Oral History Program Eleanor Jarvis Joyce Slye 13 August 1972 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Eleanor Jarvis Interviewed by Joyce Slye 13 August 1972 Copyright © 2012 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in Special Collections. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Jarvis, Eleanor, an oral history by Joyce Slye, 13 August 1972, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Eleanor Jarvis. The interview is being conducted on August 13, 1972, in Spanish Fork, Utah, by Joyce Slye. Jarvis discusses Icelandic history and lineage in Spanish Fork, Utah. EJ: I would like, first, to give you just a brief history of the first permanent Icelandic settlement which was made here in Spanish Fork by a group of Icelandic pioneers who came here in the years from 1855, 57 into 60. Now, the first to come of this group that came was Samuel Biarnson and his wife Margaret and a mutual friend by the name of Helga. They came to Spanish Fork and speaking a language that no one else knew, nobody understood them and the times were really pretty hard for them. The second to come was Thoridur Dedrickson. Now Thoridur Dedrickson left his home land and came across to New Orleans and then he came up the New Orleans on a boat and then up to settlement where the Mormon people were and there he joined a handcart company and he pulled his handcart all across the plains and they said that he was a man that weighted about 190 pounds and when he arrived he weighed only the 100 pounds. Now, in time, Thoridur Dedrickson married Helga, the girl that had come with Samuel Bjarnson and his wife. And it wasn't long after they came that they acquired land, 150 acres, and, of course, they soon began farming. But the greatest thing that I think they did was that they were here to welcome the other Icelandic people that come, because when they, Margaret and Samuel, first arrived in Salt Lake City President Young thought things over and thought, "Well, we’ll send them to Spanish Fork, because the Danish settlement is there and as they are now under the Danish rule, we'll send them and they will probably get along better, but when the Icelandic people come, the Danish 1 people were down in the northern part of town but the Icelandic people cone way up into the southeast part of town and there they built their settlement. Now, next to come after Thoridur Dedrickson was Lofter Jonsson and his wife, Gudran Holldorottir, Jon Jonsson and Gudru Jonsdottir. Now along with them came Magnus Bjornsdottir, who was my great aunt. She was a beloved physician and nurse of Spanish Fork. She had acquired her education in Iceland and then went to Denmark where she became very skilled and, of course, in time she accepted the Mormon religion and come here. And after she come here she married William. He was not of Icelandic descent. Now the next to come was Gudney Erasmusdottir and she introduced record keeping into this group and we didn't have too much about Gudney Erasmusdottir who introduced record keeping. We didn't have too much about her but she brought with her, Ragnhildur Stefsdottir and her daughter, Mary Hansen Sherwood to complete this group of courageous Icelandic pioneers who established here the first permanent Icelandic settlement in America. In 1938 the Icelandic Association, in connection with the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, dedicated a monument, in Spanish Fork to this settlement. At this time there was only one surviving member of this group, Mary Hansen Sherwood from Utah. She was an honored guest this night at the dedicatory rites. Mrs. Sherwood died a few years later at Levan. JS: That is really interesting. It seems like in. previous interviews, they haven't given the names of all these people and I've enjoyed this. EJ: Well, I've known them for so long. JS: You mentioned that your mother came to Spanish Fork when she was eight years old. Is that right? 2 EJ: Yes, my mother left her home in Denmark in company with her grandmother. Her mother had died and on her deathbed she had exacted a promise from the father that should the grandmother ever come to Utah that little Mary should come with her. Now, mother knew that she couldn't live long and that the little girl would be well taken care of if she should come with the grandmother, so it was really a very sad parting when her father bid her good-bye because he couldn't come then, and, of course, in due time he married again and he lived to be 50 years old and never saw his little girl again. She crossed the plains with the grandmother but the grandmother was quite ill on the sailing vessel. The name of the sailing vessel was Kennilworth. They landed first in New York City and they were sent to Boston because they felt that probably the train wouldn't be bothered and interrupted by non-Mormon people if they would cross farther up. Shortly out of Massachusetts the grandmother died and the train was stopped, she was buried at Florence, Massachusetts, and then the little girl came on alone in company with Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jensen, who were friends of the family and when she got to Omaha or Council Bluffs, wherever they took the trade, why she come with, I think there were 300 in the company that left that she come