Robert Holland

Robert has been doing genealogy research for close to 35 years. In addition to his own mostly English-German background, he has extensively researched his wife Robin’s Icelandic and Swedish roots. “The true Icelander in the family is my mother-in-law Lola, who still lives on part of the original Samuelson homestead in Point Roberts, Washington”.

The Samuelsons were originally from the Húnavatnsýsla area of northern Iceland. Five surviving siblings emigrated as young adults to Canada in the late 1880s, settling first in Winnipeg and then Victoria, BC. Three, including Lola’s grandfather Jónas were amongst the first settlers in Point Roberts. Lola’s mother’s family, the Johannsons emigrated from the Akureyri about the same time, settling in the Brandon area of Manitoba for many years before moving to Point Roberts.

Robert was born and raised in British Columbia and grew up in a small town in the north. Upon graduating, he attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he met and married his wife. Now retired, they are long time residents of the Vancouver suburb of Delta which is immediately across the border from Point Roberts.