by Leonard Breidford Elias Breidford was born April 6, 1900 near the center of North America in southern Manitoba, Canada. His mother, as a child, had come to America from Iceland in 1881. Also, his father as a young man in 1894 settled in Manitoba, where they later met and married. Elias was their second child, and when he was only three months old he was badly disabled for life by polio, but as he often said, he was too "bullheaded" to give up. The family homesteaded and farmed in Manitoba until 1916, by which time there were seven surviving children and one on the way.

After the parents had survived colder and harsher winters in Canada than they had ever experienced in Iceland, and upon the urging of relatives and friends who had discovered the beauty and mild climate of Blaine, they sold out and made the big move to the states, arriving in Blaine on the train on Columbus Day, October 12, 1916 when Elias was in his 17th year. They immediately built a two-story house on the southwest corner of Kickerville and Birch Bay-Lynden roads. The house is still standing on a small hill. By then Elias decided he needed transportation faster than walking with a crutch, so he built a three-wheeled hand-pedaled vehicle from bicycle parts. It worked beautifully--well enough, in fact, that it was later stolen from a Bellingham street. Next he owned a motorcycle and altered another one, each having a sidecar for stability and for an extra passenger. They were great fun. In 1924 he bought a new Model T Ford roadster which he drove to the Mexican border and back when he lived in Red Bluff, California, working for a photographer.

That work eventually became quite stressful because of the extreme accuracy required of mechanical watches for the tight train schedules of those days. Sometimes many lives depended on those tiny watch parts.

In 1928 he opened a photo studio in Blaine, which he operated for many years. Some of the commercial equipment available did not meet his standards, so he built photo processing items himself, mainly his enlarger.

He was a supporter of the Whatcom County Historical Society and the Whatcom County Parks and Recreation Board, including the development of the Semiahmoo Museum in particular.

Before his death he donated many pictures to the museum to be preserved under ideal conditions and to be occasionally displayed to the community.

Since his death on October 11, 1986, his family survivors are sharing much of his collection with the museum, under the same conditions that he desired. Of course, after his many years of picture making, probably many are in people's homes, local and farther away.

Elias was a longtime member and served once as president of the Blaine Lions Club.

One of his favorite interests was music. He served for 51 years as choir director for the Blaine Free Church Unitarian, and several years as its Sunday School superintendent. He was for some time director of the Bellingham Norwegian Male Chorus. He was a trained singer who sang solos or in groups on many occasions.

In younger years he played several instruments: the violin, mandolin, and Hawaiian guitar. He also played French or English horn in the band of Paul Lusterman, then of Blaine.

He sang in a quartet called "The Melody Men," who performed regularly over Bellingham radio station KVOS. The other members were Paul Brownell, Frank Jones, Blake Baltuf and, on occasion, Walter Vopnford and his brother, John A. Breidford.

In 1980, at the age of 80, Elias Breidford was named Whatcom County's Senior Citizen of the Year.

Although most Blaine residents remember him as a photographer, his lifetime activities took him into many spheres beyond photography alone.

During the early 1920s, Elias built the first radio that the family ever had.  There were few available in stores, but most parts could be found.

During World War II, he and Reverand Albert Kristjanson organized a letter writing club, to send letters and other greetings to military people stationed far from home.  Many of our Sunday school children and adults in the community took part.  It was greatly appreciated by many, including some who never received any other mail.

Elias always believed in liberty, and supported liberal causes, including the U.S. constitution and democracy for all.

May his wishes come true, that much of his picture collection be preserved at the Whatcom Museum of History and Art, if not at Semiahmoo.

--Leonard Breidford

Note: Leonard Breidford is the youngest brother of Elias Breidford. Mr. Breidford's original article appeared in the Record Journal. He revised the article in June 2006 for the Blaine Icelanders website.