"EMIGRATION NEWS FROM SCANDINAVIA. . . . the Electric, (Captain Johannsen,) on the 21st, with 336 souls, under the presidency of Elder Soren Christoffersen. . ."
MS, 24:18 (May 3, 1862), p.283
"Sat. 18. [April 1863] -- The ship Electric sailed from Hamburg, Germany, with 336 Scandinavian Saints, under the direction of Soren Christophersen. The company arrived in New York June 5th and at Florence [Nebraska] June 19th."
CC, p.69
". . . For several months, the preparation for this large emigration had been going on in the different conferences throughout Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The emigrating Saints from the Jutland Conferences in Denmark went direct to Hamburg, while most of those from the other conferences first gathered in Copenhagen and thence made their way to Hamburg in different companies. . . .
. . . The steamer 'Albion' sailed from Copenhagen April 14, 1862, with about 500 emigrating Saints on board, and, after a successful voyage, arrived at Kiel at 8 o'clock a.m. of April 15th. After spending about two hours in transferring the baggage of the emigrants to the railway cars, the company left Kiel on an extra train for Altona, where they arrived at 1:30 p.m. President John Van Cott, assisted by other brethren, proceeded immediately to read the list of the emigrants and bring them on board the ships 'Electric' and 'Athenia' which, like the 'Humbolt' and 'Franklin,' were anchored in the Elbe off Hamburg. . . .
. . . On Friday, April 18th, the ship 'Electric' (Captain H. J. Johansen) sailed from Hamburg with 336 emigrating Saints bound for Utah, in charge of Elder Soren Christoffersen. The emigrants were from the Lolland and other conferences in Denmark, and from Norrkoping Conference in Sweden. The original plan was that the Norrkoping Conference contingent should have sailed on the 'Athena,' but this arrangement was changed so that some of them sailed on the 'Electric' instead.
The 'Electric' sailed down the Elbe to Gluckstadt Roads, arriving there about noon. Here anchor was cast near the ship 'Athenia,' which had another company of emigrating Saints on board. At this time there were 335 emigrants on board the 'Electric' and 486 on the 'Athenia.' The 'Electric' lifted anchor April 22nd and sailed to a point off the coast of Hanover, where anchor was again dropped and the ship waited for the wind to change. Favored at last with a good wind the 'Electric' made the final start for America, April 25th, sailing out into the North Sea. Before sailing, President John Van Cott came on board and assisted in organizing the emigrating Saints, who were divided into nine districts, in each of which there were from 25 to 40 persons.
During the voyage a number of the emigrants died. Following is a partial list of the dead: A woman from Lolland, Denmark, who was sick before she left her home, died
May 2, leaving her husband and a child; a 15 year old girl died of throat disease May 3rd; a little girl from Lolland died May 5th; Sophia Maria Sorensen, the 2 year old daughter of Knud Sorensen, from Jutland, died May 8th; Hilma Anderson, a daughter of Sister Susanna Anderson, of Sweden, died May 14th; Jorgen Lydersen from Jutland, Denmark, 48 years old, died May 17th, leaving a wife and one child; on the same day, Augusta Caroline Johanson, the one year old daughter of August Johanson of Sweden, died
; also a little girl named Sophia Katrine Johansen from Denmark died; Lars Petter Pehrsson died May 19th; he was from Vesterplano, Sweden. Pauline Mortensen, a daughter of Carl Fred Mortensen, died in the evening of May 25th; she was the third of the Mortensen family to die on board the 'Electric.'
At least one marriage took place on board, that of Frederik Bernhardt Thyberg and Sister Mathea Josephine Nordfors; they were married May 10th.
On the 31st of May, one of the sisters gave birth to a child who received the name of Electric Sophia Sorensen.
A number of meetings were held on board during the voyage and union and harmony existed among the emigrants during the entire journey.
The ship arrived safely in New York and the emigrants landed at Casle Garden on Friday, June 6, 1862. Here the company met the Saints who had crossed the Atlantic in the ship 'Athenia' and who landed on the 7th. Both companies left New York June 9th and arrived at Florence, Nebraska, June 19. . . .
. . . The emigrants who sailed across the Atlantic in the four ships mentioned [THE Humboldt, Franklin, Electric, and Athenia] came together in Florence from which place those who had not the means wherewith to equip themselves for the journey across the plains were assisted by the teams sent there from the Valley by the Church, while those who had means wherewith to help themselves were organized into two independent companies. One of these was placed in charge of Elder Christian A. Madsen and was composed of 264 persons, 40 wagons, 14 horses, 174 oxen, 99 cows, 37 heifers, 7 calves, 6 dogs and 10 chickens, and brought along 22 tents, 32 cooking stoves, 5 revolvers and 37 rifles. Hans C. Hansen was captain of the guard and Jens C. A. Weibye secretary for the company, which was divided into six divisions with the following brethren as captains: Soren Larsen, Jens C. A. Weibye, Niels Mortensen (Lynge), Thomas Lund, Lauritz Larsen and Christian H. Gron. The first mentioned had charge of five horse teams and the others eight ox teams each.
The other company, which also counted about 40 wagons, with its quota of persons, animals, etc., was in charge of Elder Ola N. Liljenquist, and Elder John Van Cott was placed as general leader of both companies, which broke camp at Florence, July 14, 1862. The first few days some difficulty was experienced, as the oxen, who were not used to Scandinavian orders and management, would often follow their own inclination to leave the road and run away with the wagons, but after some practice on the part of their inexperienced teamsters, the difficulty somewhat disappeared. The journey from Florence was via Elkhorn River, Loup Fork, Wood River, Willow Lake, Rattlesnake Creek, Fort Laramie, Upper Platte Bridge, Devil's Gate, South Pass, Green River, etc., to Salt Lake City, where the company safely arrived Sept. 23, 1862. . . ."
HSM, pp.165-67
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