Jón Árnason was born on August 19, 1889 in Skagafjarðarsýsla.
Spouse: November 25, 1911 Ólöf Stefánsdóttir b. June 19, 1895 in Winnipeg.
Children: 1. Árni b. July 4, 1912 2. Stefán b. November 7, 1918 3. Óskar Sigurvin b. September 15, 1920 4. Petrína Oktavía b. October 9, 1923 5. Jón Herbert b. August 16, 1926 6. Viola b. November 1, 1928 7. Marian b. July 8, 1936.
Jón came west to Manitoba in 1905 with his stepmother, Sigurveig Ósk Friðfinnsdóttir. Ólöf’s parents were Stefán Ólafsson and Petrína Vigfúsdóttir who came to the West in 1888 and lived in Winnipeg for 12 years. They moved to the Swan Lake settlement (Álftavatnsbyggð) in Manitoba where they lived until death. Jón farmed at Moosehorn and later near Reykjavík on Lake Manitoba. From there he made his way to Gimli, where he ran a fish shop and rented out a summer house. He was interested in the affairs of his countrymen in Canada, sometimes wrote articles in the Lögberg.