A Tale of Two Sisters: Bonnie and Margaret Polson
- Sharron Arksey
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Sharron Arksey
The Icelandic Roots Writers Group contributes to the bi-weekly Rætur Fréttir/Roots News. Keeping with Icelandic Roots settlement stories, this article profiles two sisters who each made significant contributions during their lifetime in Langruth, Manitoba.
BIG SISTER – YNGRI SYSTIR
Elizabeth Hazeltine Polson (I681998) was born in 1893 in Winnipeg, one of ten children born to Águst and Elisabet Polson (F56739). Her middle name was taken from a character in a novel and reflected the family’s desire to fit in with this new land and its people. She went by Bonnie, and as years went by, people began calling her Bunny.
The family moved to Gimli, where Águst was employed by Tergesen’s General Store, as well as taking on other casual jobs within the town.
Bonnie obtained her permit teaching certificate and taught in Gimli, but she knew that she did not want to be a teacher forever. She saved her money and enrolled in the nursing program at the Winnipeg General Hospital (now the Health Sciences Centre). Following graduation in 1919, she nursed privately and worked for the Victorian Order of Nurses.
The Polson family was devastated by the death of their son Archibald (I616233), who died as a result of injuries sustained in World War I action. According to the book Her Darling Boy by Tom Goodman, Archie and Bonnie were close in age, and his death hit her hard.
Another story told in Her Darling Boy involved the mother’s desire to get her daughters married. During the war, many of the eligible young men enlisted and were not available. Fewer came back than had gone. There was a shortage of young men from which to choose, and Elisabet’s daughters were not growing any younger.
Elisabet’s half-sister Anna Baker (I182989) ran a boarding house in Langruth, about 100 miles northwest of Winnipeg on the west side of Lake Manitoba. Anna told her sister that there were lots of young bachelors staying there. So Elisabet sent Bonnie and her younger sister Margaret for a visit with their aunt.
The ploy worked. The two sisters met two brothers and the rest is history.
(A third sister, Florence Nightingale Polson (I681942) also visited Langruth and married a man she met there. Florence and her husband, however, did not stay in Langruth).
Bonnie married Bjorn Bjarnarson (I630296), co-owner of a local grocery and dry goods store and Langruth’s first postmaster. She and Barney had one daughter Inez Bonnie (I737624), and adopted a son George (I737618).
She continued to provide nursing support to her community and in 1967 won the Manitoba Golden Boy award in recognition of her more than 50 years working with indigenous and Métis people in Langruth and the Sandy Bay First Nation. Sandy Bay residents called her “Mrs. Barney”.
The community history book published in 1984 talks of her many adventures getting to those who needed her help. She served as midwife, dentist, and nurse to families in Langruth, Amaranth, and the nearby reservation.
She got her driver’s license soon after arriving in Langruth, but her driving was always a source of concern to her husband. He often hired area residents to accompany her on her trips. One time, the car got stuck in a snow drift, and she walked the rest of the way. When winter weather made travel difficult, she went by horse and sleigh and even snowmobile.
Bunny was a small woman, but she was not afraid to tell patients that she thought their lifestyle needed to be improved. One story often told involved a man who was being transferred to a hospital in Brandon, MB. Bunny gave him $20 to spend on cigarettes and those incidentals he might need while in the hospital. She was not impressed to learn that he took himself to the nearest liquor store instead.
In addition to her work, Bonnie was an active volunteer in the Lutheran and Icelandic communities. She was superintendent of the local Sunday School and active in the Lutheran Ladies Aid, Lutheran Women’s Camp, and the Sunrise Lutheran Camp.
She died at Gladstone, Manitoba, on 12 November 1979.
LITTLE SISTER – LITLA SYSTIR
Margrjet Polson (I17511), known as Margaret, was born in Gimli in 1900. Unlike her older sister Bonnie, she always knew that she wanted to be a teacher and graduated from Normal School in Winnipeg. She taught at schools in Woodside, Glenboro, and Winnipeg.
In 1925, she married Valdimar Bjarnarson (I550310), brother of Bjorn, and the couple farmed east of Langruth. The couple lost one child in infancy and later had a son, Valdimar Wallace (I788576) and a daughter, June (I788537).
In 1967, the same year that Valdimar died, they built a new home in Langruth.
Like her sister, Margaret played an active role in local organizations. She was a member of Grace Lutheran Church and sang in the church choir. She was the first president of the Langruth Legion Ladies Auxiliary. Memberships in the Lutheran Ladies Aid and the Women’s Institute were also on her list. For a time, she was the district president of the Women’s Institute. She served as a local school trustee and held office at the provincial level of the Manitoba School Trustees Association.
In 1982, she moved to Third Crossing Manor in Gladstone. She died in 1988 at the age of 87. In accordance with her wishes, her body was donated to the University of Manitoba for the advancement of medicine.
Bonnie, Margaret and their husbands are buried at the Big Point Cemetery northeast of Langruth.
Photo Credits: Author
