"I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been."
You may know that I'm quoting Billie Holiday, the famous US singer. Well, I'm back "to work", back from the wonderful beaches of sunny Gran Canaria where I celebrated my 70th birthday and recharged the batteries. Sunny? Well, this time the sun wasn't shining every day as it has been doing through all my previous visits there. Some few days it was cloudy but warm indeed. Probably this change from the previous years is due to the "global warming" which is indeed affecting us all and will do more and more in coming years if nothing is done in reducing the evergrowing pollution caused by ourselfes. The environmental temerature is therefore rising, causing severe change in weather conditions all over the planet, too cold in some places, too hot in others, more thunderstorms, more floods in some places and more draughts in others resulting in hunger and starvation for millions. Just to mention few things. Not a bright future for our children and grandchildren unless we wake up and start voting for politicians with brain in head instead of beans and gread in heart and mind.

Well, I was brought away for a moment - I just ment to tell you I'm back again to my desk and my computer. I think I'm not only addicted to genealogy, I must be addicted to my PC as well. Almost every day I spend hours working on it; if I'm not replying to genealogy queries from North America, which I receive in bundles, I'm working on my genealogy database or writing up some genealogy files. What a wonderful thing my PC is :-) What did we do before PC? Writing our family tree with pen or pencil page after page, almost impossible to alter or correct anything or keep anything in order. At least I couldn't. Therefore: to whom it may concern: "Thank you for the PC".

Dear friends, help me to keep the Mailing list groving! Click the Tell a friend link and send some nice words to your "Icelandic" friends and relatives

The Google Map is a fantastic thing. I was zooming in on Point Roberts which was, as you may know, a place for an Icelandic settlement around year 1900. Icelandic settlement on Point Roberts began in 1893. Then some Icelanders were in Bellingham and many places on the coast. But Bellingham Icelanders were the first to hear about the spit of land and got curious to take a look at it. Four men went there together, Kristján Benson, John Burns, Guðmundur Laxdal and Sigurður Hauksdal, and it looked good to them to settle there.

Click this map

I found some street names - on the US side - which brought my thoughts to the Icelandic settlers on the Point. Surely the street names doesn't look Icelandic but taking into consideration that many of the Icelandic settlers changed their names, there might - yes, just might be a connection. So if you know better or if you know more about names in Point Roberts that might have an Icelandic connection, please let me know.

Anderson Drive.
Could be named after Eiríkur Árnason (1866-1952), who took the name Anderson efter emigrating from Iceland in 1890. He came to Point Roberts in 1894. His wife was Gudrídur Jónsdóttir (1868-1947) from Dalasýsla. Their daughters were Theodóra Anderson Cruickshank and Sophia Anderson Guðmundsson.
Benson Road.
Possibly named after Kristján Benediktsson (1849-1923) from Húnavatnssýsla, who was known by the name Kristjan Benson. He moved to the Point in 1893 with his wife Gudrún Jónsdóttir (1850-??) and their children. They had 16 in all. Amongst them were Anna in Anacortes, Ingunn Gofort in Everett, Helga Callahan in Seattle, Thorbjörg Goldshop in Seattle, Gudlaug Gofort in Los Angeles and Hannes in Newport, Oregon.
Burns Way.
May be named after Jón Ágúst Björnsson (1858-??) who changed his name to John Burns. He came to Point Roberts in 1893. His wife was Rósa Brynjólfsdóttir. They both were from Húnavatnssýsla in North Iceland. The couple had six children: Halldór, Thorvaldur, Ingibjörg Thorunn Elizabet, Jón, Brynjólfur Haraldur and Eggert Arinbjörn.
Simundson Drive.
I can't find any Simundson listed as a settler at Point Roberts, but that name might have been derived from Sæmundsson and as a settler on the Point we find Jónas Sæmundsson (1867-??) who came to the Point in 1904. His wife was Thorunn Björnsdottir, also from Húnavatnssýsla. Their children were Eggert Theodor, Julius Havstein and Björn Ágúst.

If you know these families please let me know. You find much more about them, and of course many others, in the book Icelanders on the Pacific Coast, published in 2004 by The Icelandic Club of Greater Seattle. This book is a must for everyone interested in the history and genealogy of the Icelandic settlers on the West Coast. Click the Club's link, find a contact and try your luck. Some few books might be left.