In this country, I can start with the case of Jónas Kristján Jónsson and his wife Thóra Thorfinnsdóttir, who emigrated from Iceland in 1888 and settled in Akra Township, in the midst of the large Icelandic settlement in northeast North Dakota. Some time later, perhaps when Thóra became ill with the sickness that eventually took her life about 1892, they hired a housekeeper. Anna, the housekeeper, was the young daughter of Jóhannes Magnússon and Steinunn Jónsdóttir, whose family also had settled in the Akra area. Whatever the rationale, in June of 1890 Jónas Kristján and the housekeeper had a daughter, Kristjana Gudlaug, who would become my grandmother. And, whatever the reasons, Jónas Kristján chose to leave the area, his mistress/housekeeper, and his child, and move to Canada.

  Anna had somewhat better luck with her next housekeeping job. Hannes Björnsson had emigrated from Iceland in 1883 so arrived in Thingvalla Township (southwest of Akra) rather later than most. Turns out that an elderly couple, Jóhann Kristjánsson and Rósa Jónsdóttir, had homesteaded there but, having no male children and getting rather old for farming, likely 'offered' Hannes the farm in return for other considerations, likely including marrying their spinster daughter. The daughter, also named Rósa, had 4 children with Hannes before dying at a relatively young age (about 42) about the same time as Thóra, Jónas Kristján's wife, died. And on this farm, Anna started her next housekeeping job. Shortly later, she also started a family with Hannes, eventually having 7 more children. There is one more coincidence that makes this story even more interesting. When Rósa Jóhannsdóttir's parents emigrated, she stayed in Iceland, where she was a housekeeper for none other than Jónas Kristján's father, Jónas Jónsson (he of the 30+ children with at least 2 wives and 3 mistresses). How she managed a stint as housekeeper there without becoming pregnant will likely never be known. Had she done so, the families would have become convoluted totally beyond understanding! Because there is more...

  This Jónas Jónsson had a housekeeper in the early 1870's named named Kristjana Gudmundsdóttir. Unfortunately I have been unable to determine much other information about her besides the fact that her illegitimate son with Jónas was the Jónas Kristján above, whose illegitimate daughter was my grandmother.

  Now Kristjana Gudlaug (the illegitimate daughter of an illegitimate son) married Gudmundur Árni Kristjánsson, son of the homesteaders Kristján Gudmundsson and Ragnhildur Kristín Bjarnadóttir and Ragnheidur Halldórsdóttir. Actually he was only the son of Kristján and Ragnhildur Kristín. When Kristján emigrated he had a wife 14 years his senior and a mistress 14 years younger. Ragnhildur Kristín had been hired as a housekeeper in this household likely in the late 1860s. Kristján and Ragnheidur did have 2 sons; unfortunately both had died by 1870. At the time of the death of the last child, Ragnheidur was 51, well beyond normal child-bearing years. So in 1875 Kristján started a family with Ragnhildur Kristín, eventually totalling 9 children. Perhaps Kristján felt duty bound to have children, yet also didn't wish to dispose of his legitimate wife. Apparently this was a mutually agreeable situation as, in fact, the wife was godmother to most, if not all, the illegitimate children.

  Now we must add the fact that Kristján himself was the son of Gudmundur Jónsson and his housekeeper, Gudbjörg Ögmundsdóttir (a sister to the mother of Ásmundur Ásmundsson, who also settled in Thingvalla Township, and whose family later lived in Cavalier County).

  To make the story complete I must include another great great grandfather, Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, who lived in Reykholt Parish, Borgarfjardarsysla. His family's housekeeper in the 1850s was Gudrún Bjarnadóttir. Not much else is known about Gudrún except that she and Thorsteinn had a daughter, Bjarngerdur, in 1856, who eventually married my great grandfather Grímur Steinólfsson. This couple, Grímur and Bjarngerdur, are responsible for the Steinolfson clan of Thingvalla Township, a bit of information added to satisfy those who have been wanting to know where to place the blame.

  Trying to understand the circumstances leading to these results is probably an exercise in futility. One can merely charge it to the fact that 'men are just that way.' Or one can try to appreciate and understand that, at least in some cases, there were actually circumstances which make the solution the only reasonable one. A barren wife cast out would not have much future.

  But the end result is the same. I, and many, many others, have their extramarital activites to thank for my existence!

Endnote. Perhaps a personal opinion is not in order, but will provide it anyways. I have always had the sneaky suspicion that 'housekeepers' were actually often hired with the understanding that this would be a 'tryout' for a more permanent job. And it works the other way too.

  One case is particularly interesting. A man named Gísli Konrád Eiríksson homesteaded in Thingvalla Towship of Pembina County, North Dakota, about 1880. His history is nebulous, but it appears he had either lost his wife or the young people with him on his new farm were illegitimate children. Whatever the reason, his homestead was near to that of Jónas Kortsson who had brought his family over in 1876, eventually settling northwest of Mountain. Now Jónas was having a hard time of it and his young daughter, Thórvör Marsalína, was working in Pembina, near 50 miles from the homestead to help support the family. When learning that Gísli Konrád needed a housekeeper, she likely jumped for both the job and the opportunity. She accordingly became first his housekeeper, then his wife. After having 3 children, Gísli Konrád up and dies. Here is Thórvör, now with a family to support and a farm to run. So she hires Tómas Halldórsson to help her with the farm. Now Tómas already had a homestead in western Thingvalla Township, but, perhaps with other things in mind, decided take the opportunity. And apparently liked more than the farmwork. He and Thórvör wound up having a large family with many descendents still in the area. And what became known as the Halldorson farm in east Thingvalla Township was the result of these homesteads of Gísli Konrád Eiríksson and Jónas Kortsson. The remainder of the Halldorson family remained in the west of the township.

  And such is the fun of genealogy and history - - one gets to speculate about how things came about. Perhaps what really happened needs much more explanation than the simple one provided, but wouldn't it be interesting if it actually happened just as described!

© 2000, Arlan Steinolfson