Þorkell Bessason was born in Fellum in N. Múlasýsla on June 8, 1840.
Þorbjörg Sveinsdóttir Photo: FAtV
Spouse: October 18, 1864 Þorbjörg Sveinsdóttir b. December 10, 1831, d. April 25, 1911
Þorkell Bessason Photo: FAtV
Children: 1. Sveinn b. 1870, d. 1876 2. Jón b. 1872, d. 1876 3. Kristrún b. 1873 4. Gunnlaugur b. 1875, d. 1876 5. Gunnar b. 1876. Two additional sons died in Iceland. Gunnar is only mentioned in Vesturfaraskrá, uncertain about his fate.
They came west in 1876 to New Iceland and lived in Gimli. Traveling with them was Kristín Jóhannesdóttir, Þorkell’s mother. They lost sons Svein, Jón, and Gunnlaug from smallpox.
They took land in the Hnausa Settlement and named it Reykhóla. They moved to N. Dakota in 1881 and settled in the Akra Settlement. They lived there two years and next took land south of Cavalier where they lived for 25 years. Þorkell moved to the Lakes Settlement (Vatnabyggð) in Saskatchewan in 1908 and lived in Wynyard.