Séra Halldór E. Johnson Photo: FSÁAB
Halldór Einar Jónsson was born in Skagafjarðarsýsla on September 12, 1887. He drowned in Iceland on January 8, 1950. He was known as Reverend Halldór E Johnson in the west.
Spouse: 1. Þóra Jónsdóttir d. in Blaine, 1924 2. Matthildur Þórðardóttir b. November 30, 1873 in Ísafjarðarsýsla, d. in Blaine on December 15, 1940 3. Jenny Johnsen.
Childless but together with his wives raised foster children.
At the age of twenty, Halldór came west across the ocean to N. Dakota. His maternal uncle, Þorlákur Björnsson in Hensel, lived there and saw to it that Halldór could study at Valparaiso University in Indiana. From there he went to Illinois where he attended seminary in Chicago. After his priestly ordination, he became a priest at the Icelandic Lutheran Church Synod, but it did not feel right and he left the priesthood. Sometime later, he joined the free religious society and traveled widely and sang masses. In the years 1945-1948 he was a permanent parish priest in the Union Church in Lundar. He moved home to Iceland in 1949 and settled in Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar) with relatives.
Reverend Halldór Johnson wrote this poem to Vestmannaeyjar shortly before he died, and it was performed by him from an album on the radio after his death.
Fagurgræna yndiseyja,
um þig geislaflaumur skín.
lát mig hjá þér lifa og deyja
við litafögru björgin þín.
Við barm þinn blómið sæla sefur,
söngvar þagna, allt er hljótt.
Ægir blítt þig örmum vefur
unaðsbjarta sumarnótt.
Við brjóstin þín er bezt að dreyma,
blessað móðurskautið þitt.
Ég finn Íslands orku streyma
inn í þjáða hjartað mitt.
Einn í langri útlegðinni,
hve oft mig hefur dreymt til þín,
og hvíla rótt hjá móður minni
við mánabjörtu sundin þín.