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Scandinavian Emigration-1868
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 12, p.7-9 "Emigration From Denmark-1868" published in the Scandinavian Star: Saturday, June 13, 1868, 630 emigrants left Copenhagen with the steamship Hansia, and arrived in Hull, England, Tuesday the 16th. The same evening they took passage on the railroad for Liverpool. Upon arriving there, they were housed in seven hotels where they were poorly treated. On the 19th they went on board the sailship, the Emerald Isle. There were 627 Scandinavians and 250 English emigrants under the direction of Elder Hans Jensen Hals as president, and counsellors J. Smith and John Forsberg, with Elder Peter Hansen acting as provision dealer. Arriving at Queenstown, they remained three days, which proved anything but pleasant, as the emigrants were roughly treated by the ship's crew. Seldom have Latter-day Saints suffered as much as did those who were the last to cross the Atlantic with sailships. It was not only the rough handling of the Saints that made it so unpleasant and hard to bear, but the water became so rank that it caused many of the emigrants to sicken and die. In all, thirty-seven died, most of them children, from measles and bad water. The ship anchored in New York Harbor, August 11th, and was quarantined for three days, where they were inspected, and thirty of the sick were taken to Staten Island for treatment, and the rest were taken to Castle Garden, Aug. 14th. On the same day, the company sailed on a steamboat for the Hudson River, where they were stationed for two days while the baggage was weighed. While there a boy died. On the 17th, the railroad journey began from New York to Niagara Falls, Detroit, Chicago and Council Bluffs. They journeyed on the Union Pacific to Benton, 700 miles west of Omaha, arriving on the morning of the 25th. Here they were met by the Church wagons that took them to the Platte River, two miles from Benton. There they stayed until August 31. The travel-weary Saints were still besieged with sickness, and thirty more gave up their lives between New York and Salt Lake City. The remainder of the emigrants arrived in Salt Lake City September 25, 1868. This company concluded the emigration from Europe by sailship and oxteam. The hard journey to Zion, which so many of Norden's sons and daughters had passed through, was now a thing of the past. It was not any too soon that a change took place, for hundreds and hundreds of the 19th century's best men and women who had left their fatherland, relatives and friends for the Gospel's sake, according to the counsel of God, to go to Zion, offered up their lives through hardships. Many of them became so weak they despaired reaching their destination, fearing they would either be sunk in the sea or go to sleep on the big prairie, their lonely graves watched by howling wolves instead of their dear ones. How often had fond parents closed their eyes on their loved ones when at last given up to die, and how many gray-haired veterans, whose fond hopes and longing for Zion had to be given up. Those who survived will never forget those sorrowful days, when without coffins they had to bury their loved ones in the wilderness; while they through weakness were hardly able to fulfill the last rites. While hovering between life and death, they did not know who would be the next victim. (End of quote.) Starting of Wagon Trains.-The following trains started from Laramie City, at the dates named, with immigrants: Captains Rawlins' and Loveland's trains left July 25th; Captain Murdock's on the 27th, and Captain Haight's on the 28th, with the passengers that came by the Minnesota and John Bright, 1,250 in number. Captain Seeley's train left August 1st, with the Williamsburg passengers, and freight. The first of the trains may reach this city by Saturday or Sunday, though it is difficult to say exactly, since no information has reached yet of their striking the road where a telegraph station is; and the first they would come to, on the road they will most likely travel, would be at Bear River. Since writing the above, the following telegram has been received from Captain Murdock: Fort Bridger, Aug. 13, 1868. President Brigham Young:-My train is on the way in good condition. Be at Salt Lake the 20th. J. R. Murdock We are indebted to President Young for the following telegram: New York, Sept. 28, 1868. President B. Young:-I arrived this morning. The company start October 3d, and will reach the terminus in ten days. H. B. Clawson. The company alluded to are those who had to be left in hospital at New York, sick. There are nearly sixty of them, in charge of Elder Frederick G. Anderson. -Deseret News |