TIME TO GO TO ICELAND!

Shortly after arriving on the morning ferry on a gloomy day, Icelandic visitors
Thordur Bjarni Gudjonsson and his wife, Jorunn Kristinsdottir, posed for
a photo with Hoyt and Richard Purinton at the ferry dock.

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Last week I received an email from Almar Grimsson, an Icelandic friend (and cousin to Mary Jo) who has visited here several times in the past few years.  He said we might be paid a visit by a couple from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Thordur Gudjonsson is the Icelandic Consul General, an official representative of the Icelandic government, who has been positioned in an area with perhaps the greatest concentration of Icelandic descendants of anywhere in North America.  He and his wife had driven to Minneapolis and would "drop by" for a visit if we could arrange things.   It was a pleasure getting to know them, even though their visit was just for one day.

Their visit comes as plans were being developed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Icelandic settlement on Washington Island in 2020, a date with worthy potential both here and in Iceland, we're hoping to provide the framework for an exchange of citizens.   A contingent from Washington Island plans to visit Iceland in early June, and, in reciprocation, a group from Iceland will visit here in early October, when we will be the hosts.  Almar Grimsson has been my primary contact in planning activities for those occasions.

However, our visit with Thordur and Jorunn was only coincidentally related to our 2020 plans.  In his Consul General role, Thordur travels to many places in Canada and the U. S., primarily to assist in such celebrations or functions that are intended to help preserve Icelandic culture through activities, including language, poetry, music, food, dress and customs practiced by those who immigrated in the late 1800s.

Over 20,000 Icelanders are believed to have emigrated from Iceland over a period of 40 years, starting in 1870 and ending with the onset of WWI.   Among the very first were four young men who traveled from Eyrarbakki to Washington Island (via Milwaukee).  They were soon followed by others, adding to the numbers of pioneer immigrants already living here from other nations.

Explaining our Island's particular heritage, and in describing what those connections might mean for today's Island descendants, was my goal during their one-day visit.  Washington Island's story of Icelandic settlement has been largely overlooked beyond the midwestern United States.  But the story of this little island enclave is a good story, and one worth elevating through documentation.  This is not my opinion alone.  It has also been echoed in recent years by noted Islanders such as  Hannes Andersen, Ted Jessen, Jeanine Ronning and Arni Richter, to name a few.  A challenge is keeping those connections with Washington Island and Iceland fresh and in the forefront of today's Washington Island citizenry, through preservation of history and culture.

Aside from making numerous stops at Island points of interest (and many were closed in this late season), we also stopped at the Island Archives prior to their departure for the ferry and their long drive back to Winnipeg.  Steve Reiss had graciously laid out several early plat maps and photos, and he explained to our guests what might be found within our Washington Island Archives in terms of Icelandic history.  Thordur and Jorunn have each been exposed to similar materials and artifacts during their stay in the Winnipeg and Gimli centers of Icelandic culture.  Gimli is often considered "Little Iceland," one of the first places settled in Canada by those immigrants.  Their visit to our Archives might encourage communication with archival facilities in Canada, enhancing knowledge for each organization.

Archivist Steve Reiss (R) and I posed with Thordur Gudjonsson
with an "pioneer quilt" as backdrop, made by Dee Brown.  
Prominent Island family names and their corresponding decades 
are represented on the quilt. (photo by Jorunn)

This December will bring to a close Thordur's four-year posting as Consul General in Winnipeg.  The couple will prepare to return to Iceland soon after their return to Winnipeg. Thordur will continue his work within the Ministry of Culture in Iceland, until such time as another overseas position is offered.

I encourage anyone interested in traveling to Iceland early next June (2020) to get in touch with me. Or, please read my blog postings of late winter and early spring of this year.  We encourage not only those of Icelandic descent, but anyone with an interest in a cultural exchange, to consider spending two days within their larger vacation block to learn more about Iceland, and to be a representative of Washington Island for this notable, 150th anniversary, occasion!

-  Dick Purinton

High Water, Family Ties...and More!

With less lawn to mow, time can be devoted to redoing the boardwalk
along this dock.  I began my work wearing loafers and soon found myself
standing in ankle deep water that crept up around me as
silently as the fog bank observed in the background. 

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

When one isn't talking about the weather on Washington Island there is always the topic of lake levels.  The two are related, of course.

On the rise since the official, new low recorded in January of 2013, we've observed water levels creeping upward steadily, approaching record high levels seen in 1986 and 1987.  This has caused problems for boaters, shoreline owners, pier owners, and for the Ferry Line, trying to adjust to increasing water levels and shorelines that disappear one day, only to reappear a few hours or days later with a shift in wind or rise in barometric pressure.

