By Jason Doctor
Read on about a fond memory of Jason's family reunions and visiting relatives in an area of South Dakota. He recounts the story of Kristín Þorkelsdóttir, a well known writer, and other Watertown ancestors. Recounting this history and their stories is vital; we need to keep the past alive.
Growing up, the family reunions I attended alternated between the Black Hills and Lake Kampeska in Watertown, South Dakota. We would typically get together for two days and have a picnic on Saturday, dinner Saturday night, and a brunch after church on Sunday. We’d then spend a week or so traveling to different towns and visiting with relatives before or after the event. Several of my relatives lived in Watertown, South Dakota. While I knew Watertown was the last stopping place of my emigrating Icelandic ancestors, I had always thought of them as Minneotans who had finally set out to a new state and town to be part of the great Anglo world. As it turns out, this was not the case. There was a small Icelandic community of no more than 100 Icelanders in Watertown, South Dakota. While most of the settlers had first lived in Minneota or Marshall, some had fled the failed settlement in Nova Scotia and others had moved from different parts of Canada. The most respected and well-known
Icelander in Watertown, South Dakota, was a woman writer, Kristín Þorkelsdóttir (I678661) whose pen name was Kristín í Watertown. I want to tell her story and that of the Watertown Icelanders because it is an important part of our history and heritage that has been almost forgotten.
Watertown sits inside the gently rolling hills of northeastern South Dakota. When the French surveyed the land in 1838 they called it Coteau des Prairies or Hills of the Prairies. It is located just 3 miles from Lake Kampeska, an 8.2 square mile lake fed by the Big Sioux River. The lake is a gathering and recreation area for townspeople. Anglers also enjoy the great fishing. These days, Lake Kampeska is managed mostly as a walleye and smallmouth bass fishery but contains most other fish you might find in neighboring lakes, including, of course, the invasive northern pike. In the late 1870s, railroad lines were extended from Minnesota into South Dakota and with it came many settlers. This event was called “The Great Dakota Boom”. Watertown was founded in 1879, and it wasn’t long before the first Icelanders arrived.
The September 22nd, 1887 edition of Heimskringla gives the first mention of Watertown in an Icelandic Newspaper:
Here in Watertown, there are only four Icelandic householders. Everyone is quite well off; they have their own houses, and a few plots of land on which they stand, and each their own cow, one Icelander has two horses (Guðjón Jónsson).—The number of resident Icelanders in Watertown is 23, of whom 10 are over 15 years of age, while the rest are younger.1
The earliest settlers were closely related. Guðjón Jónsson (I469803), mentioned above, emigrated from Torfastaðir, Hofssókn, Vopnafjarðarhreppur, N-Múlasýsla in 1875 having first landed in Nova Scotia at Markland. When things fell apart there, most Icelanders scattered to different parts of Canada and the US. Guðjón chose to go to Watertown, South Dakota in 1881. He was one of the earliest and most successful settlers. The woman he would marry, Jakobína Sigfúsdóttir (I37588), emigrated to North America in 1883 from Ormarsstaðir, Ássókn, Fellahreppur, N-Múlasýsla. Their first child was born in Watertown in 1886. They would have a total of three children born in Watertown, South Dakota. Guðjón’s brother, Stefan Jónsson (I548539), also left Torfastaðir and joined his brother in Watertown. In Iceland, he had married Sigurbjörg Stefánsdóttir (I578109) from Þorvaldsstaðir, Hofssókn, Vopnafjarðarhreppur, N-Múlasýsla. They had eight children, five of whom emigrated to South Dakota with them. The oldest lived out his life in Iceland and two other children, Stefania Guðriður and Ándres, emigrated to North America at a later date. Stefania Guðriður joined the family in Watertown, while Ándres got married and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The sister of Guðjón and Stefan, Solveig Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir (I469829), emigrated from Hróaldsstaðir, Hofssókn, Vopnafjarðarhreppur, N-Múlasýsla, she first moved to an Icelandic community in Minnesota in 1878, but when her husband died in 1882, she and her two sons moved to Watertown, to be with her brothers. There she remarried and started a second family. One of Guðjón's sons, Einar (I469805), born in 1889 in Watertown, achieved a Master's degree from University of Minnesota in chemistry in 1910. He became a successful and highly-respected chemist in the midwest and is known to have advanced methods for measuring the purity of gases.