with. She used to cry, of course, for her mother and three times she left the train and went back to find her mother, but three times they stopped the train and went back and found her. After the third time, then she was put in charge of two little girls, one was two years older than her and one I think was about three years older. A Mrs. Madsen from Salem and Mrs. Paul Jensen's children, you see, of the older people. When she arrived in Salt Lake she went to the Tithing Yard, but there was no one there to meet Mary and all of the folks left and went with the friends that had come to get them and went to the towns where they were to go, but Mary 3 waited four days for her distant relative (neighbor friend she lived by in Denmark) of hers to come up from Spanish Fork and, of course, she had to come by wagon, you see, and she said while she was there she was very, very lonely but she was fed and she had a bed for the night. Finally, they came and got her and she went to the home of Grandmother Otteson. We called her grandmother because she didn't have any relatives but she had a lot of lovely friends, and when she was about 16 years old she felt that she should get out and sort of get on her own because in Salt Lake City she had signed a note for $88 for her immigration. Her age is on that note and mother treasured that note and kept it and always told us to always keen it because she always wanted anyone to know that she had paid for her immigration, so she went to a lady by the name of May Jacobsen and she said to her, 'Why don't you go to Vigdus Holt ? She has been such a good woman and she has taken in a lot of Icelandic people and people who have no home so you go Vigdus Holt and ask her if you can live with her.' So she went Vigdus Holt and she suggests, “My girl, just get your belongings and come,” so she made her home there. Of course, it was there that she met my father. He comes out Iceland to visit. Vigdus Holt (his father’s sister), the pioneer Doctor and met his wife, and then, of course, eventually they were married and that is the history of my father and mother. JS: That is beautiful. She was a great woman. Why don't you tell me a little about your childhood? EJ: I had such a happy childhood. In due time, of course, father and mother acquired a small home up to Iceland, as it was called, and, of course, they set about at first to plant every bit of ground into fruit trees and we had every kind of fruit and a vegetable plot 4 was finished off because we did raise chickens and the chickens, of course, could get in at the vegetables. Mother had that finished off and we had a lovely garden all summer. Also, a lovely flower garden, always flowers and a lawn and a lovely lawn bench. And, of course, we all loved that lawn bench and a lot of our friends. Mother was such a cheerful person. I think father’s first job after he got to America was on the railroad and then, of course, they just took whatever work they could find to support their family. Our home that father and mother acquired was of adobes and it wasn't long after Thoridur Dedrickson come, that he established a plant that made adobes and, in fact, the location of that plant was just across from the monument in Spanish Fork, and, of course, they could all get the adobes there and build a home and, of course, in time, father and mother had a whole stack of it. It was a very humble home but my mother was a very happy and courageous person and always she had the welfare of her children at heart and especially to give them an education. I can just see my mother making bread. The loaves and loaves of bread that she'd make. Then, when I was 12 years old, she taught me to make bread and I made all the bread at home until I married or went to work. Of course, the fruit trees began to produce fruit and mother would bottle the fruit and then we children, all the fruit that was left that she didn't bottle, my mother would dry and, of course, we would all get in the shade and get all the plums around us or the peaches or whatever we were drying and she would have our paring knives for us and for so long that day, we would cut fruit to dry and then, of course, we would spread it. In due time, we would have to go up and turn it all so that it would dry just right. Do you know the first thing we had to pay after we weighed what we had (these were individual projects for the children) and the first thing that we had to pay 5 after we had weighed our fruit wag6ur tithing. And, then, of course, we sold what was left or what mother didn't want to keep. Mother used to make delicious apple des out of raisins and dried apples. Of course, then the price for fruit that was dried was I think a pound, something like that. And then, mother made such large apple dumplings and of chicken. Chicken soup and chicken dumplings, she could make many, many pies, especially on Saturday— mother always made pies or cake for Sunday morning and, of course, all the shoes had to be shined and all that was ready for Sunday morning for church and probably you would like something about our entertainment and something the girls went to. There was always weddings and in those days, most everybody was invited to weddings. The family would be inviting, in fact, the invitation would come and family and… JS: How were