"SIXTY-NINTH COMPANY. -- Jesse Munn, 333 Souls. This company of Saint were all from the Scandinavian Mission. Quite a number of the recently made converts to 'Mormonism' in Denmark possessed considerable means, and as the spirit of emigrating to America was universal in all the branches in Scandinavia from the beginning, the well-to-do Saints made almost immediate preparations to sell their property and wend their way Zionward. The incessant persecutions, which prevailed against the members of the true church in nearly all parts of the country, also increased the desire to emigrate; and rather than tarry, a number preferred to sell their homes at half price, if by so doing they could only obtain sufficient means to defray the expenses of the journey. Under these circumstances the spirit of brotherly love also manifested itself in its noblest form, and under its divine influence the rich Saints remembered their poor fellow religionists, and extended to them that material help and succor, which has always characterized the Saints of the Most High. Thus, hundreds of the poor, whose chances to emigrate with their own means, were almost beyond reasonable expectation
, were assisted by their wealthier brethren to go to Zion. Through the column of 'Scandinavians Stjerne,' the Church organ in Scandinavia, plain and minute instructions were given to the emigrants, who nearly all were unacquainted with the incidents of travel. In fact, there were many among them, who during all their previous experience in life, had never had occasion to go farther from their homes than to the nearest market town. Thus, as a matter of course, it was no easy task for the elders who presided over the different branches and conferences of the mission to plan and arrange everything for the emigrants, and especially was the burden heavy which rested upon the presiding brethren in Copenhagen where the headquarters of the mission were located. In the latter part of December, 1852, however, President John Van Cott succeeded in making the necessary contracts for transportation, etc., and in the afternoon of December 22, 1853, the first emigrant company of the season, and the third shipload of Saints from Scandinavia, three hundred strong, set sail from Copenhagen on board the steamship 'Slevig' under the presidency of a young elder by the name of Christian Larsen, who now acts as bishop of one of the wards in Logan, Cache County. A large concourse of people had assembled on the wharf to witness the departure of the 'Mormons,' and a great deal of bitterness and hard feelings were manifested. When Elder P. O. Hansen, after the vessel had left the harbor, was walking back to the mission office, he was followed by a mob who knocked him down and pounded him considerably about the head. He lost a quantity of blood, but received no dangerous injuries.
By way of Kiel, Gluckstadt and Hull the emigrants reached Liverpool England, in safety, on the twenty-eighth of December, and on the first of January, 1854, they went on board the ship Jesse Munn, which had been chartered by the presidency in Liverpool, for the transportation of the Scandinavian Saints, in connection with a few German Saints, which swelled the total number of souls to three hundred and thirty-three. The company sailed from Liverpool on the third, and after a prosperous voyage arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River on the sixteenth of February. During the voyage twelve of the emigrants died, namely: two adults and ten children; three couples were married.
On Monday February 20th, 1854, the Jesse Munn arrived at New Orleans, where Christian and Sven Larsen made a contract for the further transportation of the company to St. Louis; and on Saturday the twenty-fifth, the river journey to that city was commenced. Owing to unusual low water in the river, the passage was slow, and tedious, which in connection with the change of climate and difference in the mode of living, caused cholera of a very malignant type to break out among the emigrants, resulting in an unusual number of deaths. After the arrival in St. Louis on the eleventh of March, houses were rented for the temporary occupation of the emigrants, who tarried there about a month, until the next company of Scandinavian emigrants arrived, under the direction of Elder Hans Peter Olsen. During the stay in St. Louis, sickness continued amongst the Saints, and many more died of the cholera. (Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, pp.41, 447; Morgenstjernen, Vol. II, page 52.)"
Cont., 13:11 (Sep. 1892), pp.507-08
"Tues. 3. [Jan 1854] -- The ship Jesse Munn sailed from Liverpool, England, with 300 Scandinavian and 33 German Saints, under the direction of Christian Larsen. It arrived at New Orleans Feb. 10th, and the emigrants continued up the rivers to Kansas City, Missouri, which this year was selected as the outfitting place for the Saints crossing the plains."
CC, p.50
(source abbreviations)