Stefania and Jón Metúsalemsson.

This Newsletter's emigrants are Jón Metúsalemsson and his wife Stefanía Stefánsdóttir from Múlasýsla, East Iceland. They had been farming at Fossvellir when they emigrated in 1887 with their six children: Aðalbjörg (17), Björn (15), Sigurður (11), Jón (10), Metúsalem (2) and Ragnhildur (0). The emigration port was Seyðisfjörður (click!) where they boarded s.s. Miaca, with destination Winnipeg. In the new country the family moved right away to the wilderness by the Lake Manitoba, later called the Swan Lake settlement. The journey through the wilderness was very difficult in an ox-drawn wagon. The summer heat was merciless and one of the children died during the journey. Probably the youngest one, Ragnhildur, because my sorce tells that the first year (1887) in the new country they had the daughter Ragnhildur. As many Icelandic settlers the family changed their surnames and took the name Mathews as a family name. In 1898 the oldest son, Björn (1871-1948) married Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir Lundal ((1875-1961); they lived in Siglunes, Manitoba and had at least five children. Sigurður, b. 1874 and Jón, born 1877, both downed in Lake Manitoba 3 May 1900 and Metúsalem, b. 1885 was killed in action in France 1918 during the WWI. I don't have any information of Aðalbjörg or Ragnheiður.
Guðrún and Björn Mathew's children were 1) Otto Wathne Mathews (1899-1977), he married Emelia Skagfeld (1902-1942) daughter to Andres Skagfeld and his wife Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir. 2)Sigurður Jón Mathews, b.1900, who married Dora Skagfeld, Emelia's sister, 3) Margrét Mathews b. 1902 4) Aðalbjörg (Alla) b. 1904, married William Lockhart in Winnipeg and 5) Guðmundur (1908-1928).
Befor marriage Jón Metúsalemsson had the daughter María (Kristbjörg Stefanía María Jónsdóttir), b. 1866. She married Guðmundur Hávarðsson (1859-1942). Together they emigrated with three young sons in 1905, Jón Aðalvarður (Varði), Sigurður and Gunnlaugur Howard.
If anyone can give me further information regarding this family, please drop me a line.

If you want your Icelandic ancestor to be the Newsletter's emigrant, please send me a line with some information and a photo if possible.

In my last Newsletter I fantasized about street names on Point Roberts. One of the names was Simundson Drive. My guess was that it might have been named after Jónas Sæmundsson (1867-??) who came to the Point in 1904. Well, it was a miss. From Jona Aldridge I received the following message: "Simundson Drive was named by my cousin Ronald Simundson who owed the marina at one time (He passed away March 31, 2007 in Point Roberts Washington). He is a descendent of Benedict Saemundsson who immigrated to Canada in 1925. Ronald's father was Martin Simundson. His death notice is in the Calgary Herald on line. Thank you for all your hard work, sincerely Jona."
Thank you so much Jona Aldridge.

On the City-map of Marietta in Washington, US, I found the street name Hoff Road. One Icelander with the name Hoff settled down in Marietta at - or shortly after - the turn of the century (1900 of course). He was Bergvin Jónsson who moved with his wife Saeunn Jónsdóttir from Minneota in Minnesota. Bergvin had emigrated from the farm Hof in Vopnafjörður, East Iceland, in 1879 and from that farmname he took the name Hoff. Whether the street name is in honour to this gentleman is not for me to say.
Many English words are difficult to write - if you want to do it correctly - as it doesn't always follow the pronounciation as Icelandic does in most cases so when I wrote the last sentence I hesitated a bit, and asked myself: "Should I write weather, whether or wether"? I had to consult my dictionary to find that whether the weather is nice depends on whether it is raining or not. But a wether is just a castrated sheep. So you see, a dictionary is a must for me :-)

If you are searching your ancestors who settled on the wst coast, you may find them 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.