 |
The First Icelanders of Blaine |
|
|
|
"The first Icelanders to settle in the vicinity of Blaine, as far as can be ascertained at this time, were two women, Gudny and Thorunn Lee. They were married to two Norwegians who were first cousins. These people came from North Dakota in 1888 and settled in Birch Bay. Gudny spent her last years in Blaine, where she died at a ripe old age. The greatest influx of Icelanders came at, and immediately after, the turn of the century. The largest single group came in 1901 from Selkirk, Manitoba. In the following years they kept coming, singly and in families, well into the second decade of the century, mostly from Manitoba and North Dakota. The Icelanders have been a sea-going people from more than a thousand years and the sea, with its beauty and its potential wealth, has a natural attraction for them. The scenic beauty, the temperate climate and the prospect of increasing prosperity in the Pacific Northwest were added reasons for the migration. And the Icelanders have prospered here. As they prospered they have loyally accepted their full share of responsibility for the general welfare. As a special service to their own national group they have built in Blaine two churches and the Icelandic Old Folks Home, Stafholt." -Excerpted from "Pioneers of Peace, 75th Anniversary of Blaine, WN 1884-1959," page 94. |