Inuvik (Mar 01/04) - Georgina Stefansson's paternal grandfather was more like a myth than a man to her.

She's the youngest daughter of Alex Stefansson, the only known Inuvialuit son of Icelandic explorer and anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Panigbluk, an Inuvialuit woman from Port Good Hope, Alaska.

Georgina Stefansson is the youngest known Canadian granddaughter of the famous Icelandic explorer and anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson. - Erin Fletcher/NNSL photo

Georgina never met her grandfather or her grandmother.

"By the time I came along she had already passed away ... I only hear what (my siblings) tell me," said Georgina, of her grandmother, who lived with Georgina's family years after Stefansson returned to the south.

She was surprised when she got a call from Icelandic author and professor, Gisli Palsson, inviting her to visit Iceland for two weeks during Christmas to help promote his new book about her grandfather.

"After we got there I was met by the television station and the newspaper. I got to go to a book signing in a mall," said Georgina.

"People kept coming up and saying 'I'm your relative.'"

She really enjoyed meeting so many relatives.

"This one lady came up to me when we were signing books in Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland) and she said 'Georgina, I knew about you growing up. My mom told me that I had relatives in Northern Canada that looked like Greenlanders.'"

A whirlwind tour

During her two-week stay, she met many family members, saw one of her grandfather's homes, attended numerous receptions and even had tea with the president of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson.

"They kept us really busy. We only had two days to ourselves," said Georgina.

She enjoyed the tea with the president, whom she described as very well read.

"He explained to me why my grandfather was so famous in Iceland and he was very knowledgeable," she said.

The trip really opened Georgina's eyes to her family history and has left her wanting to know more. Fortunately there are many good books to choose from.

Vilhjalmur Stefansson made three expeditions to Alaska and the Canadian Arctic during his lifetime.

He spent the winter of 1906 in Tuktoyaktuk, lived with the Inuvialuit on Victoria Island and tried to raise reindeer herds on Baffin Island and Wrangel Island in the early 1900s. He died in 1962.