My father’s maternal ancestors came from Skálabotnur. From there they traveled to the island of Sandur, settled and moved between the villages of Skálavík and Húsavík. These villages on the eastern side of the island have close family ties. Therefore, in this book about the families of Dalur, I also tell stories that as easily could be included in chronicles about those two villages.  

People in Dalur have alwasy been keenly interested in family relations. And as they visited each other, many a story was kept alive in their conversations, both from days long past and from more recent times. My father would talk to different people, from different places, about the same stories and events. He kept the letters and ancestral trees that people who shared his interest sent him.  

The story of Dalur is mainly about kinship, family relations that somehow are tied to the village. This book tells of daily life and events in the village, and one part is on the small island of Dímum, from the time when many people inhabited it.