I asked Island meteorologist and recorder of local data what might have prompted the unexpected rise and fall of the water observed on May 25th (and on several days since then).  Here is a portion of John Delwiche's reply:

"Dick: Yesterday was a very unusual day (I feel) from a meteorological standpoint. There was a shortwave impulse lifting NE thru Northern Ontario, and at the surface, a trailing Cold Front that extended across far SE Lake Superior and the Eastern UP. In other words, very close to the Island. The Storm Prediction Center mesoanalysis showed Mid-Level CAPE's edging upward ahead of the Front. (CAPE means Convective Air Potential Energy.) There was a narrow zone between the Front surging South, and the edge of the Lake Michigan modified air mass with the SSW winds you mentioned. This is only a guess, but I bet the action was going-on there, and it could have been a meso-Low. 

The narrow zone between the air masses probably showed-up best on Water Vapor Imagery from the GOES-16 (or 17) satellite that the NWS and SPC use. I don't know if I can "go back in time" with the GOES's images that I download, but I can try tomorrow morning. The best time for me to try downloading those images is very early morning(4AM-6AM). The files are so big, and it is futile to try downloads midday, much less on a weekend. I will try emailing NWS-Marquette as well. One of the guys there used to work in Green Bay, and I have emailed him in the past. "

John continued to dig for data that would help explain this observed "seiche," and hopefully he might give us greater explanation in one of his Island Observer weather columns.

The photos I've shown here exemplify what is becoming a daily challenge in ferry operations.  The Karfi, passenger ferry to Rock Island relied upon by hundreds of campers and day visitors over the summer months, operates from a landing near the boat house that will be in jeopardy on certain days when exposed to westerly or northwesterly winds and seas.  They can, and will, wash over the pier on those windiest days.  Wet feet and wet camping gear will result, and that's if the ferry can safely land behind what was formerly a protective pier.

What do 42 campsite fire rings and two semi loads of bundled firewood
have to do with high water, you may ask?  Staged on the lawn at the State Park
property in Jackson Harbor, they await transport to
Rock Island.  The previously assumed method - by one of the large 
Washington Island ferries - is out of question due both to lack of exposed pier to
butt against, and for the steepness of ferry ramp should the first evolution
be possible.  This cargo thus awaits transport by barge.

One can chance splitting the crotch in a pair of jeans
while getting to or from the Karfi deck.  The difference from
boat to pier has been eased somewhat with a step box. 
Shown here near the bow helps customers when hoisting
heavy camping gear over the rail of the ferry, items that are
often a challenge even for the muscle-bound Karfi crew to
handle with a smile.

Boaters are finding little to moor their craft against, unless pier supports are raised along the dock faces, a feat not easily or cheaply achieved.

Who's your daddy?

We recently attended a memorial service at Bethel Church for the former Island Archivist Barb Ellefson.  Barbara was known for her interest and enthusiasm for researching and teaching others the art of genealogy.  She carried the belief (unofficial, of course) that if you were from the Island, or from and Island family, then you were likely related not only to family A and B, but also C and D.

We test Barbara's theory in a combination program and teaching moment when the Archives presents "Island Genealogy," Sunday June 23 at 4:00 pm, in the Rutledge Room of the Community Center.  This location, a change from most of our public programs, means that activity will be centered next to the Archives computers and vault, and where those present may learn how important updating family records can be, and actually learn steps necessary to accomplish such a thing.  It may not matter as much to us as it might to our children, those of the next several generations who will someday wish to trace their family connections.  So, please mark June 23rd on your calendar, and spend a hour or so with Archivist Steve Reiss and the Archives volunteers to learn more about recording your family tree for posterity.  

Heading overseas!

Meanwhile, Mary Jo and I will take a leave of absence during most of June to attend to matters abroad...in this case a smattering of cruise stops in the Baltic countries.  We'll board a sister ship of the Viking Sun in Stockholm (remember the piano, chairs and plants sliding back and forth in an internet  video taken by one of the passengers on a fateful day aboard the Viking Sun in the North Atlantic? I knew immediately that was the cruise experience we were after!)

Truthfully, We've been assured that all four of the ship's engines will function smoothly (with lube oil day tanks filled and alarms reset to "Manual"), with little-or-no chance of failure, and that all itinerary stops scheduled along our route will bring smiles and education to our hearts and minds.  (What's the point of an adventure if there's never a concern for one's welfare?)   We're ready to cross the gangway and get started on our tour of Viking homelands.