It wasn’t long before others moved to Watertown. The next wave of Icelanders came from Minneota or Marshall, Minnesota. These were the “pioneer children”–pre-teen and teen settlers in Southwest Minnesota who were now all grown up. There was growth in Watertown and they certainly needed jobs. The most notable of these was Kristín í Watertown and her sibling Hallgrimur (I64092). Kristín's other brother was Pétur Adelstein Thorlakson Johnson the famous Congregationalist Minister who settled at Grinnell, Iowa. He had attended Yale Divinity School and had written books on the Congregationalist church, taking on a leadership role, as state superintendent for this denomination. While Pétur emigrated with his parents to the West in 1876, first landing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kristin and Hallgrimur stayed in Iceland. Kristín, in fact, did not leave Iceland until the age of 19, in 1880 (some accounts suggest she stayed in Iceland until age 22, leaving in 1883). As a young woman, she had witnessed the great poverty and struggles of Icelanders under the communal farm system firsthand. This became the basis for some of her best writing. In 1878, the family moved to Minneota. Soon after Kristín had arrived in Minneota, her father died, and the family moved to Marshall, Minnesota. In a biography2 about her brother, Kristín describes how the children of the first settlers had to rapidly adapt, being of small in number, and in a foreign place. There was no Icelandic church in those earliest days, on most Sundays the children were encouraged to find a church they liked and attend it. This, in fact, led her brother to Congregationalism. On the habit of the Icelanders of Southwest Minnesota Anglicizing their name, Kristín notes in an interview with her brother’s biographer:
English-speaking people cared very little about the spelling or pronunciation of foreign names; they had them in spades; they often gave foreigners other names, just out of the blue, especially if they were children or teenagers. Many Icelanders changed their names to avoid trouble. They sometimes had two names, one for their own use and the other for the "English".3
As adults, Hallgrimur became a city manager in Watertown and Kristín a writer. Kristín had moved to Watertown with her husband Leif Johnson, another Icelander. My first, second, and third Icelandic great-grandmothers and my second great-grandfather would move to Watertown at the turn of the century after 30 years in Minnesota, as would several of my great-aunts and uncles. They no longer wanted to farm and decided to open a café. My third great-grandmother was first cousins with Kristín, Hallgrimur, and Pétur. Icelandic cousins stuck together and moved to be together, wherever they may go. Rev. Björn B. Jónsson (I157569) of Minneota would visit Watertown for baptisms, church service and weddings annually in the late 19th and early 20th century.
There are many more Icelanders I have not had the space to mention who lived in Watertown. However, I’d like to turn to Kristin’s writing, which is a treasure. Few appreciate her work today. As Bill Holm might say about the Vesturfarar he knew, she demonstrated from her little outpost in Watertown, that “a heart could be filled anywhere on earth.” Her writing points out the beauty in people living their values, the importance of having honorable principles, maintaining upright beliefs, and operating under pure intentions when you might be pulled in the wrong direction. For thirty years, she wrote beautiful essays and memoirs for Lögberg. She encouraged people to live better lives in an uplifting way. This lasted up until the early 1950s. She often commented on current or historical events, writing fictional short stories about human relationships, or retelling tales of her experiences in Iceland. On living in South Dakota she writes, in 1942, a good travel essay in Lögberg about the State and notes:
There are no big cities here and few millionaires…but it is no loss to the people of South Dakota. Have you heard the story of the old man and the boy? The boy asks "What is ‘wealth’?" “Yes, my boy, beware of that,” said the old man, “where there is wealth on one side, there is poverty on the other."4
Her writing, as with this example, is full of wisdom and thoughtful commentary on the human condition.
Probably Kristín’s greatest work is her recollections of her time at Möðruvellir, the last place she emigrated from in Iceland. Möðruvellir, a little ways west of Akureyri along the ring road, was long ago the manor house of chieftains. After the conversion to Lutheranism, Möðruvellir became a possession of the Danish Crown. Kristín gained attention5 in Iceland from Dr. Guðmundur Finnbogason (I43651) Iceland's National Librarian and Professor at the University of Iceland, following the publication of her piece “Memories of Möðruvellir,”6 he contacted Lögberg to find out more about the author, since he felt the memoir was of great historical significance. He also conducted a reading of her memoir on Icelandic national radio, Sunday, April 26th, 1942. Her work highlights the values and experiences of the people she encountered during her time there. Each story carries a moral or reveals an important aspect of life, as understood by Kristín.
For example, Kristín recounts her interactions with Bjarni Thorarensen (I50370), a
county official and poet. She describes him as a gentle and gifted man, who was especially kind to the poor. She also tells of Sölvi Helgason (I182348), a young man with artistic talent and considered one of Iceland’s most famous vagabonds, who Bjarni tried to help. Sölvi had a habit of disappearing for days at a time, just wandering off into the heath, and returning with beautiful drawings and sketches. A shepherd who saw one of Sölvi's drawings noted that he would never see anything more beautiful. When asked where he got his colored pastels, Sölvi said that he "stole them from the girls, when they weren’t looking". It was a moving and also humorous recollection. Bjarni saw himself as responsible for Sölvi, his genuine concern and kindness toward Sölvi’s unique artistic approach to life are resonant, but Sölvi always came back with some beautiful creation after just wandering off and worrying Bjarni and others. Sölvi was different and challenging, but Bjarni took care to support his creativity as best he could. Bjarni’s generosity and kindness toward Sölvi is touching, especially given the pressure to work to survive everyone faced in those days.
