Finnastaðir in Köldukinn and Elíná Jónasdóttir in Höfða district. However, from the age of two he was fostered and raised by Captain Jón Loptsson from Keflavík, east of Eyjafjörður and Óvídá Jónasdóttur, his mother’s sister. When Jóhannes was six they moved to Haganes in Fljót and there he lived with his fosterparents until 1875, they then moved north to Hvammur in Höfða district (Þingeyjarsýsla insert JTh) where Jóhannes lived until he emigrated in 1889. Jón Loptsson had studied seamanship in Copenhagen and once back in Iceland he opened a seamanship school in Haganes 1871-1872. It was the school of the association of owners of fishing vessels in Eyjafjörður. Jóhannes brought with him a book in which lists of everyone attending that school 1871-72 as well as the grade of each student. Jóhannes intends to make sure that book, which also lists subjects taugt at the Haganes school, will not be lost. It was inevitable that Jóhannes would become a fisherman, he was young when he became captain of a boat and such was his occupation in Eyjafjörður both from Grenivík and Hrísey until he emigrated. Judging from his dedication to work after he arrived in Canada, one is in no doubt he must have been just as devoted to his task at sea. Jóhannes, just like what was the norm for country boys in Iceland, did not receive much formal education, his years at school were but few if any. He received his first lesson in reading from Þorkell Þorkelsson, the one who wrote a psalm sung thoughout Iceland in those times. The reading lesson worked because Jóhannes had read the New Testament at the age of five. Later he spent two winters furthering his education with Rev. Tómas Björnsson, pastor at Hvanneyri and later at Barð in Fljót. He also spent a part of a winter with Guðmundur Hjaltason in Akureyri, an individual who always had tremendous interest in the education of the general public.”
Co-Op movement – jobs in Iceland
“But his limited schooling, Jóhannes has, like so many of Iceland´s finest public figures through the years, complimented with the tireless reading of good and useful books. He loved the Sagas as well as much of published literature in Iceland during his time. Often, he would, both in conversations and public speeches, quote significant literature as he has excellent memory. He was most fond of works on philosophical and social issues and was well read in those fields. The co-op movement was very dear to him through the years, he has excellent knowledge of its history and devoted advocate of its ideals. When we last met (Last summer) he was half way through reading the recently published history of the co-op movement in Canada and felt that parts of it lacked thorough knowledge or understanding of the fundamental message of the movement, but his acute criticism is sound as he first thoroughly contemplates a message of written material, as is tho norm of most of our nation, before accepting it as truth. His interest in the co-op movement was after all anything but coincidental, as his mind in his adult years has constantly led him to appreciation of the co-op movement, especially amongst farmers. In his youth he stronly supported Einar Ásmundsson in Nes, one of the leaders of the movement in Iceland, perhaps understandably as Einar was his distant relative. Einar´s mother, Guðrún was the daughter of Björn Jónsson in Lundur, but Katrín, Jóhannes´s grandmother was sister of Björn. The contact between the two relatives continued after Jóhannes emigrated to Canada, he still has a few letters from Einar in his posession, all of which portray the man and his vision of the future. In his younger days in Iceland, Jóhannes met and befriended quite a few other leaders of the co-op movement in his part of Iceland. He became involved early in his career, was department head at the Co-Op of Grýtubakki district from 1886 until he emigrated in 1889. He was Chairman of the Board of the Co-OP Bank in Grýtubakki district his last year in Iceland. After all he was one of the founders, still holding on to the first ledger published, showing he made the frst deposit. The above cleary shows how highly young Jóhannes was regarded amongst the people in his part of Iceland. In 1881 an association of herring fishing was established in Eyjafjörður, partly owned and managed by well-known Norwegians but four Icelanders were chosen to learn the catching method, Jóhannes being one. This association did not last long as all fishing in the North was abolished during the hard year of 1882 when the sea froze north of Iceland. Last but not least, Jóhannes worked in the Administration office of the county, first managed by Jón Loptsson but later his father-in-law, Þorsteinn Jónasson from Grýtubakki.”
Emigration – Saskatchewan
“Jóhannes married Sigurlaug Þorsteinsdóttir on June 22, 1886. As noted above, they emigrated the same year, first to N. Dakota, as Jóhannes’ mother was already living near Mountain since 1882. However, Jóhannes and Sigurlaug did not dwell long south of the boarder as they left in the early summer of 1890. After a brief time in Winnipeg, they headed for the North West Territories, now Saskatchewan, where they have resided since in the so-called Lögberg settlement near Calder. They were among the first settlers there at a time when no formal plans for settlement and governing body thereof had been made. But in 1892 a socalled “local improvement districts” were established in the small sural communities and was Jóhannes, on part of Canadian authorities, instrumental in the establishing of a few. Once Lögberg district had been organized, Jóhannes became Overseer and Secretary of the settlement for several years. Later a few more small communities were added to Lögberg and in 1910, the new province was divided into municipalities, Jóhannes becoming Reeve both for Lögberg- and Þingvalla settlements, a post he held until 1917, re-elected on several occasions. A few years later Jóhannes ran for office again and was elected for a few more years. It can be added here, that when the present Administration of the Municipality came to office, Jóhannes wrote bylaws which were approved by the Minister of Justice in the Province. Those have proved significant in courts in Saskatchewan on several occasions. He demanded all laws be upheld and complete devotion by all in governing bodies, which somtimes led to controversies, normally as a result of his stand on issues concerning the co-op movement and farmers participations. He was one of the founding members and member of the Board of Directors from the beginning of the farmers co-op movement formed in the Salt Coats in his neighborhood in 1891, patterned after Danish co-op movements. This association was short-lived but its creamery was in operation until 1896. In 1897, the Dominion Government began to promote more dairy plants, organized associations here and there throughout the country patterned after a Danish system. As a result, a creamery was established in Churchbridge in 1899, the largest of this kind in the North West Territories in this time, Jóhannes its President for years. He also was for some time President of the Churchbridge Agricultural Society. His involvement in the Saskatchewan Weat Pool likewise is noteworthy, he was first elected representative for his community to the annual meeting in 1924 and has been a representative for 10 years, his last year in 1936. He was highly respected by his co-workers, both for his dedication to common interests as well as good knowledge of history and ideals of the co-op movement. The above is not evidence of all his dreams for progress for the good of Canadians coming true, often he faced opposition at public meetings as well as in official service yet neither ever loosing his faith in the power of the ideals of the movement nor human beings. Since the pioneer years Jóhannes also always had interest in education in his community as is borne out by the fact that one of his first official task was to secure the construction of a school in his community in 1891 . A well-know Icelander from Selkirk, Manitoba, Klemens Jónsson built the school which was still standing in 1944. Jóhannes was Trustee on the School Board for 15 years. By the turn of the century he was also Justice of the Peace in the community as well as the firts postclerk in Lögberg settlement.”
English version Thor group