Páll Reykdal: Heimur Þorgrímsson wrote the saga of the Lundar Settlement which appeared in the Saga Íslendinga í Vesturheimi IV. It says, among other things about Páll Reykdal:
”Páll was born in Iceland in 1878 and came to Canada at the age of nine. He came to the settlement with his parents in 1880 (should be 1887). He must have been precocious and acquired knowledge of the English language at an early age, because it is said that in the early years of the colony, settlers sought him out when they had to correspond with the government or individuals in this country. It also became clear early on that Páll was good-natured and always ready to solve the problems of everyone who came to him, if he could. Páll seems to have been the self-elected leader of the younger men in all that was related to fellowship. He was a leader in the Good Templar lodge, which Arinbjörn Bardal founded in Lundar in 1909, and in the Debating Society, which was founded in 1895. It is also said that he was a good supporter of the reading club, which was launched 4 February 1904. Páll soon became famous for his eloquence and must have appeared at most gatherings held in the settlement while he lived there. Last but not least, Páll was the life and soul of all sports and was himself an excellent wrestler and the most motivated man. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that Páll was the most sociable person who ever lived in the Lundar settlement. Páll was for a time one of the biggest detractors in the settlement. In 1904 he started trading at Oak Point but would have stopped doing so around 1905. After the railroad came to Lundar in 1911, Páll moved there and ran a large-scale business, either alone or in company with others, until he moved to Winnipeg in 1928. Páll often ran a large fishery on Lake Manitoba and bought a lot of fish. Also, he and his companions often used to have a large group of people at haymaking, and he sold hay from all over the western part of this country. However, he will not be primarily remembered as a merchant, because trade in Lundar has been rather rough for a short time, after all Páll did not get rich from his business there. It goes without saying that Páll took care of all the issues of his great community. He was, for example, on the committee that was sent to the meeting of the municipal council in order to proceed with the establishment of a municipality. This was achieved in 1913, and he became the fourth head of the village and held that position for eight years (1920-1928), while his predecessor was Jón Sigfússon, the first settler of the settlement, who had then held that position for a period of five years.
Politics: In the field of politics, Páll was a strong supporter of the Conservative Party from childhood. I don’t know if it was due to innate conservatism or the fact that he became opposed to Lutheranism early on and therefore had no other house to turn to in a political sense (but as is known, Lutherans usually followed the Liberal Party, while their opponents followed the Conservatives). To a large extent, we can certainly thank Páll for the support, however great, that Icelanders gave to the leader of the conservative party, Arthur Meighen, around and after the end of the First World War, who was elected twice in the Portage la Prairie constituency, which at that time included the Icelandic settlements east of Lake Manitoba. Knowledgeable people say that Arthur Meighen, who did not call everyone his grandmother, highly valued Páll and counted him among his most reliable supporters in this province. Páll twice applied for election to the district under the banner of the conservative party, both times against Skúli Sigfússon. Páll first sought election in 1915, but then the conservative government, which had been in power for a long time, was losing popularity, and Skúli was victorious in this match. The same happened when they competed against each other again in 1927. When the people of Lundar commemorated the settlement’s 60th anniversary in the summer of 1947, Páll was very involved in the preparations for the celebration, even though he was then living in Winnipeg. On this occasion, he gave a speech and told the history of the settlement which he knows best. To those who did not know of Páll’s extraordinary memory, it must have been surprising that he should be able to mention by name every single person who came to the settlement in the first four years, and at the same time specify which land each took without relying on a piece of paper or a book. It should not be forgotten that Páll also had a great and good part in the fact that the history of the settlement, which has been relied upon the most here, was as well done as it actually was. Since Páll moved to Winnipeg, he has run a fish trade on a large scale. He also owns several tracked tractors (caterpillars), which are used for winter transportation in northern Manitoba. In his spare time, Páll plays bridge and is considered one of the foremost in that art. While Páll was at Lundar, it was said he was one of the best chess players in the village, and in those days Lundar had many good chess players.”
English version by Thor group.