1864-06-03-Monarch-of-the-Sea

Autobiography of Nils C. Flygare

Flygare, Nils Christian, Autobiography. In Papers (Special Collections & Manuscripts, MSS 1496, bx. 1, fd. 3, pp. 51-57). (Harold B . Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah)

... We had very fair sailing and casted anchor in New York Harbor on the 2nd day of June, having made the voyage in 36 days. We passed the quarantine examination all right and were landed in the Castle Garden on the 3rd of June 1864. I put foot on this continent at 11 a.m. on that day. [p.52] The great vessel there as buoyantly had brought us over the great deep was lost the next season with one thousand Irish emigrants on board.

We left New York the same day we landed and on the steamer St. John went up the Hudson River to Albany, a beautiful trip. ...

Autobiography of Richard Daniels Brown Jr.

Brown, Richard Daniels, Jr., [Autobiography], IN Brown, Archie Leon, 141 Years of Mormon Heritage: Rawsons, Browns, Angells - Pioneers (privately printed, 1973) pp. 81- 83. (CHL)

... We had some very severe storms and landed in New York on the 3rd of June 1864. There were about 1,000 passengers aboard besides the officers and sailors.

I left England with only nine cents in my pocket but on landing a gentleman gave me twenty five cents (paper money) for carrying a trunk a short distance (I did not know how to count the American money). I went to buy something to eat (5 cents worth) and on returning was told that they had given me 45 cents back in change.

I was in New York without money or without fare paid any further, but stayed with the Saints who were emigrants and was not molested. ...

Diary of Christian Hansen [Jensen]

Hansen, Christen [Jensen]. Diary (Ms 1795), pp. 12-13. (CHL)

The 31 [May] and 1 June we saw 2 islands whose name was Long Island. At night on the 1st and 2nd we received the pilot on board.

June 2 - A steamer came and towed us into the harbor where we cast anchor.

Friday, June 3 - We went ashore and were quartered in Castle Garden. Forty-two children died at sea from scurvy. One grown man who was an Englishman also died. The same day that we went ashore we went aboard a steamer that sailed 150 miles to a city named Albany.

George Finlinson Family

Finlinson, George, George Finlinson Family, 1835-1974, comp. by Angie F. Lyman (privately printed, 1974) pp. 14-19. (CHL)

Wednesday-June 1.--The wind blew very strong. Hollsworth [Holdsworth] very poorly this morning. Had a game of cards with the captain until 12 o'clock and then the pilot came on board. (There were 23 children and 1 man buried in the ocean of this group.)

Thursday 2.--The wind this morning, calm. (In sight of land kept in sight.) There was a tug came about 10 o'clock and fastened to us. It towed us up and we passed the most splendid scenery I ever beheld. The doctor came on board and passed all passengers. On watch at night.

Friday 3.--The steam boat came to tow us up the river about 10 o'clock and commenced to get the baggage on it. Arrived in New York about 2 o'clock went in the steamboat to Albany about 150 miles. Started at 6 o'clock and sailed all night. We had a ramble through New York it is a nice place and all along as we go it is beautiful to behold.

History of Caroline Martine Anderson

History of Caroline Martine Anderson, first wife of Charles Keilgaard Hansen [letter, Caroline Martine Hansen to Charles K. Hansen, June 17, 1864, Wyoming, Nebraska] (Ms 8889). pp.1-2 (CHL)

Dear Husband:--Now that I have the opportunity to write to you. I will try to tell you more about my journey and how I have been. I am well and happy. I am thankful to my Heavenly Father and lucky for being able to come this far on our journey. ...

... We were five weeks on the water and we landed in New York the third of June. It was a big event that we have all been waiting for. To see the trees and all the beautiful things, the tallest building on earth. Dear husband, what great happiness there is to set foot upon the beautiful American land. Not alone that it is a beautiful place, but the fact that Joseph blessed this land to be set aside for someday to be for all the Lord's people. To each person who will worship God and love his neighbor as his self. Dear husband be faithful so that each of us will be able to receive the blessings our Heavenly Father has for us that we are in need of. I don't mean to preach to you, but I have learned so many things since I have started my journey. There are many weaknesses, therefore be patient it is a good trait to develop and if we have it we will be able to pass through many trying things. The Lord's hand will follow us and his blessings will follow us.

