Jónína and Hardy Photo: RbQ
Jónína Ágústa Hallgrímsdótir was born in Duluth, Minnesota on August 23, 1891. She died at Betel Care Home in Gimli, Manitoba in 1969. She had the names Backman and later Tallman in the west.
Spouse: Hardy Tallmann b. 1886, a Canadian.
Children: 1. Richard b. 1910 2. Gordon b. 1912 3. Lillian b. 1913 4. Stanley b. 1914.
Jónína moved with her parents from Minnesota to Selkirk, Manitoba in 1892. Later she was taken in and fostered by her sister, Helga Margrét, who then lived in the Lakes Settlement (Vatnabyggð) in Saskatchewan. Hardy moved west to the Lakes Settlement with his grandfather, Esley Hardy Tallman, in 1904 and both settled in the Kandahar/Dafoe area. Hardy built a log cabin in which he lived. Eiríkur Ólafsson’s land was next to Hardy’s land and one day Jónína was sent to live with her sister Helga, Eiríkur’s wife. In the winter of 1908/1909, Eiríkur and Helga noticed that hardly any smoke came up the chimney in Hardy’s cabin for 3 days in a row, so Eiríkur went to investigate. When he found Hardy closer to death than life, he carried him home and Hardy was saved. Jónína took care of the patient the most, and the care ended with a marriage.