Sunna Furstenau with Hálfdan Helgason

The Icelandic Roots database began with Icelandic genealogist Hálfdan Helgason when he was a teenager. His goal was to compile the best Icelandic genealogy database available, and with his tremendous work, he created a site that contained over 500,000 names and genealogy information.

Hálfdan’s long-term goal was to develop an online site with a knowledge base for the benefit of Icelanders, people of Icelandic heritage, and their families worldwide. In the summer of 2013, he transferred his information to Icelandic Roots, a qualified nonprofit 501c3 organization.

Introduction to IR Video

How did Icelandic Roots begin?

Pride in their heritage and the significance of family history followed the Icelanders who moved to North America. Icelandic Roots' mission is to keep connections strong while educating others about Icelandic history and culture.

Beginning in 2003, Sunna Olafson Furstenau worked with Hálfdan and George Freeman for the "Cousins Across the Ocean" project and collaborated with other Icelandic Genealogists.

The name of our organization, "Icelandic Roots," began as a blog, newsletter, and Facebook page in 2012. Iceland genealogy work began much before 2012, with dozens of enthusiasts in Iceland and North America working on their individual databases.

The IR Community and Database continue to grow and improve, with much to offer the public for free and All-Access and Samkoma Members for a very small fee. As a nonprofit, all the genealogists, IT, and outreach staff are valuable volunteers. With memberships and donations, IR has accomplished much for grants and scholarships and can provide state-of-the-art technology without help from governments or churches.

Our database will grow to almost 850,000 people by the end of 2024. Additionally, it now includes maps, obituaries, photos, stories, books, emigration information, and over 3,000 sources of information. The "Cousins Across the Ocean" project continues to grow and is one of the database's favorite benefits.

The Outreach teams are evolving and growing with various public and membership-only benefits, programs, projects, and events.

Join Now

What will you find in the database?

Genealogical Information is just the start. You will also find:

Media including portraits, farms, letters, documents, and other media
Biographies and obituaries plus stories of our ancestors
Histories of Icelandic settlements and communities
Churches, cemeteries, clergy, and headstones
Emigration information, including ports, ships, and passenger manifests
Cross-references between Icelandic names and new names taken upon emigration to America and elsewhere
Reports on specialized topics such as Abandoned farms and Ancestors that drowned
Midwives, Women and Children's Stories, Fjallkona
Military Service, and much more
A timeline of interesting events and reports of interesting people and places
Calculate your relationship to any of the people in the database - including people from the Sagas up to today
Expert help from trained, dedicated, and thorough genealogists
Special reports and a Timeline of events
Saga Project: Interactive Saga map for locations, connections to the people in the Sagas, links to read the sagas in English and Icelandic, and see more in the VIDEO HERE.
Accurate place names and GPS coordinates on an interactive map feature to find your ancestor's farms, churches, and cemeteries wherever they lived in the world.
Personalized for you includes a "My Page" and "My Cousins."
A powerful Relationship Calculator to show your relationship to ancestors and cousins
Information on clergy, midwives, military service, politics, and famous ancestors.
Stories of the Crossing, Parish records, and Longest lived
AKA - Also known as because many Icelandic immigrants changed their names
Community and Family Histories
So many special high-tech yet user-friendly features, you have to see it to believe it.
All this and our "pay it forward" mission, which your membership helps us to keep our shared story alive.
Information is updated and added every day