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Call Number: Mss 34 (A.80-04)
Title: Simon Simonsson fonds. The title for this fonds was formally the Simon Simonarson fonds.
Dates: 1904-1914.
Extent: 0.06 m of textual records.
Biographical sketch: Simon Simonarson was among the early Icelanders who immigrated in the 1870s to the original Icelandic settlement in Kinmount, Ontario. Along with other pioneering settlers, he worked as a labourer clearing the land before moving to New Iceland in the Gimli area around 1875. In Gimli, he was a homesteader and a farmer until leaving New Iceland for Winnipeg.
Custodial history: The fonds was donated to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections by Mrs. R.F. Wilson in 1979.
Scope and content: The fonds contains Simon Simonarson's diaries dating from 1904 to 1914. They were written in Icelandic twenty-three years after the fact and described Simonarson's decision to emigrate from Iceland to Canada. The diaries describe the first year at Kinmount, experiences with the first settlers in New Iceland, his decision to leave New Iceland for Winnipeg, his life in Winnipeg after 1881, and geneologies of Simonarson and his wife, Valdis Gudmundsclottis. Also included is a copy of W. Kristjanson's translation into English of an excerpt from the diaries and a description of Icelandic pioneers of 1874 from the reminiscences of Simonarson.
Restrictions: There are no restrictions on this material.
Accruals: No further accruals are expected.
Finding aid: Finding aid is currently unavailable.
Digitized Material