these weddings conducted?" EJ: They were mostly home weddings. I can tell you about my wedding. My wedding, our home wasn't really very large and I was married at home and my mother had the front room, of course, was all decorated with strands of pink and white paper and it all went to the center, you know, with the big lovely bow in the center, you know, taken from the corners of the room and then the place where we were to stand was all decorated too with the strands of the pink paper, you know. Of course, cakes had been made in advance, you know and punch and cakes were served the night that I was married. And then, our reception was held at the home of my husband's, and the weddings then, they had big rooms and it was a big home and there were two big lovely rooms trusses were set up and a regular chicken dinner and all the trimmings was served at my wedding. It was a lovely, lovely wedding, I thought. In fact, I had a twin brother and he knew it was 6 going to be quite hard for mother to get me a wedding dress and everything that went with the wedding. Of course, all through our lives, mother had taught us these lovely skills, you know, of embroidering and we had our quilts, downs and sheets and things like that, you know, and crochet work mother had taught us and I learned to knit and we had lovely things like that but then the wedding dress and everything that went with it, I knew had been a worry for mother, and my twin brother happened to be working in Salt Lake. And he had a boyfriend in Salt Lake that was buyer for the Paris Company, so he said to my brother, “Elmer, why don't you come up at noon today and we'll go in the store to pick out your twin sister's bridal dress and that’s because you told me you wanted to buy it for her. So they went and picked out my dress which I guess was the most beautiful, beautiful dress I ever, ever did own. It was made of pale pink crepe dusting and the skirt was accordion pleated and the bodice was made, of course, of part of the crepe, but a tool, a beautiful tool was draped in the front of the bodice up to the shoulders. Oh, the lace on that dress was just something to remember. And my underskirt, it was white crepe with inserts of shadow lace and this was all edged in a pink and blue rosebud trim which matched my dress that had rosebuds all around the waist. And then, of course, there were flowers for my hair—rosebuds. Then my slippers, they were something, they were pink satin. And they were really beautiful. They had pompom bows of tiny baby ribbon knotted in the center and silk stockings, and this was 1915. I had silk stockings and they were much like the Kaiser glove, silk that I saw later. And. those, I think, were the first silk stockings that I ever remember in 1915. So, I really can remember my wedding. JS: I'll bet your brother was proud, too. Wasn't he?" 7 EJ: Yes, and he was very happy and very proud. Proud to do that for me. But I never will forget one of my husband's aunts who came to the wedding. She looked at me and said, 'Ah, what a beautiful bride, but you're nothing but a child.' JS: How old were you?" EJ: I was 19. So that was my wedding. Of course, all the relatives and friends were there. And I received beautiful gifts and I don't think I have ever seen more beautiful china today than were my wedding gifts, and silver and things that I received from my friends and relatives that came to our wedding, so. . . " JS: Was your wedding after Icelandic tradition or was it American custom then?" EJ: Well, it probably was just the tradition of the day, you know, we Icelandic people really went together very well with all the other nationalities and, not all of the people that come were (of the Icelandic pioneers) Mormons. You see, there were some Lutherans. Their religion was Lutheran and my father was Lutheran when he come and you see, he was baptized later, you see. The other people, now like my father-in-law, Thomas Jarvis, their home was right up here among the Icelandic people. In fact, it was just about three or four blocks down the street from where I lived. And he had a big farm and oh, four blocks, you know, the town then was divided as it is now, into four blocks, you see, and there would be a house on every corner, you see, but he had the complete block, and on this he would raise turnips and cabbages and carrots and potatoes and he was always trying different fruits together to get a different fruit and he was a very, very charitable man, as was Grandfather Jarvis. I just marveled after I married and we lived there just a little while before we had a home, just up on the corner from them, because it seemed that just about every night they were going somewhere to take 8 something to somebody. I have heard the Icelandic people say, families, you know, “I don't think we could have weathered the winter if it hadn't been for Thomas Jarvis and his wife and their cabbages and their carrots and all the vegetables and the fruit that they raised on this block, and gave to everybody so willingly.” And he also would let them, the Icelandic people, have his team of horses. See they didn't have horses and wagons and machinery, you know, but Grandfather Jarvis would see that there'd be a time when they could take his and do the planting. JS: Oh, they must have been fine