Stefán Þórðarson was the father of Karl Gustaf, Cartoon Charlie, who was a celebrity at W. Disney.
Friðrik Sveinsson attended the first Icelandic National Memorial Festival (íslensku þjóðminningarhátíðinni) in Milwaukee on August 2, 1874, then 8 years old.
Sigurður Júlíus Jóhannesson started publishing Dagskra II in Winnipeg in 1901, which is quite interesting because he had only lived there since 1899. Two newspapers were published at that time, Heimskringla and Lögberg, so was there any need for a third Icelandic newspaper? Sigurður had no doubt consulted with the locals and received support from them, because it is unlikely that he had the funds himself to pay for the publication. It is not the purpose of this article to delve into that, but to try to describe the content of the paper and the purpose of the publication. The first issue saw the light of day on July 20, 1901. The paper was published twice a month the first year, then three times a month until it ended on March 24, 1903. Sigurður had edited Dagskra and Æskunn at home in Iceland and therefore took on the editorial role for the first year, but then he recruited Stefán Þórðarson (Stephan Thorson) from Ásakoti in Biskupstungum and Friðrik Sveinsson (Fred Swanson) from Kelduhverfi to help with the editing later in the year.
Policy of the Paper: When Sigurður published Dagskrá II in 1901, he said this about the paper’s direction: “Dagskrá II will be completely independent of all parties; will fight against all wrong, from wherever it comes, but follow what is right, wherever it goes. It tells political news in short, impartial comments; and especially discusses all kinds of social issues; speaks about agriculture and the mastery of the farmers; becomes an emphatically egalitarian newspaper; discusses religion and church life; delivers essays on education and civilization; reports news from all over the world, but especially from Iceland; takes the cause of Iceland and Icelanders when it is called upon; educates and delights and playful; jumps and dances and plays when it is appropriate, but speaks seriously of the sins when everyone is involved; advocates the complete equality of women with men in all respects; condemns war and death sentences as ungodly acts; fights for animal protection etc. etc. The program presents pranks and jokes, poems and novels, conversations and monologues; has a lot for women to read and also for children; maybe presents pictures once in a while; writes of everything between heaven and earth. Dagskrá wants to work against hypocrisy and arrogance in all forms; cares not for popularity derived from flattery; enforces justice and truth unhesitatingly, whoever is involved; does not recognize the rule that age and wealth, position and nobility are exclusive licenses to be allowed to talk, write or think; never crawls at the feet of great men and never sells its conviction for any price”.
English version by Thor group.