Person

Arnason, Stefan

Stefan Arnason, son of Arni Jonatansson and Gudrun Jonsdottir, was born August 17, 1882 at Fagriskogur in Eyja Fjordur, Iceland. The eldest of 12 children, he was educated at the Gagnfraedaskoli at Mofurvollum in 1900. He immigrated to Canada in 1904 and spent time in Tantallon, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, Manitoba, before homesteading in Pine Valley (Piney), Manitoba in 1908. He married Gudrun “Sigurbjorg” Einarsdottir (born 1889, Hallson, North Dakota) in 1911, who had settled in the Pine Valley area with her parents.
The Arnasons took over Sigurbjorg’s father’s farm at Piney and had 12 children. Amongst the first settlers in the area, they were active in the community, helping build the first high school and hall. Stefan Arnason was on the school board, and worked for the municipality. The Arnason family were forced to move to the Vancouver area during the depression due to lack of employment opportunities. They moved thirteen family members (the eldest daughter stayed in the Piney area for 2 more years) in a one and a half ton Dodge truck to Burnaby, in April-May 1937.
Stefan Arnason passed away in 1956.
Sources:
Biographical information provided by Richard Arnason. Available for consultation in the accession file