people. You know, I've understood from other interviews that the Icelandic people were very resourceful and very helpful with each other." EJ: Oh, they were very, very industrious. The Icelandic people were very, very kind and considerate of one another and as they come, one by one until they had all got here and formed a community, they would be taken in by the others, and there would be kept in shelter until they had a home of their own. My aunt, Vigdus Holt, great aunt, Vigdus Byornsdotter Holt, she took in so many people that to her goes a lot of credit, because she took in most of the homeless and those who just had no place to go, and then her being a midwife and doctor, she went among them tirelessly all the time and was called the 'Snow Stork' because she rode her horse and her bag attached to the saddle and she went night and day. She didn't charge; very, very seldom got any money for any of her services and when there was a large family, she would come home and see that they had a cow and she not only helped them and delivered the babies and things, but if there was a large family and they needed something to eat, she would see that they had a cow or a sheep or what they needed. That was my own aunt, you see, that I know of. I know that that went on in my own home. Of course, we raised pigs and things like that 9 and we would watch father and mother go at night and we'd think, 'Well, I wonder if there'll be anything left.' Of course we knew there was something left because the hams, and shoulders and all that was all cured and. hanging down in the cellar, you know. Of course, the rest could go to all their friends, and in turn, you see, it always came back because whenever they killed an animal or had extra things, why they always divided, one with the other. But there was one custom that I missed today. And that was when they met at 10 o’clock in the morning, the neighbors would get together to have coffee, and of course, some would be knitting, especially Sarah. Sigdur was her name and she would come to see my mother and she’d say “Mary, hvernig lifir tojer?” and mother would say, “Oh, eger bara vel, Mary” and “Hver er finnbogl?, Hannfjor nidri” and they would go on talking, and I wouldn't know anything they were saying and pretty soon they'd laugh and talk, you know, and the knitting needles would just be flying, because many, many wore knitted stockings. I wore knitted stockings to high school and that wasn't so many years before I was married, hut if I wanted an education and there weren't other kind of stockings for me to wear; then, of course, I would wear the knitted stockings. JS: Tell me about the Icelandic library and your father and... EJ: Very soon after the colony was established here, they proceeded to donate their books to an Icelandic library. Now, the librarian for this book was Hannah Jonson and I can just see into her house now and, oh, it was just beautiful and clean and then I would go into the other room and there was a big, large wardrobe sort of affair of case where all the Icelandic books were kept. Of course, my father went there often and we did have some library books in Icelandic, which I contributed to the Daughters of the Utah 10 Pioneers. What I had that was my father's, after my father's death. But, a library was really a very popular place for the older Icelandic people. It brought them in touch with their home life, and of course, their poets and everything like that and I can be very proud to say that family’s lineage is all written and my father's family, because my lineage goes back to Ingolfur Arnason and he was the first man that settled Iceland. It was said that they were impressed of a place, of course, to settle and he said, 'Well, I will throw out my head posts and I think that the head post was sort of a board that was up at the back of them that they sit against, you know. And he said, “Wherever this lights, we will make the first city,” and that's Reykjavik, Iceland. And that is my relative. And when we had the Icelandic Centennial, we celebrated our 100 years in Utah, the first float that went down the street was a great big ship and it was a large one, and it had “Ingolfur Arnason Enters Iceland” And, that's what it said on the float and then, on this float (I have pictures of that) was my daughter. My son was supposed to be on the float with her but he was called to work at the last moment, so her husband substituted, but he was Danish so that was alright. And he was the Viking and she was the Icelandic maiden and then I called my grandchildren, what I had then, on the back of the float and my other son that could be there, and they rode the float. We are very happy to have a picture of that float, in color. We treasure that. By the way, that was taken by Richard Taylor, he went to hand it to Mary Jane one day, and he said, “I made two— one for your mother and one for you because I know she would love one the same as you would.” But, all day that day the radio kept saying, 'Tune in tonight (on a certain station) and you'll see a big Viking ship coming down Spanish Fork Main Street.' They told us after. Of course, we were at the celebration and didn't hear that. Would you like to know 11 about the Icelandic Choir? Soon after they come, you know, they made a meetinghouse. It's