Dr. Barry Thor L. Whitney

An Icelandic Family History:

Family Lines Extend back to the year 20AD (over 60 generations)

© B.Whitney


*Last Updated October 2005: This site is always being updated with new information....

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Special thanks to Magnús Haraldsson, Magnús Bjarni Baldursson (both in Reykjavík, Iceland), and Don Gislason, researcher for the Icelandic Canadian Club of Toronto. I am especially grateful to Valgeir Ţorvaldsson, Executive Director of the Icelandic Emigration Center, Hofsós, Iceland: on a recent trip to Iceland, I brought Valgeir my family tree whih traced my family lines back 11 generations and he was able to use his state-of-the-art computer data base and trace dozens of family lines of my Icelandic family tree, some as far back as 240AD (an incredible 56 generations), with other branches traced back to 330AD, 600AD, and many other amazingly distant dates. One family line (see below) extends back to the year 20AD (well over 60 generationsd) and contains such people as Erik the Red, Snorri, and many of the original settlers of Iceland.


My mother's mother was born of Icelandic parents. Her family emigrated from Eiđsstöđum, Iceland in 1874 on the St. Patrick, settling first in Kinmount, Ontario, then in Winnipeg/Gimli, Manitoba ("New Iceland"), to Pembina, North Dakota, USA in 1879, and back to Canada, in the Calgary area, settling down in 1896 in Tindastoll, Alberta and finally in Markerville, Alberta in 1899. The Benediktsson house still stands there, as does the church where my grandmother(born in Markerville in 1899) played the organ. My grandmother's father owned the Markerville general store, housed the Icelandic library, and had the first phone in the town. He was a contemporary of the famous Icelandic poet, Stephan G Stephansson, who lived in the Markerville area.

On the St. Patrick, both sides of my mother's family emigrated to Canada in 1874. My mother's grandfather, Jón Benediktsson, was only one year old when the trip was made, and on that ship were his future in-laws, Jón Jónsson and his wife, one of whose children was born in Canada and married Jón Benediktsson. The families embarked from the Northern ports of Akureyri and Saudárkrokur. Both fmilies had lived in Northern Iceland.

The geneology of my Great Grandparents: Jón Benediktsson (Benedictson) 18. jan. 1873 (Eiđsstöđum Iceland) -- 12 júlí 1925 (Markerville, Alberta, Canada) and Lára Sigurlína Jónsdóttir (Benedictson) 1876 í Peterborough í Ont -- 1964 í Markerville (whose parents were on the same ship, the St. Patrick in 1874)

DESCENDANTS of Jón Benediktsson (Benedictson) and Lára Sigurlína Jónsdóttir (Benedictson)

Ancestors of Lára Sigurlína Jónsdóttir (Benedictson)

[1] Jón Benediktsson (Benedictson), f. 18. jan. 1873, d. 12 júlí 1925. kaupmađur í Markerville í Alta, (emigrated from Iceland to Kinmount, Ontario in 1974; moved in 1875 to North Dakota, then to Glimli, Manitoba, and finally to Markerville, Alberta) + *Lára Sigurlína Jónsdóttir (Benedictson), f. 1876 í Peterborough í ONt, d. 1964 í Markeville. húsfreyja í Markerville [V-Ísl.ć.VI]: great-great grandparents of Barry Thor Lyn Whitney [-3]

[2] Jón Jónsson (Strong), f. 12. mars 1848, d. 12. mars 1908. bóndi í Markerville í Alta, frá Geiteyjarströnd viđ Mývatn, + *Helga Ingibjörg Davíđsdóttir Strong f. 1851, d. 1903. húsfreyja í Markerville, og víđar [V-Ísl.ć.III]: