Leif Eiriksson, an Icelander, discovered America in 1000 A.D. Eight centuries later, from 1855 to 1860, sixteen pioneers from Iceland established at Spanish Fork the first permanent Icelandic settlement in the United States: Samuel Bjarnson and wife Margret, Thordur Didriksson and wife Helga, Sudmundur Gudmundsson, Loftur Jonsson and wife Gudrun, Jon Jonsson and wife Anna, Gudrun Jonsdottir, Magnus Bjarnson and wife Thuridur, Vigdis Bjarnadottier (Holt), Gundy E. Haflidiason, Ragnildur S. Hanson, and Mary H. Sherwood.