The Blöndal family
By Nelson Gerrard
The first generation of the Blöndal family
to make an appearance on the Canadian scene, though only briefly, was Doris Blöndal Johnson's paternal great-grandmother Jóhanna Jónsdóttir Blöndal.
Part of the great wave of emigration driven by hardship in Europe and dreams of a better life in North America, Jóhanna left Iceland sin 1883, in the wake of one of the coldest years on record in that country. A widow for 20 years, though only 54 years of age, she had raised two sons, Björn and Jón Blöndal, and they now accompanied her on the long and adventurous voyage to Canada. Jóhanna’s new life in the Canadian West was cut short, however, when she died in the frontier city of Winnipeg a year later, in 1884.
A native of the Húnavatnssýsla region of Northern Iceland, Jóhanna Jónsdóttir was born at Litla-Giljá 1829, a daughter of the poet Jón Jóhannesson (1803-1843), later of Beinakelda, and his wife, Ósk Ólafsdóttir. Jóhanna's paternal grandparents were Rev. Jóhannes Jónsson (b.1779), pastor to the Isle of Grímsey, and Sigríður Ólafsdóttir from Unastaðir. Her maternal grandparents were Ólafur Björnsson from Mjóidalur (b.1769), Reeve and Justice of the Peace at Beinakelda, and Gróa Ólafsdóttir from Geitafell on Vatnsnes (b.1769).
Jóhanna Jónsdóttir Blöndal's husband, who died at age 28 in 1863, was Ágúst Theódór Blöndal, an agricultural specialist at Flaga in Vatnsdalur (b.1835), the son of Sheriff Björn Blöndal (b.1787) at Hvammur in Vatnsdalur and his wife, Guðrún Þórðardóttir (b.1797).
Sheriff Björn Blöndal, the son of Rev. Auðunn Jónsson of Blöndudalshólar (b.1750) and one of the most influential officials of his day, had adopted the surname Blöndal (derived from his place of birth) while studying in Denmark from 1815-18.
Ágúst Theódór Blöndal was one of 15 Children, many of whom became prominent citizens and virtually all Blöndals in Iceland today are descended from this family.