Kristín also tells the story of the district magistrate's residence burning down one night in the winter of 1874, but everyone survived. She notes that it was "God's mercy" that the fire did not spread to the nearby farm. “The wind came from the North and the flame fell to the South”, she writes. Her writing underscores the fragility of life and the role of divine intervention in human affairs. Even in moments of devastation, there are moments of grace in her recollection. In the end, Kristín notes the progress the country made after the fire. A grammar school was built on that site, a significant step forward for Iceland.
There is also an engaging story, hundreds of years old, of the Monk and Nun of Möðruvellir, a story that might otherwise be lost were Kristín not to tell it. Kristín recounts an oral story about these two consecrated souls who loved each other. They would meet by a small stream in the evenings to talk. One evening, the monk suggested that they "drink from the fountain of kisses as one drinks the clear water from a stream," to which the nun replied, "We have holy kisses in our spirit, which last forever". The tension between earthly desires and spiritual devotion ends comedically with the head of the monastery placing a guard at the river. However, Kristín is sincere in her belief the place was forever blessed by this exchange where holy kisses and a profound and enduring love of humanity prevailed.
One of the more inspiring figures at Möðruvellir was Þorsteinn Daníelsson (I147082) of Lón. Kristín dedicates significant attention to Þorsteinn Daníelsson. He is a man who wakes up every day to great poverty around him but rejects hopelessness and embraces a role of being a blessing to others. He is diligent, cultured, and focused on progress. She describes him as a master builder and carpenter who built Möðruvellir Church in a dignified style. He was known for his hard work, his generosity, and his dedication to improving his community. She also describes the way he helped a poor couple with a small baby, by giving them a proper bed after seeing the new mother needing desperate aid. He also helped a farmer whose bathhouse was damaged in a storm. Kristín states that Þorsteinn was a visionary, who saw that "human life does not have to live with hunger and filth". Þorsteinn’s hard work, practicality, and kindness are crucial to community progress and living a transcendent life Kristín sees as a real form of success we should strive for. His visionary spirit led to material improvements. She hoped by depicting his character, his greatness could be replicated and serve as a model to others for how to live.
There is also the story of Reverend Arnljótur Ólafsson (I140090). Kristín described Reverend Arnljótur Ólafsson as a thinker and intellectual who spoke out for justice and equality. He argued for lower taxes for the poor and was a doctor who helped many people. Arnljótur felt it essential to advocate for the rights of the less fortunate and to work towards a more just and equitable society. Kristín valued the way that he put his thoughts into proposals for the community, always with an eye to improve conditions in Iceland. His work in the community made the case that progress happens when those who work the hardest and do the most are well supported regardless of their standing.
In each of these stories, Kristín has an uncanny ability to shine a light on the souls of these good people illuminating their values and beliefs through her words on the page. She values kindness, hard work, justice, and the importance of culture and community. Her recollections of Möðruvellir serve as a way to honor the people who shaped her life and the lessons that she learned there. The pages of Lögberg were a place where she could write about the good in humanity that she witnessed in Iceland and also in North America. That she called herself Kristín í Watertown (Kristin at Watertown) and not Kristín frá Watertown (Kristin from Watertown), shows that she never fully adopted the American identity. But her writing is a useful bridge between cultures for Western Icelanders.
A look in the Icelandic Roots database shows that many of the descendants of the early Watertown Icelanders still live in Watertown or other towns in South Dakota. For a while, this was a special place to live for Icelandic immigrants. Many were able to thrive in this small community. From this little town in South Dakota, Kristín was able to share her wisdom across Canada and the US with all the Vestur Íslendingar who read the newspaper Lögberg, which was almost everyone.
Endnotes
1 "Fegnir: Úr Hinam Íslensku Nýlendum." Heimskringla. 22 Sep 1887: p3. Retrieved from https://timarit.is/page/2148224
2 Guttomisson, séra Guttorm. "Dr. P. Adelstein Johnson." Almanak (Ólafs S. Thorgeirsson). Winnipeg MB, 1946: p50–54. Retrieved from https://timarit.is/page/4667244
3 Guttomisson, séra Guttorm. "Dr. P. Adelstein Johnson." Almanak (Ólafs S. Thorgeirsson). Winnipeg MB, 1946: p50. Retrieved from https://timarit.is/page/4667244
4 Kristín í Watertown. "Suður Dakota." Lögberg. 19 Mar 1942: p4. Retrieved from https://timarit.is/page/2201945
5 Jonsson, Ingibjörg (ed.). "Áhugamál; Kvenna: Merkiskina Níræd." Lögberg. 03 May 1951: p5. Retrieved from: https://timarit.is/files/56160967
6 Jósefsdóttir, Kristín. "Á Möðruvöllum." Heima er bezt. 01 Feb 1989: p56–60. Retrieved from: Retrieved from: https://timarit.is/page/4599856