This week’s prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is ‘Start’. How do I interpret that? I have decided it means the start of my blogging, the start of my interest in genealogy and the start of Europeans in North America.
New Year’s 1999 my older sister and I discussed our interest in continuing the genealogy research our parents had started. My sister chose my mother’s side and I chose my father’s. My parent’s efforts to collect documents and photographs was time-consuming as they had to rely on contacting individuals or government offices by mail or phone to request information. When working by mail the correspondence sometimes went back and forth a few times before the requested information was received.
With enthusiasm to undertake this new task, I ordered Family Tree Maker, installed it on my computer and was eager to get started. I did not have much information past my great-grandparents and decided that since all of them immigrated from Iceland I would post my requests on the Icelandic Message Board of the Genealogy Genforum site.
February 20th, 1999, I posted a request for each of the four sets of great-great-grandparents (eight great-great-grandparents in all). Within a short few days I had received lineage information on six of my eight great-great-grandparents. One of the reports provided information going back to an ancestor born in 520 C.E. I felt like I had hit the jackpot!
This report provided information on the ancestors of my father’s maternal grandfather (Jon Einarson). As I looked over the 141 pages of the report (I wasn’t able to read much of it since it was written in Icelandic) notable historic names started jumping off the page at me. One of these names was Snorri Þorfinnsson. According to Wikipedia, Snorri is reported to have been the first European child born in North America. Estimates of his birth suggest he was born between 1004 C.E. and 1013 C.E. Snorri is my 24th great grandfather and I descended from him through his son, Þorgeir Snorrason.
Snorri was born to Þorfinnur “karlsefni” Þórðarson and Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir. Guðríður had previously been married to Þorsteinn Eiríksson, a son of Eiríkur Þorvaldsson (Erik the Red) and a brother to Leifur (Leif the Lucky) and Þorvald. It is reported that Leifur explored the lands west of Greenland around 1000 C.E. and landed at a few places along the coast, one of them being Vinland, where he built some structures to start a settlement. These structures are thought to be those found by archealogists and located at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada. Þorvald is reported to have made the next voyage to Vinland and was killed during a conflict with the Skrælings (the natives). Þorvald is considered the first European to be buried in North America. Þorsteinn died of a fever during his voyage to Vinland with his wife, Guðríður. The widowed Guðríður returned to Greenland to the household of Erik the Red and later married Þorfinnur “karlsefni” Þórðarson. She was said to be stunningly beautiful, Christian and with exemplary manners. Þorfinnur and Guðríður are reported to have made a voyage to Vinland for the purpose of colonization. This expedition is reported to have expanded the exploration of the area, possibly as far as present day New York.
Snorri is thought to have been born in L’Anse aux Meadows. The Vinland Sagas, The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Eric the Red, indicate the birth of Snorri. It is also written in these sagas that when Snorri was about three years old his family left Vinland and returned to Iceland.
Snorri resided at the Glaumbær farm, located in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland. He had two children, a daughter named Hallfríður and a son named Þorgeir.
Snorri is considered one of two main figures responsible for the Christianisation of Iceland. He built the first church at Glaumbær which helped increase the Christian faith in the area. Hallfrid was the mother of Þorlákur Runólfsson (1086-1133) who was a bishop of Skálholt, located in the south of Iceland. Þorgeir was the grandfather of Brandur Sæmundsson (1163-1201) who was a bishop of Hólar, a small community located in the Skagafjörður.
After the death of Snorri’s father his mother, Guðríður, made a pilgrimage to Rome. Guðríður was considered the most widely travelled woman in the world then. On her return to Glaumbær she lived in solitary worship as a nun and established a nunnery there.
Identical statues of Guðríður standing in a boat with Snorri on her shoulder are located at Laugarbrekka, Guðríður’s birthplace, Glaumbær and in Ottawa, at the Canadian Museum of History.
In 2002 American archaeologists, led by a team from UCLA, discovered the remains of a thousand-year-old longhouse located in the field beside the Glaumbær Folk Museum. This longhouse is believed to be Snorri Þorfinnsson’s farmhouse and its features are consistent with the description of his farm, as written in the Sagas.