only just through the block from me. The meetinghouse was just another place that they could go. They really hadn't learned, the language, you know, and there they would meet their own and conduct their services in Icelandic. And, it was no time until they had an Icelandic Choir. And my father had a lovely voice and he was a member of the Choir and I can remember sitting on that steps and listening to the Choir. They would practice before the meeting, you know, and you could hear father's booming voice, you know, and he sang in that Choir just as long as I could remember, because at the death of our good neighbor, Vicktrus Goodmaundson, that day at the cemetery, the Icelandic Choir sang in Icelandic, just before they buried Vigfus, our dear friend. Would you like to know about the dressmakers? Oh, we had many skilled dressmakers. They did such beautiful work and such lovely handwork and many of the stitches today that I am doing in my crewel work that I'm doing and much of the work that's being done now on the toweling. I did that when I was young and, of course, that was taught to me by my mother and by my Icelandic friends, you see because early in life I liked to sew and just make things and create and do things like that. Would you like to know about the builders? Do you have that? JS: I have a little bit about the builders. I knew that Vic was a carpenter at the time but I don't know any of their names." EJ: Well, maybe I could just tell you that his father. Sigadur Thorliefson was one of the first builders, you see, and now that has carried on from Sigadur to his son Leo and to his son Victor and now, to Victor's son, Ted. Now, that's the third generation, you see, and all builders, and some of the best builders that we have in town. And, of course, there's 12 the Geslison's ton. Among the Geslison's, there wasn't a finer cabinet maker than Manda Geslison. In fact, he made the cabinets in Mary Jane's new home, and they are beautiful. JS: Where did they acquire these skills?" EJ: These skills they brought with them from their homeland, because in Iceland, every child, almost, is taught a skill, and every child is taught, too, early in life, 'that I must give back to my country something in some way. In some way, I must acquire within myself, something that will go on to help those that are coming, the generations to come. JS: I'm curious why they became carpenters. I understand that in Iceland they have to build block homes because of the moisture in the air. Is that so? EJ: Well, if you went to Iceland today, you'd think you're coming down Los Angeles. I really don't know where, oh, yes the old, old homes were still. . . In fact, I have some pictures that I'll show you of their older homes, way back in other centuries, you see. And then their painters. We had wonderful painters, you see. Geslison, one of the Geslison family is right now, one of the best that we have. And then we had shoe repairmen. And they were wonderful, because we got to go for quite a long walk, way up on the bench, you know, Hgalmar Bjarnason, and he was our shoemaker. We'd always loved that walk because we got to meet a lot of our friends. And then, the Christmas tree, the Icelandic Christmas tree and the celebrations. How we looked forward to that. Oh, that was a day to be remembered. And, you see, Sarah Sigudur and Bjarin Sweinsson that lived across the street—they were childless, they didn't have any children, so they sort of adopted us as we were sort of their children, especially when it come to the Christmas tree. Because, you see, mother had this family of seven children and she couldn't always go 13 with us, you see, so Sika and Bjarni would carry the smaller children and the rest of us would walk to the Christmas tree. And it would be held in our Icelandic meetinghouse, and there they'd have the Choir, the Choir would sing and the beautiful Christmas tree was there, all decorated with little candles. They were in little candle holders. And on that tree, would be a gift for every child, and, of course, candy and nuts and Santa Claus and everything that went with it. And really in our childhood, we really looked forward to the Icelandic Christmas tree. JS: Was the Christmas tree after Icelandic tradition? Or did it change eventually, after... EJ: Well, I just can't remember, that it was Icelandic tradition anywhere, that it sort of. . . Tin fact, the pictures of the Christmas tree in Iceland, their Christmas celebration is much like ours.) Although, I don't think they have been able to acquire the nines; they haven't been able to grow all the trees that they want in Iceland, you know. That's one thing they've really had difficulty with. When my brother came out to visit us in 1954 from Iceland, the first thing he said, after we got in the car was, “Oh, John, show me a weeping willow tree.” He had tried and tried so hard, you see, to get a weeping willow tree to grow in Iceland, and hadn't been able to." JS: What's Santa Claus called in Iceland, or what's his equivalent? Does he have a special name? EJ: Yes, I have his name on Christmas cards, but I just can't. . . You'd have to get Byron to tell you his name. We also had an Icelandic store and it was across the street from (Sarah Hansons) where you was the other day, Wednesday. It was across