A few years ago my mom and aunt Fran spent many hours collecting pictures and putting them together with obituaries, stories and news clippings for everyone in the family. I love this book and have spent many hours looking through it at each of the different faces hoping that I can learn more about each of them.
The pictures below are my Great Great Grandpa and Grandma. They came to America from Iceland and settled in Utah. Not just Utah but Utah County. To me this is huge because if you live in Utah then you know that Utah County has many nicknames and a reputation for being very Mormon (this will make sense in a minute).
My mom had a collage of pictures hanging in our home for many years and these two pictures were part of that group. They always stood out to me and being a kid I never really did understand who they were or where these two old people with scary eyes fit into our family.
Great Great Grandpa was named Reverend Runolfur Runolfson. He was born April 10, 1852 and died January 20, 1929. He was a Lutheran Reverend and was the first Lutheran Minister in Utah County (it says so on the other picture below). He was from Storagerdi, Vestmanneyjaysia, Iceland.
Great Great Grandma was named Valgerdur Nielsson Runolfson. She was born June 1, 1847 (same day as my Taylor) and died April 6, 1919. She was from Holmahjaleiga, Kross Rangervalla, Iceland. Sadly that is all I know about her.
For both of these people it had to have taken great courage to travel from Iceland with 6 children to England where they had 2 more children. From England they came to America and settled in Spanish Fork Utah. Here they added 4 more children to their family. I have great pride in this part of my family heritage. To know that they not only had the courage to take upon themselves this journey but to also settle in an area where they were the minority. There were many obstacles for them to overcome or at least to deal with with being one of the few families in Spanish Fork to not be LDS. I have heard stories that my Grandma shared about growing up in Spanish Fork and some of what they endured during their childhood. I am very proud of my Great Great Grandpa for being such a strong man and continuing to be a Lutheran Minister. I am so blessed to have such strong people in my family tree. I am also very happy to have pictures of both of my Great Great Grandparents as well as the church where Reverend Runolfson preached.
I have just started to dig deeper into my family history and am learning so much about the people who make up my family and have added so much to who I am. As I learn about them I can feel them with me and it is almost like they are guiding me through the maze of people that make up our family. I have learned that I need that help, especially when you start to put it together that some of the children changed their last name to Reynolds.
I can't wait to learn more and add to what my mom and aunt has started for me.
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