Pembina County North Dakota Biographies

Pall Thorlaksson

Pall Thorlaksson was born in 1849, in Iceland. His father is the venerable Thorlakur Jonsson. Early showing an eagerness and aptitude for learning, Pall was carefully prepared for the Latin college at Reykjavik, from which he graduated in 1871 after completing the classical course. In 1872 he went to Wisconsin. After studying for three years in the Concordia Theological seminary at St. Louis, Missouri, he was ordained. His first charge was in Green Valley, Wisconsin. Between 1875 and 1878 he did missionary work in New Iceland. In 1879 he went to Mountain, Pembina county, where he died April 2, 1882. He had for years been suffering from consumption, which at last brought him to his grave.

His connection with emigration from New Iceland has already been partly given in the sketch and not much else can be added here. After the first group left in 1878 he did not hesitate to encourage the people to leave. His solicitude for the welfare of his countrymen never waned. He saw that New Iceland did not offer such opportunities as other parts of America he had seen. He therefore did not hesitate to encourage the people to emigrate. But if by doing what he saw to be his duty he won the lasting gratitude of many, it likewise won him the enmity of a few. When in 1880 he came to Minnesota to secure supplies to relieve the settlers, he found that letters had heen written to men in that part of the country c'acalculated to inspire prejudice against him. The author or authors of these letters lived on the other side of the international boundary line. Men in Canada, whose ideas of patriotism overshadowed their spirit of magnanimity, maligned him for his self-sacrifice and devotion to duty. He was held responsible for the exodus from New Iceland, and he was willing to accept the responsibility because he firmly believed it was for the welfare of his people. Time has vindicated him and silenced his detractors.

After coming to Mountain in 1875, he directed all his energies to promote the welfare of the colony. He called meetings in the different settlements in 1880 and organized congregations. These he served until his death. He gave his own note for goods he got and then distributed among the needy settlers. During the Winter of 1879-80, when the hardship was so great that many even expressed the wish that they could return to the miseries of New Iceland, it was he who went from house to house encouraging the people. In spite of his disease and inclemencies of the weather, he never relaxed his efforts to ameliorate their condition. He was personally known to every settler that came before 1882, yet not one of these but spoke of him with feelings of gratitude and affection. His strong convictions won him respect; his religious fervor was convincing. Though he had perhaps little patience with men whose ideas of religion differed from his own, yet his magnanimity more than compensated for any lack of toleration.

He lies buried in the cemetery at Mountain, Pembina County. A monument erected by his countrymen marks his grave, but more enduring than the marble column is the memory of his noble work. In the early days of hardship and toil, in the gloom of poverty and sorrow, this generous and unselfish man inspired hope and faith in all who came in contact with him. No eulogy tbat could be written here could do him justice. He died unknown to any save his countrymen. He worked neither for fame nOr glory, but for his people and his God. The fruits of his labor have been reaped by those for whose welfare he was so anxious. Prosperity now prevails where, in his day, were misery and poverty. His memory is safely enshrined in the grateful and affectionate remembrance of those to whose comforts he ministered in the trials of early days.