. . . In the fall of 1854, we left home and went to Copenhagen where the Norwegian and Swedish Saints were to gather before starting. We took passage on the steamer "Simplids" under Captain Hansen.

We made our first stop at a little place and waited several days for the Yeallanders. We then started once more; a terrible storm arose forcing us back to a landing on the coast of Norway. We stayed there eleven days. The people were very kind to us. Soon we took our leave and crossed the North Sea, landing at Hull, England. From there we went to Liverpool by rail. Arriving there we were taken to an emigrant hotel where we stayed a week waiting for a vessel to cross the Atlantic.

We left Liverpool on the ship James Nesmith, taking six weeks for the trip across the Atlantic. The first mate on the ship hated the Mormons and made it very unpleasant for us. He tried to stop our holding meetings, but we appealed to the captain and he gave us permission to hold our meetings every Sunday. To get even with us, the mate served us poor food and little of that.

After crossing the Atlantic, we came up the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Mississippi River, from there to New Orleans, then to St. Louis, where we were met by Erastus Snow. Getting our supplies to cross the plains, then changing steamers, we started for Atchison, Kansas. It was in the month of March and the weather was very cold. We suffered terribly until we made shelter for ourselves. Cholera broke out in camp and many of the Saints died. We stayed at Atchison, Kansas for ten weeks. All the men that could got work there getting the ground ready for a warehouse.

A man by the name of Milo Andrus went to buy cattle and [p.3] wagons for us and as soon as he arrived with them, we started across the plains. We were not familiar with driving cattle and we had a terrible time for a few days. It took four men to a yoke of cattle (the cattle didn't understand the Danish Language).

We arrived in Salt Lake on the 9th of September, 1855, having been nearly a year on the road. . . . [p.4]

BIB: Larsen, Hans Peter. Autobiographical Sketch of, (Special Collections and Manuscripts, Mss 515) pp.3-4. (Harold B. Lee Library, Provo Utah.)
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