"EMIGRATION NEWS FROM SCANDINAVIA. . . . the Athenia, (Captain Schilling,) on the 21st, with 484 souls, under the presidency of Elder O. N. Liljenquist. . . ."
MS, 24:18 (May 3, 1862), p.283
"Mon. 21. [Apr 1862] -- The ship Athenia sailed from Hamburg, Germany, with 484 Scandinavian Saints, under the direction of Ola N. Liljenquist. The company arrived at
New York June 6th and at Florence [Nebraska] June 19th."
CC, p.67
". . . For several months, the preparation for this large emigration had been going on in the different conferences throughout Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The emigrating Saints from the Jutland Conferences in Denmark went direct to Hamburg, while most of those from the other conferences first gathered in Copenhagen and thence made their way to Hamburg in different companies. . . .
. . . The steamer 'Albion' sailed from Copenhagen April 14, 1862, with about 500 emigrating Saints on board, and, after a successful voyage, arrived at Kiel at 8 o'clock a.m. of April 15th. After spending about two hours in transferring the baggage of the emigrants to the railway cars, the company left Kiel on an extra train for Altona, where they arrived at 1:30 p.m. President John Van Cott, assisted by other brethren, proceeded immediately to read the list of the emigrants and bring them on board the ships 'Electric' and 'Athenia' which, like the 'Humbolt' and 'Franklin,' were anchored in the Elbe off Hamburg.
The last of the Latter-day Saint Scandinavian emigrants of that season sailed from Copenhagen, April 17, 1862, on board the steamer 'Aurora,' which arrived at Kiel in the morning of the 18th and later the same day continued the journey by rail to Altona, where the emigrants spent a few hours attending to their baggage, and were then taken by a tender to the ship 'Athenia,' which lay at anchor down the Elbe near Gluckstadt. . . .
. . . On Monday, April 21, 1862, the ship 'Athenia' (Captain D. Schilling) sailed from Hamburg with 484 emigrating Saints on board in charge of Elder Ola N. Liljenquist
, and before noon the ship was on the broad face of the North Sea. . . .
. . . On the 7th of June, the 'Athenia' arrived in New York, where Elder Soren Christoffersen's company was met, it having arrived the day before. Both companies left
New York June 9th by train for Florence, where they arrived safely on the 19th.
The emigrants who sailed across the Atlantic in the four ships mentioned [THE Humboldt, Franklin, Electric, and Athenia] came together in Florence from which place those who had not the means wherewith to equip themselves for the journey across the plains were assisted by the teams sent there from the Valley by the Church, while those who had means wherewith to help themselves were organized into two independent companies. One of these was placed in charge of Elder Christian A. Madsen and was composed of 264 persons, 40 wagons, 14 horses, 174 oxen, 99 cows, 37 heifers, 7 calves, 6 dogs and 10 chickens, and brought along 22 tents, 32 cooking stoves, 5 revolvers and 37 rifles. Hans C. Hansen was captain of the guard and Jens C. A. Weibye secretary for the company, which was divided into six divisions with the following brethren as captains: Soren Larsen, Jens C. A. Weibye, Niels Mortensen (Lynge), Thomas Lund, Lauritz Larsen and Christian H. Gron. The first mentioned had charge of five horse teams and the others eight ox teams each.
The other company, which also counted about 40 wagons, with its quota of persons, animals, etc., was in charge of Elder Ola N. Liljenquist, and Elder John Van Cott was placed as general leader of both companies, which broke camp at Florence, July 14, 1862. The first few days some difficulty was experienced, as the oxen, who were not used to Scandinavian orders and management, would often follow their own inclination to leave the road and run away with the wagons, but after some practice on the part of their inexperienced teamsters, the difficulty somewhat disappeared. The journey from Florence was via Elkhorn River, Loup Fork, Wood River, Willow Lake, Rattlesnake Creek, Fort Laramie, Upper Platte Bridge, Devil's Gate, South Pass, Green River, etc., to Salt Lake City, where the company safely arrived Sept. 23, 1862. . . ."
HSM, pp.166-67
(source abbreviations)