. . . My father was Gustav Olson and my mother was Johanna Anderson Olson. I was born March 16, 1854 in Sventorp, Sweden, My father was a farmer there. My parents were converted to the Latter-day Saint church about 1860. Father served as president of that part of the mission field until 1864. Mobs persecuted us and finally we decided to leave.
On April 4, 1864, we left Sventorp. Then we went to Akovee, next to Gottenberg, then Copenhagen. From there we sailed across the Baltic to Subeck, Germany. Then we took the train to Hamburg, Germany and sailed there to England. Crossing the North Sea, many passengers were sick. We landed at Grimsby and stayed there eight days.
On April 21 we arrived in Liverpool and on April 28, we embarked on the Ship Monarch [of the Sea] with 973 Latter-day Saint converts under the direction of Patriarch John Smith.
On May 10 a terrible storm arose and my father tied me to a timber with a rope to keep me from being hurled about by the pitching of the ship. An old uncle of mine had a big kettle of peas which he had cooked. He sat down to enjoy the dish. The next thing I saw was the old man sliding back and forth under his berth in these peas. [p.51]
We reached New York safely June 3. We took the train out to the little town of Wyoming, Nebraska about 7 miles north of Nebraska City. There we outfitted, meanwhile camping in the brush for three weeks in hot weather waiting for the church teams to come and meet us.
The ground was so hot it burned our feet. About 170 teams were sent from Utah that year to the Missouri River for the immigrants. We started our trip across the plains July 1. . . .
. . . We arrived in Salt Lake September 5, 1864, being five months and eleven days on the journey. . . . [p.52]
BIB: Sprague, Martha Olson, [Reminiscences], "Utah Pioneer Biographies," vol. 27, pp.51- 52. (FHL)
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