Title: Simon Simonarson fonds

Dates: 1839-1927

Extent: 6 cm 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.

Digitized Material: The digitized material from the Simon
Simonarson fonds consists of his diaries from 1904-1914.
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 genaeologies 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.

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