Guðrún Emilía Benediktsdóttir Mynd VÍÆ IV
Guðrún Emilía Benediktsdóttir was born in Múla in S. Þingeyjarsýsla in 1854. She died on January 26, 1913 in Washington.
Spouse: July 29, 1876. Sigfús Magnússon b. in S. Þingeyjarsýsla on March 19, 1845. He died on October 31, 1932 in Toppenish, Washington.
Children: 1. Bergþóra b. May 20, 1877 2. Þorgerður b. December 28, 1879, d. 1932 3. Leifur b. July 7, 1882 4. Hilda 5. Amy b. January 22, 1887 6. Vesta b. March 5, 1898. They also had a foster daughter, Sigurrós Guðnadóttir b. 1872, who came west with them.
Sigfús came west to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1873. In the spring of 1874, he explored the land in Nebraska and bought land near the small town of Firth, south of Lincoln. He returned the land before returning to Iceland in the autumn of 1874 to fetch his fiancée.
There was a delay in returning west, but they went to Nebraska in 1886 and settled in Long Pine. There he obtained citizenship and took land near the village. He lived there for a few years but moved to Duluth, Minnesota in 1892, where he lived for many years. A housekeeper, Guðrún Björnsdóttir b. 1834, came west with them, and in the 1920 Minnesota census, Guðrún is listed with them. In the autumn of 1912, Guðrún visited her daughter Bergþóra in Washington State; she wanted to be in a milder climate, but she died there a few months later. She had made a remarkable request about her death during the visit; she wanted to be cremated, and it was done in Tacoma, Washington. Sigfús later moved west to the Pacific where his daughter Bergþóra lived.