The birth date/place from the 1816 Iceland census is different than the pedigree chart source so I have included both.

The Eystri-Dalbaer farm is located in the Landbrot region, Kirkjabaejarklaustur parish, Vestur-Skaftafells county of Iceland. In 1859 the Kirkjabaejarklaustur Parish Church was moved to Prestabakki and is now the Prestabakki Parish.

Ytri-Dalbaer farm is located in the Kirkjabaejarklaustur parish, Vestur-Skaftafells county of Iceland.

á Siðu - - Most likely is referring to á Suðurland (of South Iceland).

We know that when the 1816 census was taken the family lived at Efri-Ey II (upper-Ey), near the Laga-Kotey farm where their son Eirik spent most of his life.

A volcanic fissure situated in the south of Iceland, not far from the canyon of Eldgjá and the small town Kirkjubæjarklaustur, in Skaftafell National Park. Laki is part of a volcanic system, centering on the Grímsvötn volcano and including the Eldgjá canyon and Katla volcano, and lies between the glaciers of Mirdalsjökull and Vatnajökull, in an area of fissures which run in a south-west to north-east direction.

We don’t know the history of the personal lives of Runolf and Gudny but we can extrapolate from the major events in the history of Iceland. We do know that Runolf and Gudny were young and starting their lives when one of these major events, the Laki Volcano, happened. The Laki Volcano was such a huge event in Icelands history it not only affected the lives of those in the area of the eruption but the lives of all Icelanders, and far beyond Iceland as well.

We can safely assume that this volcano and its aftermath consumed a major portion of the lives of Runolf and Gudny. Ebenezer Henderson, a Scotsman who spent much of 1814-5 in Iceland and travelled widely around the country, provides the following effective and accurate account:

The eruption that took place in the year 1783. . . not only appears to have been more tremendous in its phenomena than any recorded in the modern annals of Iceland, but it was followed by a train of consequences the most direful and melancholy, some of which continue to be felt to this day. Immense floods of red-hot lava were poured down from the hills with amazing velocity, and, spreading over the low country, burnt up men, cattle, churches, houses, and every thing they attacked in their progress. Not only was all vegetation, in the immediate neighbourhood of

the volcano, destroyed by the ashes, brimstone, and pumice, which it emitted; but, being borne up to an inconceivable height in the atmosphere, they were scattered over the whole island,impregnating the air with noxious vapours, intercepting the genial rays of the sun, and empoisoning whatever could satisfy the hunger or quench the thirst of man and beast. Even in some of the more distant districts, the quantity of ashes that fell was so great, that they were gathered up by handfuls. Upwards of four hundred people were instantly deprived of a home; the fish were driven from the coasts, and the elements seemed to vie with each other which should commit the greatest depredations; famine and pestilence stalked abroad, and cut down their victims with ruthless cruelty; while death himself was glutted with the prey. In some houses there was scarcely a sound individual left to tend the afflicted, or any who possessed sufficient strength to inter the dead. The most miserably emaciated tottering skeletons were seen in every quarter. When the animals that had died of hunger and disease were consumed, the wretched creatures had nothing to eat but raw hides, and old pieces of leather and ropes, which they boiled and devoured with avidity. The horses ate the flesh off one another, and for want of other sustenance had recourse to turf, wood, and even excrementitious substances; while the sheep devoured each other's wool. In a word, the accumulation of miseries, originating in the volcanic eruption, was so dreadful, that, in the short space of two years, not fewer than 9,336 human beings, 28,000 horses, 11,461 head of cattle, and 190,488 sheep perished on the island!

