I left for Basel on the 13th and from there I went to Strassburg, Metz, Antwerben crossed the North Sea to Grimsby and on to Glasgow. There we set sail on the ship named the City of Rome. We had a nice voyage but three days before landing in New York the cargo in the bottom of the ship caught on fire. This caused much excitement. The first cabin passengers were smoked out, and holes had to be made through three floors in order to get the hose down. Danger signals were sent one after another. Finally it got so bad that the captain had all the lifeboats lowered provided with food and water, so everything was ready for an emergency.
In the meantime the hose quenched the fire to an extent but did not entirely extinguish it until we landed. All wise providence was with us. Our hearts were filled with thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father for the safe arrival in New York on the 27th of June at 6pm.
We did not leave the ship until the morning of the 28th and our baggage was inspected. In the evening at 5pm. We left New York by train and went west via Buffalo, Chicago, Kansas City, Denver, Cheyenne, Evanston, Echo, and arrived in Park City on the 3rd of July at 2pm.”
“The Autobiography of John Ulrich Probst” n.d., "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch, (www.familysearch.org : accessed 27 June 2023), entry for John Ulrich Probst (KWCN-K8S), undocumented family tree, public memory.
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