In the meantime, in our absence, consider doing the opposite of the rain dance to induce a dry spell over the midwestern portion of the United States, with added emphasis and twisting movements to induce lower Lake Michigan levels during the coming months.

A show of hands...

One, last request before I close:  Be ready to put your hands in the air by the end of July if you're excited to join an Island delegation to travel to Iceland in early June of 2020.  A recent communication from our Icelandic friend Almar Grimsson prompts us to get seriously organized, which, in turn, will help our hosts and counterparts to plan for either a handful or a busload (or maybe two busloads) of Washington Island-connected folks.  Plans are to visit the seaside village of Eyrarbakki during the first week of June to join Icelanders in CelebrateIceland2020 - in whatever shape and form seems most appropriate --- "To Be Determined" during the coming months.  

Talk it up.  Get on the internet.  Check out the site, "Hey Iceland!"   Contact your friends and relatives for what could be both an epic and extremely meaningful trip to Iceland.

-  Dick Purinton

ARCHIVES WELCOMES GISLASON DESCENDANTS

Members of our group posed beneath the flag of Iceland in the Thordarson
artifacts room of the Boat House on Rock Island.  From left:  Craig Welt,
Laurie Latimer, Amy Welt, Jeannie Hutchins and special guest,
Almar Grimsson of Iceland.

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

Nearly 150 years ago, in 1870, four men from Iceland came to Washington Island, encouraged by William Wickman who purchased Island property here and offered the men the opportunity to work for him in his woods.

One of the men was Jon Gislason, who began working in the Danish outpost in Eyrarbakki at age 14, and who had come to know fellow store employee Wickman.  At the time, Eyrarbakki was a small seaport, but a major shipment point for exporting wool and cod from Iceland's southern coast.  It was Wickman who, removed to Milwaukee a year or so later, encouraged his Icelandic friends to join him in America.   These young men might have gone on to live productive and relatively comfortable lives in Iceland, but it was the adventure as much as anything that encouraged them to leave their homeland and seek new opportunities.

This past Tuesday, the Washington Island Archives held an Open House in the Rutledge Room of the Community Center, welcoming members of the community to learn more about the Archives, but foremost, to greet three guests who are descendants of Jon Gislason.

Almar Grimsson, Iceland, recently traveled to Grand Fork, North Dakota, to attend a convention celebrating Icelandic roots in North America.  He's been to the U.S. and Canada numerous times, tracing his ancestry and meeting with others of Icelandic immigrant descent. A common goal is to maintain strong ties with Iceland, the mother country, its history and culture.  Grimsson then drove from North Dakota to Washington Island for his first ever visit here.  He met up with two Gislason cousins of his, Amy Welt, joined by her husband, Craig, of Iowa City, Iowa, and Laurie Latimer, Evanston, Illinois.

Archivist Steve Reiss prepared a Gislason genealogical tree, based on information available in the Island Archives, and with help from Jeannie Hutchins and others, connections to Jon Gislason were made.  In Almar Grimsson's case, his great grandfather was a brother to Jon, and as a Lutheran minister, slightly older than Jon, that brother chose to remain in Iceland.  Amy is a great-granddaughter of Arthur Gislason, and Laurie is a great-granddaughter of Esther (respectively, brother and sister to Lawrence Gislason.)  Island residents may remember best Lawrence and Ruth Gislason who continued to run the Gislason family store in Jensenville, situated along the shores of Detroit Harbor.  This building later became the Island's first Community Center.  It was later demolished, and there is a sandy playground today where it once stood.

After closing their store in the 1930s, Lawrence and Ruth then sailed on Great Lakes vessels as a couple, for a time.  Gislason Beach, across the road from the present day Red Barn facility and adjacent to the Shipyard Marina, was the site of Gislason pier, once used by freighting vessels for the shipment of potatoes and lumber, and for receiving incoming products and visitors around the turn of the century, in the early 1900s.

One daughter of Jon and Augusta Gislason, Evaline, married Ben Johnson ("Hotel Benny" as he became known) who built Hotel Washington next door to the Gislason residence and boarding house.  It was at this same boarding house that a young couple, Julianna and C. H. Thordarson, for several years stayed when visiting the Island. This was before Thordarson purchased his property on Rock Island.  At the time, Julianna's mother and father lived on Washington Island.

