Taking on the Icelandic Roots 2026 Focus Challenge
- Rob Olason
- 23 hours ago
- 8 min read
By Rob Olason (I149007)
In the January 18, 2026, edition of the Icelandic Roots newsletter, Rætur Fréttir/Roots News, I published the article, “The Icelandic Roots 2026 Focus.” Each year the newsletter team picks a theme to emphasize when we gather articles from our contributing authors.
We intend that this sustained exploration of a topic over the course of a year will provide our readers with a deeper understanding of this aspect of Icelandic heritage. The 2026 focus is on the communities where the Icelandic settlers made their new homes in North America. I asked readers to share what they knew about their ancestors’ communities by sending that information to the IR genealogists to be included on their ancestors’ page in the database. What I really hoped for, however, is that we share that information with the entire Icelandic Roots community through our newsletter articles.
In the article, I pointed readers to the https://www.icelandicroots.com/emigration-immigration page as a starting point. By scrolling down the page to the section titled “Immigration - Where Did They Go?” readers could see the many communities in which the Icelandic diaspora settled in North America.
Is every Icelandic settlement community listed on the emigration page? No. Could you help us identify communities that need to be included? Yes, please!
I asked eight questions and invited readers to look at their ancestors’ history to determine where they lived after emigrating.
One Icelandic Roots member, Dennis McLane (I692471), took up the challenge. He sent in a remarkably detailed account of his family members coming to North America and the paths they took across the continent to find their new homes.
Dennis McLane is no stranger to genealogy. He was hard at work discovering his family history long before so much information was available online. McLane previously published “Icelandic Genealogy the Hard Way” in the Icelandic Roots Blog on September 28, 2024. https://www.icelandicroots.com/post/icelandic-genealogy-the-hard-way
I asked Dennis if we could publish some of his responses to the eight questions posed in the January 18, 2026 article. He readily agreed.
As you read his responses, consider how his family story compares to yours. Has your family crossed paths with his? Do other communities figure in your family’s past? How would you use the 2026 challenge to explore your ancestors' lives?
If you do take on this challenge, send your results to outreach@icelandicroots.com. We can link your information to your ancestor’s page on the database. If you have information about settlement communities we are missing on the webpage, we’d like to include it in future updates.
At the end of this article, I've posted the eight questions for you to consider.
Here’s how Dennis answered the first question, which asks if your family’s settlement community is listed on the Icelandic Roots Emigration page:
The two places that my family had a presence in that are listed in the article are North Dakota and Saskatchewan. But I am sure you are aware that those named places are very broad and include a lot of smaller places. My ancestors and their relatives are an example of the diaspora Icelander people in North American. They came to one place in the beginning, but rather than staying there, they migrated and spread to many other Icelander communities in North Dakota and Saskatchewan. My ancestors and their relatives had a presence in the following places:
North Dakota: Akra, Gardar, Fargo, Edinburg, Grand Forks, Cavalier, Lakota, Adams, and Sherwood.
Saskatchewan: Kristnes, Bertdale, Foam Lake, Leslie, Wynyard, Kandahar, Harvard, and Raymore.
The second question, “Can you share what you know about your family’s settlement journey, all the temporary and permanent communities they called home?”
Here Dennis shared a great deal about several ancestors' journeys, which make great biographies in their own right. For now, here is how he began to answer the question:
The story of my ancestors and their relatives’ journeys to North America is a story of chain migration.
The first of my ancestors' relatives to leave Iceland was my great-great-grandmother’s sister, Sigurbjorg Bjornsdottir (I335470), with husband Sveinn Thorsteinsson and seven children, who departed Seyðisfjörður in 1876 on board the Verona to Glasgow, Scotland.
She departed Glasgow on 19 Jul 1876 on board the SS Phoenician and arrived at Quebec on 31 Jul 1876. Note here that the Canadian Government operated an Inspection and Quarantine at Grosse Ile in the middle of the St. Lawrence River before reaching Quebec City. The station was continuously in operation from 1832 until 1937. It is now a National Historic Site managed by Parks Canada. I visited Grosse Isle in 2015. It is sort of the “Ellis Island” of Canada. I was told by the park staff that all emigrant ships were required to stop here for inspection and possible quarantine before they were permitted to land at Quebec City. So all Icelanders who came to Quebec would have had a stop at this station. How Sigurbjorg Bjornsdottir made their journey to Manitoba is unknown, but they first settled in New Iceland, Manitoba and later resided in Mountain, ND.
The next of my ancestor’s relatives to leave Iceland was my great great grandmother’s sister Katrin Bjornsdottir (I537427) who departed on 15 Jul 1878 with her husband Jón Jónsson and one child aboard the ship Queen from the port at Seyðisfjörður destined for Quebec.
Then on the SS Waldensian which departed Glasgow, Scotland on 21 Jul 1878 and arrived at Quebec on 1 Aug 1878. They would have to be subject to inspection at Grosse Isle. It is not known how they traveled to Minnesota. She settled in Swede Prairie, MN.
The next of my ancestor’s relatives to leave Iceland was my great great grandmother’s brother Jon Bjornsson (I335469) who departed Seyðisfjörður with his wife and one children on the Cameons on 14 Aug 1882 with an intended destination of Quebec.