the street just east from there and over a little ways, and, of course, we always would go to the Iceland store to get candy and take eggs. We'd buy our groceries and things with eggs 14 because we always had, most of the time we had chickens and raised them. Most everybody did. It was sort of general. Would you like to know about the celebrations at Geneva? Geneva, you know, m a resort on Utah Lake and I think it's about 30 miles from here, north. Now, the Icelandic people especially love that celebration to be held at Geneva, because it is held on the shores of a lake and I can just now see the older people all standing down on that shore and talking back to one another in Iceland, you know, and saying, 'This reminds me of my homeland—we love it here' because this makes us think of our home. While we have taken on all of the American traditions, it has been said, that we here have held faster to the traditions of our homeland than most any nationality that's come to Utah. That has been said many times and I can show you that in my picture, my scrapbooks and things that I have. JS: You know, it seems like in Spanish Fork there's quite a mixture of nationalities, but the Icelanders are the only ones that have a celebration. EJ: Yes, they always have their celebration and their celebrations were very cultural. We always had an orator of the day. And now, these celebrations were first .instituted by… Icelandic day was instituted and first came into being with Eirnartt Jonson. He was the first one, and he, too, wrote a short history of each of the pioneers as they come, just a . . . Now in that history that he wrote, and I acquired this, oh, many, many years ago, he said Fimboyer Bairenson son of Bjorn Bjornsson Hyallames, Iceland, was a nephew of one of our pioneer nurses and doctors. Vigdus Bjornsdotter, Mrs. William Holt, also of Iceland (I really am not pronouncing that name correct). Mr. Bjornsson was a sheep owner and one of Spanish Fork's most highly respected citizens. Now that's what he wrote about my father in this history. That history was owned by his daughter, given to 15 his daughter, Mrs. Emily Jonson and she, too, was a wonderful dressmaker in Spanish Fork and a very well respected citizen, and she has passed away now and I think that probably this history has gone to her children, you know, because they are very well educated. It was said of my grandfather that he was a very, very hardworking man and that all of his children had to work very, very hard too. And she said that they must have been very tired, because she said that the boys, sometimes she said that they'd work, and girls, I guess, from 16 to 18 hours on the farm, you know. But, my grandfather’s quite a domineering man in his home and grandmother was very, sort of weak, and his iron will, I don't think, went too well with her, because they weren't rich and didn't have much means, you know, and she had been brought up in a very rich home and although they were poor, grandfather never went to the Parish minister for any help whatever. He knew very well that the name Pauper could be a hindrance to his children and not only when they were young, but also, after they were grown up. He wanted that understood with his children. And, of course, grandmother did very much to help with the children because she did really have a dictorial husband, you know. JS: Did your grandparents receive the Gospel there in Iceland or what part of their family did?" EJ: Well, you see, my great aunt did, Vigdus Bjornsdotter Holt. She received the Gospel in Iceland, you see, and, of course, all of us Icelandic people are in hopes that it won't be long before there will be a mission established in Iceland. My father came later, you see, and my father was Lutheran when he come to visit grandmother, you know. We called her grandmother because we had no relatives, whatever, you see, and we always called her r Grandmother Holt although she was our great aunt, and she lived to 16 be 89 years old. There really is longevity on my father's side, all those that have died just lately have been in their 80's, 84 and 87. But there's one custom that I think is wonderful in Iceland, and that is, it is the custom that one of the youngsters of every farm watch over the home fields some weeks of the spring and, also before harvest of hay in the fall, so that the horses and sheep could not graze it overnight. At this time, our fences were not good and sometime there were not fences at all, so this added to the children’s plight as they had to work both day and night. And that's why they worked so many long hours. My grandfather was born in Rangarvalla, Iceland, on the second of April, 1822 and our grandmother was Juiten Jonsson, born on October 25, 1823 at Mork Rangarvalla Sysla, Iceland. Our grandfather's father was Bjorn Geslison and his mother was Hitter Hilder Phillipson. Our grandmother's parents were Jonfu Funbogason and Gudrun Cinarsson. So see that takes us back quite a few generations there, but we do have our direct line back to 874 A.D. {NOTE: Mrs. Jarvis wished to name her family members that are living.} They are as follows: John Y. Bearnson, Brother in Springville; Hattie B. Kilfoyle, sister in American Fork; Elmer C. Bearnson, Brother in Salt Lake; Kate B. Careter, sister in Salt Lake. 17