The Lakagígar eruption 1783 was the largest eruption since the settlement of Iceland and the accompanying lava flow (Eldhraun) was the third largest on earth since the last ice age. Lakagígar (the Laki crater rows) were formed during 1783-1784. The name stems from the central peak in the area, Laki. Earthquakes shook the area for several days before the eruption began on Whit Sunday, June 8, 1783, with thunderous booms, ash falls and the stench of sulphur. The Lakagígar crater row sits on 10 parallel fissures, each of which is 2–5 km (1.5–3 miles) long. At the southern end of the crater row stands the mountain Hnúta, where the first fissure opened. The eruptions came in intervals generally accompanied by frequent earth tremors. During each eruption period, a new explosion fissure opened to the north of the existing sites of eruption. It is now thought that there was probably a total of ten periods of volcanic activity within these infamous eight months. Thus, there is a continuous row of craters on the volcanic fissure, with the largest crater in the middle. Around 135 craters were formed during the eruption period. During Skaftáreldar (“Fires of the Skaftá river”), a 200—500m (600—1650 ft) wide rift valley formed that stretched for 2 km (1.5) in a southwesterly direction from Laki, the valley is now hidden under volcanic gravel. Two fissures can clearly be seen on the slopes of Laki (818m, 2684 ft), in the middle of the crater row, towering 200m (656 ft) above the surrounding area.

The lava that flowed out of the Laki craters covers 0.5% of the area of Iceland. It flowed in two branches – Eldhraun, the western branch, and Brunuhraun to the east . The westerly lava flow poured out of fissures southwest of Laki, where the eruption started. The lava filled valleys and flowed over highland pastures in two channels. One of the channels filled Skaftá Gorge. The Skaftá River dried up on the third day of the eruption and by the fifth day, the lava had travelled 40 km (25 miles) and reached the coastal plain. By the end of July, the eruption subsided to the south of Laki but activity increased in the fissures to the north. A week later, the lava flowed down the course of the river Hverfisfljót, filling its canyon on the way. The river Hverfisfljót now follows a different course. Volcanic activity finally ended on February 7, 1784 – eight months after it had begun.

Runolf and Gudny were among the lucky survivors of this terrible tragedy. It must have been a long hard next few years, bringing the Eystri-dalbaer farm back to a sustainable condition. We can see from the map how close the Lakagígar eruptions were to their home, just 4.5 miles east of Kirkjubaejarklaustrur. The Lakagigar fissure extended to within 5 - 10 miles of the farm. Another account that brings the event into a more vivid view is Father Jón Steingrímsson's “Sermon of Fire”:

One Sunday, as the eruption reached its peak, Father Jón Steingrímsson held a service in his church in the small town of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. A month and a half had passed since the eruption had begun. Father Jón considered the eruption to be a punishment from God for debauchery, laziness, and sinful living. The lava flow was bearing down on the town at speed with thunderous rumblings and crashes. The terrified

residents believed their only hope lay in the church. A service began and Father Jón called to God, promising that his congregation would repent their wicked and sinful ways. As the service continued, the lava-flow reached the course of the Skaftá river near an outcrop called Systrastapi, just outside the town. And there it stopped. This remarkable event was attributed to Father Jón’s compelling prayers and his address to the congregation is now known as the “Sermon of Fire”.

The Effects of the Skaftáreldar Eruption on Other Countries:

The sulphurous cloud from the eruption gradually spread across most of the northern hemisphere, affecting the climate across a wide area. Two days after the onset of the eruptions, the cloud of gases had become a mist that reached the Faroe Islands, Norway and Scotland. By the middle of June, it spread across mainland Europe.

By June 24, a black mist hung over all of Europe, reaching as far as Finland and covering countries as distant as the Balkans. The European press portrayed the sun as a blood-red disc at sunrise and sunset. They wrote that the midday sun shone so dimly that people could look at it directly with the naked eye.

By July the mist had reached Russia, Siberia and China. At its peak, it covered one quarter of the earth’s surface – all of the land north of latitude 30°N.

After Iceland, the ecological effects of the mist were felt most in the other Nordic countries,

Western Europe and the British Isles, causing crop failures. The acid rain defoliated trees and withered smaller plants. The overall temperature dropped by 1.3 °C (2 °F). The cold spell lasted three years with harmful effects reaching around the world. The mist penetrated even the farthest parts of the planet. As quickly as the very summer of 1783 there was a serious failure of Japan’s rice crop caused by cold and wet weather, resulting in the worst period of famine in Japan’s written history. Similar stories came out of Alaska, where entire townships died out.

The French Revolution marked a turning point in the evolution of republicanism and civil rights. One theory suggests that the French Revolution had its roots in Laki, when, as previously mentioned, the effects of the mists had altered weather patterns across Europe.