Pétur Gísli Magnús Torfason was born in Reykjavík on September 20, 1877.
Spouse: October 4, 1910 Guðrún Skaftadóttir b. in New Iceland
Children: 1. Anna Eleanor b. in Chicago on January 12, 1912 2. Arthur Lloyd b. in Edmonton on June 26, 1913 3. Hermann August b. in Edmonton on December 5, 1914 4. Sylvia b. in Manitou, Manitoba on May 19, 1819.
Pétur came west by sea with his mother and siblings to New York in 1877 and went from there to Chicago, Illinois in 1887. His father, Torfi Magnússon, then arrived and his parents lived there until 1897, when they moved back to Iceland. Pétur moved in the first decade of the 20th century to Glenboro, Manitoba and lived there. There he met Guðrún, who was the daughter of Skafti Arason, a settler in New Iceland and the Argyle settlement. They moved west to Edmonton, Alberta where they stayed for a few years but returned to Glenboro and from there shortly after to Manitou. They ended up in Winnipeg.