Some years ago I launced, what I call, the Forefather Finding Facilty. It was simply my respond - well, late respond - to the great number of ancestral queries I had received almost ever since I entered this world of Internet and the World Wide Web. What a great invention. Yes, queries in hundreds through the years since early 1995. Obviously there are many out there with interest in their Icelandic roots. Unfortunately I have not been able to reply to many of the queries. Too many. Not because of being unable to solve the problems, but simply because of lack of time. I still have my full time job to take care of.
Well, at least in the near future I will through the Newsletter try to get more of that genealogy job done. By doing that, maybe some of my readers might recognize the people we are seaching for and even get in touch with the inquirer. Further I intend to put up a link where you can access, download and study the "subject's" ancestral file.

Sigríður and Hjálmur

Earlier this year I received the following:
"Hi I'm a young man in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, trying to find information about my ancestors. My Great Afi, Hjalmur Thorsteinsson was born 6.4.1870 at Flokadal Hospital in Borgarfjartharsyslu (as best as I can figure). He married Sigrithi Hjalmsdottir on 27.2.1896. She was born on 3.8.1873. He emigrated to Canada in 1894.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
S. Johnson"
Well, at the time Hjálmur Þorsteinsson was born (1870), there were no hospitals in the county of Borgarfjarðarsýsla. As a matter of fact, there were very few, if any, hospitals in Iceland at that time except for the one in Reykjavík, which was built in 1866. Hjálmur was born at the farm Hæll in the valley of Flókadalur and lived there until he emigrated in 1894. His parents were Þorsteinn Guðmundsson and Ljótunn Pétursdóttir, farmers at Hæll. In 1896 Hjálmur married Sigríður Hjálmsdóttir. She was born 3 Aug 1873, daughter to Hjálmur Pétursson and Helga Árnadóttir, farmers at Þverártunga and later at Hamar in Borgarfjörður county. Sigríður emigrated in 1893. Her brother was Pétur Hjálmsson who became a minister and a farmer in Markerville, Alberta.
Hjálmur and Sigríður had many children: Ljótunn, a teacher in Vancouver, Sigrún, in Winnipeg, Hrefna, married Bjarni Guðmundsson in Winnipeg, Þorbjörn, a carpenter in Winnipeg, married Bára Magnúsdóttir, Hjálmar and Pétur at Gimli and Óðinn in Vancouver.
Before marriege and before Hjálmur emigrated, he had a son together with Marsibil Björnsdóttir. The son was Haraldur Hjálmsson, b. 27 Jan 1894. In 1900 Haraldur emigrated to Canada probably together with his aunt Guðrún Þorsteinsdóttir and her husband Guðmundur Torfason, farmers in Borgarfjörður county.
Ancestral files:

Text file

GedCom file

Anikka and Sigurjón

In 1888 Anikka Jensdóttir emigrated with her father and 19 years old stepmother, Anna Sigurrós Jónsdóttir, from the farm Spágilsstaðir in Dalasýsla County, to Canada. Anikka was born 23 August 1881 and was thus 7 years old at the time of emigration. Her unmarried parents were Jens Jónsson (1858-1905) and Helga Jónsdóttir (1854-??). Jens' parents were Jón Þorgeirsson (1822-1907) and Halldóra Jónsdóttir (1829-1900), farmers at Stóri-Galtardalur in Dalasýsla and Helga's parents were Jón Benjamínsson (1803-1875) and Anna Jónsdôttir (1800-??), farmers at Stôra-Tunga in Dalasýsla.
Anna Sigurrós Jónsdóttir was daughter to Jón Markússon and his second wife Guðríður Jónsdóttir. Her half-sister Ástrós, emigrated in 1887 to Canada and married Albert Johnson in Winnipeg.
In Canada, Jens and Anna Sigurrós took the name Thorgeirsson and lived for most of the time in Winnipeg where Jens worked as a carpenter. They had eight children: Jón, Skarphéðinn, Jón Þorgeir, Guðmundur Leó, Ástráður Vilhelm, Soffía Hlíf, Halldór Kristinn and Victor Edward.
After Jens' death Anna Sigurrós moved to Saskatchewan where she died in Bredenbury 8 May 1935.
Anikka married Sigurjón (Jónsson) Sigurðsson. His parents were Jón Sigurðsson and Sigríður Magnúsdóttir farmers at Fossgerði in Múlasýsla South. Jón and Sigríður emigrated in 1882 with four children: Magnús, Ingibjörg, Þórunn Pálína and Guðný. On the way Sigurjón was born on a train near Boston. Anikka and Sigurjón lived near Ethridge, Montana, U.S. and had four sons and four daughters.
It would be interesting to know if you have any knowledge of the above mentioned people and their descendants.
Ancestral files:

Text file

GedCom file

Helgi Pétursson and Kristín Kristjánsdóttir
I'm searching for the descendants of Helgi and Kristín. They emigrated as late as 1910 and it seams to me they settled down in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada. They took the family name Steinberg. Helgi and Kristín had eight children: 1) Ingimar (1908-1965), teacher in White Rock, 2) Þórunn Kristrún (1911-??), married Friðrik Borgfjörð, farmer in Cloverdal, B.C., 3) Sigríður Aðalbjörg b. 1912, married Guðmundur Ólafsson in Saskatoon, Sask., Canada, 4) Jónas, b. 1918, married Ólöf Ástvaldsdóttir Hall, they lived in Monroe, Washington, U.S., 5) Kristján Gestur, b. 1920, 6) María, b. 1922, married Richard Drury in Cloverdale, B.C., 7) Helgi, b. 1924, married Anita Bjarnason, 8) Kristín, b. 1925, married Ralph Lapierre, farmer in White Rock.
Please let me know if you can assist in my search.

On the web, you should point your browser to www.myndasafn.is and browse through what is just a tiny bit of Mats Wibe Lund's huge picture gallery of places all over in Iceland. If you really want a fine picture of where your ancestors lived, just contact him.

You can read Lögberg-Heimskringla, The Icelandic weekly, online. The only thing you have to do is to go to Lögberg-Heimskringla and subscribe. Hit the link and see what you get for some small amount.

Just type the name or word you are searching in the search string below and you'll get the answer right away.