Icelanders search for their roots in Minneota

The big blue bus pulled directly in front of the Minneota Mascot — looking to all the world like a group of movie stars had arrived to shoot a film on the plains of Minnesota.
Or, was it a rock n’ roll band looking for a stage for their next concert?
Suddenly the familiar face of Kathy Josephson, a Minneota native, appeared in front of the Mascot window, smiling and pointing to those who began unloading — all craning their necks in various directions, much like sight-seers hoping to take it all in.
Oh yes ... these folks were Icelanders returning to their roots in one of the small Icelandic hamlets that cropped up at the end of the 1800’s.
“I’m Almar Grimsson, tour leader,” a gentleman proclaimed.
“We’re on a pilgrimage to discover our roots in Minnesota,” he said.
No movie stars. No rock band, but certainly more impressive because Minneota was their main concern at the moment.
“They want to heard about the 1870 Icelandic settlement here,” said Josephson, who organized the visit.
Suddenly a familiar face popped into the doorway of the Mascot, a big smile on his face.
“I’m Hjalmar Hannesson,” he said. “We were here when I was an ambassador, but I’m retired now.”
Suddenly thoughts of a the grand opening celebration of the New Minneota Public Library, complete with a visit from Hannesson and his wife swept back into memory.
There was a reunion of sorts, complete with a greeting from his wife.
The Hannessons were officials back then, bringing a little dignity and honor to the celebrate of the new library and the continuance and use of what was once, “The Big Store,” in Minneota.
Now, they’d returned.
Again Grimsson appeared and said, “Minneota hasn’t been included as a main place to stop in the past. But many wanted to re-trace their roots here,” he said.
This writing can’t reflect the clear Icelandic brogue used by each of the visitors — but their desire to learn of their ancestry was evident.
No visit by Icelanders to Minneota could be accomplished without someone reflecting on the life of native Bill Holm.
“Oh yes, Bill was a dear friend,” said Grimsson. “He used to summer in Iceland. I even have a photo of Bill playing the organ in a church here,” the tour guide reflected.
“In his own way, Bill was a celebrity in Iceland,” Grimsson continued. He described Holm performing  with Garrison Keillor, the Prairie Home Companion host and said, “He was the star of the show,” related Grimsson.
Holm died in 2009 and Keillor wrote: “Bill Holm was a great man and unlike most great men he really looked like one. Six-foot-eight, big frame, and a big white beard and a shock of white hair, a booming voice, so he loomed over you like a prophet and a preacher, which is what he was."
“He was an only child, adored by his mother, and she protected him from bullies, and he grew up free to follow his own bent and become the sage of Minneota, a colleague of Whitman though born a hundred years too late, a champion of Mozart and Bach, playing his harpsichord on summer nights, telling stories about the Icelanders, and thundering about how the young have lost their way and abandoned learning and culture in favor of grease and noise.”
Grimsson looked sad when he said, “It was quite a blow when he died.”
So this Icelandic visit surely include the inspiration of one Minneota’s most famous Icelanders.
At the new Public Library, images on the walls and from the books leaped and landed on the Icelanders. The 21 visitors were astonished on the old-fashioned ceiling that had been refurbished and they were impressed with the “beautiful” layout of what has become a “Jewel” of Minneota.
Upstairs in the Opera House, the practically “personal stronghold” of historian Darren Gislason, the visitors weren’t as concerned with the “artifacts of the past” collected by Gislason as they were the photos and pamphlets that reflected Icelandic life years ago.
“It’s nice to see the old settlements and the people that were here,” said a member of the tour.
No trip to Minneota by Icelanders would be complete with a stop at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, which had its roots planted by Icelanders in this community.
“The are excited to have you take a picture of them on the steps of the church,” related Josephson.
So that was done — right after many of them photographed the plaque in front of the year.
But it was now time to grab hold of their roots and allow the past to seep into their memories — so they headed for the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Cemetery on the edge of Minneota.
There brothers Rognvaloher Gislason, Vahor Gislason and Magnus Gislason discovered the gravesite of S. (Sturlaugur) T. Gilbertson, their great-grandfather.
Gilbertson was a 60-year resident of Minneota who homesteaded in Nordland Township in 1878. He was buried at the age of 88 in what was then called the, ”Icelandic Lutheran Church Cemetery.”
Performing the ceremony was Pastor G. Guttormsson, grandfather of former Mascot Publisher Jon Guttormsson.
Born in Kvitadal, Iceland in 1850, Gilbertson came to the area at the age of 18. An early settler. He also worked for Laird-Norton Lumber Co., which later became Botsford Lumber Co. In 1897, he became manager and served the yard for 45 years. For five years, he was Minneota Village Council mayor, spent eight years as the village clerk and recorder.
Mascot Publisher Gunnar Bjornson, a friend of Gilbertson, memorialized him in the May 12, 1939 edition of the Mascot.
“Where so many professed, he performed,” said Bjornson. The editor said he was one of those who, “Chiseled his record on the ruin-stones of history.”
The publisher added, “He was the kind of man who made friends and kept them.” He added, “Friends and associates felt they were better for having known him.”
And so it was, that on this day, the Gislason brothers honored their great-grandfather by placing an Icelandic flag on his grave site.
“What did you know about him?” Rognvaloher Gislason was asked.
As he tried to peel old grass away from one of the small, imbedded gravestones, he looked up at the questioner and said, “Not much.”
But he and his brothers dug through the Mascot archives at the Minneota Public Library, made photo copies of the obituary and became a little closer to their “Minneota roots.”
It turned out Sturlaugur Gilbertson (or S. T. as he was known),  was a man of remarkable character and deep community pride.
Those are the kind of “roots” the Icelanders were hoping to find during their stop in Minneota.
As members of the, “Icelandic National League,” they were on their way to Grand Forks, ND for an Icelandic convention.
Before they could leave Minneota, there was one more stop they had to make. Had they not made it, they would have missed tieing together more “roots” into their “memory scrapbooks,” and that was at Gislason Ace Hardware.
Owner Barb (Gislason) Rye’s connections to the Gislason family and hardware store’s past was something the Icelanders could not get anywhere else. It was a connection that drew one afternoon of memories together and tied them stronger to the “roots” they’d been seeking.