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The community of Gimli began with an idea for a colony of Icelanders within Canada which would allow them full citizenship and unhindered rights to preserve their language and culture. Sigtryggur Jonasson, Einar Jonasson and John Taylor are known as founding fathers of New Iceland, and hence of the community of Gimli. These three men led an official expedition in July of 1875 in search of a place for a large group of Icelanders who had temporarily settled at Kinmount Ontario to settle permanently. Skafti Arason, Kristjan Jonsson and Sigurdur Kristofersson joined the official party.Having decided that no suitable land was available in eastern Canada they decided to head west. Due to poor farming conditions that year in southern parts of the prairies they turned to the Interlake region. Here they found land with good soil, abundant game and wild berries, woodlands for timber and firewood, the lake with abundant fish, First Nations peoples who were friendly, ample room for the settlement to grow, and good transportation on the lake by boat or on the ice. They returned to Kinmount Ontario to report back to the group, and with the help of Lord Dufferin convinced the Canadian Government to make the settlers a grant of land on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg from the northern boundary of the province of Manitoba extending thirty-six miles to the Icelandic River and inland extending about ten miles. They named the region New Iceland.
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Mural of Sigtryggur Jonasson24 November 2005
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Sigtryggur Jonasson as one of the initiators of the New Iceland settlement was appointed by the Canadian government as a government commissioner in November of 1876.4
Einar Jonasson (1848 to 1931)1878
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Along with being instrumental in choosing the location for the new community, Einar Jonasson became a valuable member of the new community. As a self-taught homeopathic doctor Einar was the only medical officer in the community for a number of years.6
John Taylor1920
Gimli, Manitoba
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John Taylor, a lay missionary in the Kinmount area of Ontario who befriended the Icelanders, was instrumental in convincing the Canadian government to grant exclusive rights of colonization to the Icelanders and to provide for them to move from Kinmount to the area that was to become New Iceland. He was appointed by the government of Canada as a government commissioner. John Taylor, with Fridjon Fridriksson as his translator, led the Icelanders on the arduous journey from Kinmount to New Iceland.In a discussion along the way, Olafur Olafsson suggested that the first Icelandic town built in North America should be named Gimli, a name derived from the ancient Icelandic writings in the Elder Edda. The Elder Edda gives an account of the earth being destroyed and then rising again in a new and better place where good and worthy people would live in peace and harmony forever, and the place would be called Gimli. And so it was that the first settlement in New Iceland was named Gimli.
With no minister in the new community John Taylor conducted services that were translated by Fridjon Fridriksson into Icelandic.
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There were many men and women who played important roles in the initial settlement of New Iceland. A sampling of the names of some of these men includes: Fridjon Fridriksson, merchant, postmaster and paymaster (see next page), Gudni Thorsteinsson, teacher, translator, founder of the community library, and homeopath, and Reverends Pall Thorlaksson and Jon Bjarnason, the first pastors in the community.9
Fridjon Fridrikson1900
Gimli, Manitoba
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An example of the many individuals important to the founding of the community was Fridjon Fridriksson. It is believed that Fridjon Fridriksson's home was the second or third building constructed in Gimli in October - November 1875. As such his home became a central meeting place and he also used his home as a store and it later became the first post office.Fridjon, like so many of the early founders, played numerous roles in the advancement of the community. In 1876 he was appointed accountant and paymaster by the Dominion government surveyors. In 1877 he became the first postmaster, in 1879 he went into partnership with his brother and Sigtyrggur Jonasson. They purchased a steamship and established a sawmill operation. He was elected vice-president and then president of the New Iceland colony and he was a member of the founding committee that established the first newspaper, Framfari.
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Torfhildur Holm circa 18851885
Gimli, Manitoba
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The role of women in the founding of the community is often overlooked. However, many women were important in the leadership required to establish this new community. From leadership in teaching the young people of the community in the language of the new country, to provision of nursing and midwife care, to provision of clothing (knitting) and leadership in issues of women' rights these women were just as important to the establishment of the community as the men. A very brief sample of these women includes: Caroline and Jane Taylor (daughters of John Taylor), school teachers who taught in English in the first years of the settlement; Rebekka Gudmundsdottir, Holmfridur Jonsdottir and Vilborg Thorsteinsson, nurses and midwifes; Sigurlaug at Maeri (Maeri was a farm just north of the townsite of Gimli), a woman who gave refuge and shelter to many who had nowhere to go: and, Torfhildur Holm, a poet and author who collected stories of the new settlement.13
Early portrait of mother and child1900
Gimli, Manitoba
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Gimili nurse 19201920
Gimli, Manitoba
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