When we arrived at New York, there were several people we knew. I was most welcomed by Brother Mortensen, Brother Christensen of Grenaa. Haurback Knudsen, Staffer and Frederiksen. There were also many whose name I do not remember. They had all had a good trip. I will tell you how many ships we have been on, there were quite a few because the Saints hadn't gone the way they had planned to go. Because of trouble with the ships.

We rode on the train for eight meters a day and there was stoves and restrooms on each car. ...

Reminiscences of H. N. Hansen

Hansen, H. N., "An Account of a Mormon Family's Conversion to the Religion of the Latter-day Saints and their Trip from Denmark to Utah," Annals of Iowa 41:1 (Summer 1971) pp 712-26.

... When it is considered that before we landed at New York we had been nearly two months on the journey and with no change of getting washing done in this crowded and filthy condition we were in a sorry plight. It was soon discovered that we had other passengers along that was not counted on at the start, and they were so seemed to increased from day to day so rapidly that no one would think of counting them. It was not large live stock, but that nearly everybody felt their presence was observed by the continual scratching in which they were non and then engaged. I have mentioned the ungentlemanly conduct of the crew as examples of their meanness would mention, that if an attempt would be made by anyone to wash their clothes and to have they [them] dried on the deck, the sailors would without the least provocation throw the same overboard as soon as they came across it. This was bedding and other clothing upon which the sick had died which some took on deck to give it a few moments fresh airing, throw it overboard. Once father and mother was on deck trying in the way circumstances would allow to rinse out some clothing, the day was fine. None of the crew had occasion to be in a hurry with their work, and father and mother was not in their way at all. Two of the sailors came along one of them I think was the first mate, they picked up the vessel containing the clothes without previous warning, and poured the whole thing into the spout leading through the ship's boulwark into the sea, and walked away as unconcerned as though nothing uncommon had happened. The clothes would all been lost if father had not immediately reached [p.718] down his hand and caught them all. Of course that finished that day's washing.

I think it was about June 1st that our eyes first beheld the shores of the new continent, the promised land, for which home and its comforts had been sacrificed. Friends and loved ones had been left behind. In many instances parents had left children, and children parents; and even worse husbands, and in this they had been encouraged by the missionaries. In support of such moves scripture had been quoted. The Master having said: "He that does not hate his father and mother, and wife, and children and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also he can not be my disciple." This and similar text wrongfully applied, had led many to believe that it was their duty to forsake all even children and companions to gather with God's people to Zion. Some of them had already begun to see that wrong that had been committed and with bitterness began to regret the step they had taken. While on the journey they began to see that some of the Elders who they had learned to look up to as the servants of God and whose work they had received as the work of God were not such men as they believed them to be. I can remember a Swedish lady whose birth place was not far from ours, who had left her companion in Sweden, who I often heard cry out: "Had I know what I know now I would never have emigrated." As it was with her so it evidently was with many others. But now all who was well enough was cheerful. The long and tedious voyage with all its trials and hardships were complete. Here before the eye was the green shore of "Joseph's Land." It was to us a cheerful sight we though now the difficult part of the journey was completed, and though yet there were several thousands of miles to be traveled before we would reach our destination, "the valleys of the mountains," it would be a journey by land and being tired of the ocean we hailed the prospects of the change with joy. We were in tow of a little steamer and soon came to anchor in the bay. I think it was on the 2nd or 3rd of June that we went ashore at the Castle Garden, where so many thousands and perhaps millions since have landed, coming [p.719] from various parts of Europe to better their financial condition in the new world. But this was not the prime object by the majority of our company. We had come to be enriched spiritually; we were going to a place appointed by God, to be under the voice of inspiration, that we might learn more fully to worship our Maker in righteousness, and to know his ways more fully.

All was in a hurry and bustle at the Garden, how long we waited there I do not remember, but I think it was the next day we boarded a steamer that carried us up the Hudson River to the city of Albany, and here again we had to wait. I sometime think of those times in contrast with our present way of traveling. How impatient we get if our trains do not make close connections, if we have to wait a few hours we think it is very inconvenient, and if it happens that we must wait till next day we consider it outrageous and declare that company ought to be prosecuted for neglect. Not so with us we waited with patience, though many felt weary and worn out with fatigue, few felt that they had a right to complain. Must not God's people come up through great tribulations? And must they not bear these in meekness and submission? What faith was exercised by many in those days to be wrecked and ruined later on as discoveries reveal the corruption within, and in the midst of the church which was believed to be God's own building accepted and directed by him. ...