Subsequently he and his family departed Glasgow, Scotland on 24 Aug 1882 on board the SS Buenos Ayrean and arrived at Quebec on 9 Sep 1882. They would have to be subject to inspection at Grosse Isle. They settled in the Mouse River, ND settlement.
The next of my ancestor’s relatives to leave Iceland was my great grandfather’s brother Fridbjorn Samsonson (I96555) who departed from Vopnafjörður in 1882 aboard the ship Camoens, intended to be bound for Quebec, with his wife, three of their children, a working woman named Elísabet Halldórsdóttir and an infant son of Fríðbjörn's she apparently just had. It is not known what ship he and his family may have transferred to. His first naturalization filing indicates that he arrived in the United States at the port of Boston, MA in about September 1882.
Ship lists for this period of time at Boston are not available. It is assumed that he most likely traveled to Pembina County, ND via railroad and other conveyances. He took up a homestead claim in Gardar Township of Pembina County, ND (which at the time was the Dakota Territory). Pembina County first opened to homestead claims in 1868. The first General Land Office was established at Pembina in 1870. Many of the claims were taken up in the 1870s and 1880s, so Fridbjorn arrived at an opportune time and there were still some unclaimed lands available. Not only would he have to take up occupancy of his homestead claim, but he also had to declare his intention to become a U.S. Citizen which he did on 6 Mar 1883 (just 6 months after his arrival in the United States.) It is assumed he began occupying his homestead claim of 80 acres in S1/2, SW1/4 Section 34 T159N, R56W (Gardar Township) around this time. He would prove up his claim and receive patent to the land on 16 Nov 1891.
A story about Fridbjorn Samson extracted from Saga Íslendinga Norður-Dakota by Thorstina Jackson is as follows (translated from Icelandic):
Friðbjörn Samson, son of Samson Björnsson from Hávarðsstoðir in Þistílfjörður and Kristbjörgar Þortsteinsdottir, Einarsson from Tungusel in Langanes. They immigrated to America in 1883 and settled in Garðar. Friðbjörn's wife was Jarðþrúður Gísladóttir, originally from Langnes.
Friðbjörn and Jarðþrúður had 12 children. Of these, six reached adulthood. Now living: Samson, in Passiae, Canada [1]; Kristbjörg, married to Ólafur Ólafsson in Canada; Stefan, a shopkeeper in Grand Forks; Juliana, married to Jón Magnusson in Grand Forks.
Friðbjörn was a special farmer, and his home was known for its hospitality and generosity. His wife died in 1922, and shortly after Friðbjörn gave up farming and now lives in Garðar.
By 1889, my great grandparents Jonas Samsonson (I96556) and Katrin Asmundsdottir (I249183) had at least four relatives who had made the journey from Iceland the North America. It is not known if they had been any written communication to them from their relatives in North Dakota. The closest relative was Jonas’s brother Fridbjorn who by that time had been in North Dakota for seven years. So it is assumed that Jonas may have intended to first go to the location (Gardar Township) where his brother lived. Jonas Samsonson departed from probably Seyðisfjörður in 1889 with his wife Katrin Ásmundsdóttir and their children Ásmundur Jónasson, Svava Jónasdóttir, Kristján Jónasson, Samson Jónasson, Kristín (Kristrun) Jónasdóttir, and Kristlaugur Jónasson. The ship they were on to Glasgow, Scotland is not known but they transferred to the SS Siberian which departed Glasgow on 26 Oct 1889 and arrived at Quebec on 8 Nov 1889. They would have to be subject to inspection at Grosse Isle. The family ultimately settled in Akra, ND. Arriving in 1889 was not an opportune time for obtaining a Homestead claim as much of the land in Pembina County had been taken up by those who arrived earlier.
Family lore says Jonas had rented land in the east corner of section 24 in Akra Township and was employed as a farm operator and a carpenter. He found work as a carpenter right away and one of his projects was the building of the Akra town hall which is now exhibited in Icelandic State Park.
In future articles, we will continue with Dennis McLane's narrative where he explores his ancestors' journeys across North America. In the meantime, here are the eight 2026 Focus questions we ask you to consider in exploring your own family's emigration journeys:
-As an Icelandic descendant, is your family’s settlement community listed on the Icelandic Roots Emigration web page?
-Can you share what you know about your family’s settlement journey, all the temporary and permanent communities they called home?
-Do you know some of the history of those settlements?
-Do you know of some of the prominent members of the community?
-Or some of the “characters” in the community?
-Do Icelandic descendants still live there? Does the community still exist?
-For all of us, whether Icelandic descendants or Icelandic interested, how much of this story do we know?
-What else can we find out about this story?
If you would like to share your research, send it in an email to outreach@IcelandicRoots.com.
Footnote:
[1] "Passiae, Canada": Dennis McLane offered clarification on this location. " I believe that 'Passiae' is most likely a corruption of Paswegin, Saskatchewan. It is located between Quill Lake and Wadena, Saskatchewan, north of Little Quill Lake. I got this location from finding him listed as being in there in 1919 in "A History of Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. He and his family are found in the 1906 Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in Humboldt District #13 and Sub-District #29. This area is described as Little Quill Lake. Later in the 1921 Census, he is found in nearby Elfros, Saskatchewan."