. . . on the 12th of June the same year [1867] we bid goodbye to Aarhus with the rest of the emigrants to go to Zion.
On the next day, the 13th, we left Copenhagen for England. We experienced pretty rough weather in crossing the North Sea and my wife was very seasick, so much so, that the captain of the steamer on the first night after leaving the Danish Coast ordered some of the crew to pack her and some of the other sisters who had made their beds on the deck. But in the night when the sea arose and washed over the decks so that all the beds was floating in water and the women helpless down in his cabin, where they remained till we arrived in Hull, England. When I saw her again, I did not hardly recognize her, as her whole head was swelled fearfully.
After a few days stop in England we left Liverpool in a new, remodeled steamship named Manhattan, manned by Captain Williams. (This was the first company of Saints there has crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a steamship.) Our journey lasted 13 days and we also here encountered pretty severe weather, especially part of one day and the whole night. It blowed a hurricane and the emigrants suffered a great deal from seasickness. We only had two deaths on that voyage and that was two small children.
We landed in New York on the 4th of July, (the day of independence of the United States,) and what a grand sight that was to the emigrants to see such a grand city attired in it's festival in commemoration of the freedom of it's nation. After we had been on the ocean for two weeks, seeing nothing but the sky [p.90] and water and occasionally a passing sail or steam vessel or an iceberg. All the living things to be seen were the few sea birds, sharks, and the other fishes falling in the ship. In the evening it looked like the whole city with the hundreds of vessels was on fire as the most grand fireworks that human eye ever looked upon was to be seen here. The biggest portion of the emigrants were from the farming community and many perhaps had never saw a firework before. They thought perhaps the whole nature had united in celebrating our arrival to the land of Joseph.
The next morning we was brought ashore and quartered at Castle Garden and the same day went aboard a steamboat that took us up the Hudson River to Albany where we arrived the next day. We then continued our journey westward on the railroads through Detroit, Quincy, Chicago, and many other places to St. Joseph. From there we went by steamboat up the Missouri River to Omaha. This was a very disagreeable voyage there lasted fully two days. The water in that river is very roily and a very swift current. The captain and officers cross and contrary and the crew was all darkies (Negroes) and not very sociable. So, we poor emigrants did not hardly know what to do with ourselves for it appeared that wheresoever we was on the boat we was pushed around by these darkies. And our females we had to guard and protect from being insulted by those Negroes. We felt like we was lost but in the evening the weather was fine. In it was moonlight and was pleasant and a great many of the cabin passengers had seated themselves outside their cabins on chairs enjoying nature as well as their wine and cigars. So the leader of the emigrant company called some of the English Saints together who was beautiful singers and we also had some musical instruments among us. We began to sing and play so it charmed the fine cabin passengers with the captain, officers and the crew and many of the gentlemen throwed money down among the singers and also treated them with cakes and good things. It was kept up until a late hour and it had the effect that after that time we was treated very respectfully.
Peter C. Johansen, whom my wife and I was assisting by the journey, had a little girl very sick here. My wife was attending her as [p.91] shortly before we reached Omaha she breathed her last and was buried there. I was one of four to pack the corpse over one mile to the graveyard as the man was stingy to hire a coach to haul her there.
During our stay in Omaha which was about one and a half days we was visited by hundreds of the inhabitants who were pretty much all apostates. Some had been in Utah and returned to Omaha and others had never been there, but all labored very energetically to persuade the emigrants not to go any further. They took them with them home and showed them all the courtesy possible to make it appear the taking a great interest in their welfare and at the same time told the most horrible stories about Utah and the Mormons but I do not remember more than one family who remained there. I believe it was on account of him not having money enough to take him any further. He was a man from Copenhagen named Jensen.
Well, after we had provided ourselves with provisions to last us till our regular supply arrived from Chicago, we boarded the Union Pacific train and went as far as the North Platte, where our cattle were feeding, which had been bought in Utah, and drove them from there to the Platte River that spring (Our company of emigrants was an independent company, we had no assistance from the church; but had sent our money from Denmark to the emigration agent to buy our provisions cattle and wagons etc. etc.) And had been [-] there for sometime, and was now in pretty good order for traveling, but a delay was caused some way or other, before our wagons and provisions arrived for about three weeks, in which time a great many of the emigrants died, so we made a whole graveyard while laying on the Platte, but finally the day for starting out tedious journey had come. Our company was organized into five small companies, each with a captain who drove ahead of his company and the companies each in turns took the lead of all the companies one day at the time. . . . [p.92]
. . . our company was moving slowly toward the west, under the direction of our Captain William G. Rice. . . . [p.94]
. . . on the 5th of October about dusk a very rainy day. The emigrant train wheeled in on the church farm three miles south of the city, where we were instructed to turn our teams on to feed, during conference time. We had now reached our destination, and both man and beast of the whole company were pretty well worn out and we [-] to lift our hearts in thanks to God that we had been preserved on this long tedious journey, as many were now missing of those who were with us at the beginning of our journey. Parents had lost their children, and children parents, men had been made widowers, widows and orphans, but all for the gospel sake and the Lord has promised a hundred fold in this life and life eternal [p.95] in the world to come, for all these sacrifices.
The next morning October 6th 1867 after a very stormful and rainy night we got up early, and had a general cleaning up and put on our very finest attire. The day was very windy but we started for the city, and I for one felt like I could kiss the very ground I was stepping on. I was now in Zion, where the prophets and apostles of Christ dwell, and this was the first meeting which was held in the large tabernacle after its completion and the feeling that I had when I entered that building is undescribable. I saw here these men that I had prayed for and bore testimony about, for years, in my native land, before me and recognized the most of them , after photographs I had previously seen. My faith and hope was now a reality, I was now myself numbered among God's people in this chosen land and all the trials, and hardships in coming here was now forgotten, it was now in the past, and all my anxiety was now for the future. . . . . [p.96]
BIB: Hansen, Charles Keilgaard. Reminiscences (Ms 8891). pp. 90-92, 94-96. (CHL)
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