"DEPARTURE -- The ship John J. Boyd cleared on the 10th instant for New York with 509 souls of the Saints on board, of whom 437 were from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, 3
0 from Piedmont, and 42 from Great Britain.
The prices of passages on the Emerald Isle and the John J. Boyd were £4 5 shillings for adults, £3 5 shillings for children, and 10 shillings for infants. The age of distinction between adults and children is 8 years, instead of 14 as heretofore. It is thought that the variations from the above prices will not be very considerable, though this is necessarily guided by the readiness with which ships may be obtained, and the abundance or scarcity of passengers. Persons had better send up their names, ages, &c., even though they may not wish to go by the first ship. This will better enable us to arrange for ships at the times most convenient for passengers. We shall send out another ship-load about the latter part of January, if we have sufficient applicants for passage to make up a company."
MS, 17:51 (Dec. 22, 1855), pp.812-13
"NINETY FIRST COMPANY. -- John J. Boyd, 512 souls. On the twenty-ninth of November, 1855, four hundred and thirty-seven Scandinavian Saints sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark, on board the steamship Loven, under the direction of Elder Knud Peterson, who returned from his mission to Norway. After a pleasant voyage Kiel was reached, and the emigrants continued the journey by rail to Gluckstadt, thence by steamer to Grimsby, England, and thence by rail to Liverpool, where the Scandinavian emigrants were joined by forty-two British and thirty Italian Saints, and went on board the ship, John J. Boyd.
. . . On the sixteenth of February, 1856, the emigrants landed in New York, and after tarrying a few days at Castle Garden, the journey was continued on the twenty-first or twenty-second by rail via Dunkirk and Cleveland to Chicago, where the company, according to previous arrangements, was divided into three parts, of which one, consisting of about one hundred and fifty souls, went to Burlington, Iowa, another to Alton, Illinois, and a third to St. Louis, Missouri. Most of those who went to Burlington and Alton remained in these places or near them a year or more working to earn means wherewith to continue the journey. The part of the company which went to St. Louis, arrived in that city on the tenth of March, and soon afterwards continued the journey to Florence, Nebraska, where they joined the general emigration that crossed the plains in 1856.
Elder Christian Christiansen, who was sent as a missionary from Utah, to preside over the Scandinavian Saints in the western States, relates the following about the emigrants who stopped in Burlington:
'On the twenty-ninth of February, 1856, about one hundred and fifty Scandinavian emigrants arrived in Burlington, Iowa, to be placed under my jurisdiction, as they, through the lack of means, were unable to continue the journey to Utah that year. I assisted them in the transportation of their luggage across the Mississippi River on the ice, and brought them to a house belonging to an apostate Mormon by the name of Thomas Arthur, of whom I had hired a room for the accommodations of the emigrants -- the only one I could secure in the whole town. On that day the editors of the Burlington papers announced to the public the startling fact, that the town had been 'taken' by the 'Mormons.' Without friends or money I stood in the midst of my poor brethren, not knowing what to do; but I set to work in earnest and succeeded in finding employment for some of the brethren, as wood choppers, in the country, where I also rented a number of empty cabins for the Saints, who subsisted on corn meal, bacon and other articles of food which they received as advance payment for their labors. For the young men and women I also secured places as servants, and in Burlington alone I found places for fifty of them. I also hired wagons and took some of the emigrants to Montrose and Keokuk in search of employment. Thus, in less than a week after the arrival of the emigrants at Burlington, all who were able to work had found something to do. But there were a number of sick persons who needed financial aid, an as I had no money I approached one of the emigrants who had a twenty dollar gold piece, but he was an unbeliever and refused to lend his money to me or anyone else, even for the relief of the sick. A few days later he died, and his widow promptly advanced me the means, and thus I secured the necessary medicines and other things need by the sufferers. My next step was to organize the Saints into branches of the Church, over which I appointed presidents. After a little while everything went well, and in a remarkably short time the emigrants earned means enough to continue their journey to the Valley.' (Millennial Star, Vol. XVII, p.812; Vol. XVIII, pp.170, 206; Morgenstjernen, Vol. II, p.383)"
Cont., 13:12 (Oct. 1892), pp.553-54
"Wed. 12. [Dec. 1855] -- The ship John J. Boyd sailed from Liverpool, England, with 508 Saints (437 Scandinavians, 41 British and 41 Italians), under the direction of Knud Peterson. It arrived at New York, Feb. 15, 1856. A part of the company remained in Iowa and Illinois for some time, while a portion continued to Utah the same season via St. Louis and Florence [Nebraska]."
CC, p.55
". . . On Thursday, Nov. 29, 1855, a company of Scandinavian Saints numbering 447 souls sailed from Copenhagen, on board the steamship 'Loven,' bound for Utah, under the direction of Elder Canute Peterson, who returned from his mission to Norway. After a pleasant voyage, Kiel, in Holstein, was reached, and thence the emigrants continued their journey by rail to Gluckstadt, thence by steamer to Grimsby, England, and thence by rail to Liverpool, where the Scandinavian emigrants were joined by 42 British and 30 Italian Saints, and went on board the ship 'John J. Boyd.' . . ."
HSM, p.106
(source abbreviations)