Jeannie Hutchins adds meaning to what seemed like a mile-long
list of family names provided by Archivist Steve Reiss.
All named are descendants of Jon Gislason, one of
four earliest Icelandic immigrants to settle here.

  

On hand during Grimsson's visit, and most helpful in sorting out the often confusing family lines of descent (not to mention the many other associations and connections made in a small community over the decades) was Jeannie Hutchins.

Jeannie is both an Archives volunteer and a volunteer docent at the Jacobsen Museum, and she can claim perhaps the closest association of any Island person to the Thordarson family.

It was Jeannie's Aunt Helga (Lindal) who married the Thordarson's oldest son, Dewey.  Dan Lindal, Jeannie's father, answered an ad placed in the early 1920s by Thordarson in an Icelandic newspaper published in Gimli, near Winnipeg, Canada, and Lindal (and later his sister, Helga) came to Washington Island, working first as a foreman on Rock Island for C. H. Thordarson, and then as an Island fisherman.

Jeannie (Lindal) Hutchins poses with the traditional
 Icelandic wedding dress of Julianna Thordarson,
on display at the Thordarson Boat House.

My first association with Almar was through filling his email order for a book about Thordarson and Rock Island.  Several exchanges and several years later, and serving as an Island Archives representative, I offered to prepare an agenda of activities during his two-day stay that might prove meaningful in connecting with his family Icelandic heritage, and also with the Rock Island and Thordarson history.

Looking back at the opportunity to visit with each of our guests, I believe we had a most rewarding time, during which new bits of information and history about the Gislason family or Rock Island came to light.

Casual conversation revealed that Almar and Mary Jo are also cousins, through a Dane named Knudson who came to live in Iceland.  Shown photos from our recent, 2015 family trip to Iceland, Almar recognized several faces, including   Mary Jo's Gudmundsen cousins, Dora and Bjorg Thorsteinsdottir, who were also his relations.  So, in this way our visiting was both enlightening and entertaining.

Grimsson, who is a retired pharmacist, is also a past president of the Icelandic National League of Iceland. He became actively interested in pursuing general Icelandic genealogy and emigration, and in particular his own family ties, approximately 20 years ago.  But until a colleague asked him a specific question about Washington Island, he was not aware of the Jon Gislason family connection, or of the importance of Washington Island's place in the minds of fellow Icelanders.

This Island is considered the first, true settlement location by most Icelanders (although there was also a large group who left from southern Iceland in the 1840s, following a Danish Mormon leader to Spanish Fork, Utah).  The arrival and subsequent settling here by those first four men then became a wave of emigration to North America - many settled on the plains of Canada - that spanned approximately 1870-1914.

Having gained deeper knowledge about his family and this island community - the one Icelandic settlement location he had yet to visit in the United States - Grimsson hopes to return again some day, along with his wife.

Welcoming Almar Grimsson (center) at the Archives Open House
Tuesday, May 9, were Karen Jess, Connie Sena and Judie Yamamoto.

Wednesday, May 10, we stopped at points of interest that aren't typically open to visitors until later in May. We were accompanied by videographers Brett Kosmider and Andrew Phillips, of Peninsula Filmworks, LLC.  Their company is associated with Peninsula Publishing and Distribution Company and was commissioned by the Door County Visitor's Bureau to produce short video segments on Door County culture and history.  These productions, approximately five or six minutes in length, play on the DCVB website. The topic chosen by Phillips and Kosmider to air in June will describe Washington Island's Icelandic connections.

I received Andrew's email contact out of the blue, at about the same time Almar's plane touched down at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.  Through this coincidental timing, we linked up and were able to provide timely opportunities for them to witness Icelandic connections as they unfolded.  We look forward with interest to viewing the results of their interviews and photography, based on our day together at various Island locations.

*        *         *

For the fine welcome given our Gislason relations guests, I'd like to thank Archives committee members and volunteers for helping to prepare the Open House event.

Also, I must give special thanks to Rock Island State Park Supervisor, Michelle Hefty, who allowed us the opportunity to visit the Thordarson Boat House prior to its official opening date.  And to Terri Moore, who prepared the pioneer buildings and opened up especially for us at the Island Farm Museum.  And Jeannie Hutchins, both for knowledge shared over the days during our guests' visit, and also for the private opening of the Jacobsen Museum at Little Lake to see artifacts there.

Each of these above-named facilities, as well as the Stavkirke, display facets of Island history and culture, and each helps to educate and interpret Washington Island's development as a community over several generations.  These institutions become important stops for Island visitors, but also for residents, especially during the "warm months" of the tourism year.  

-  Dick Purinton