. . . May the 7th. I went with the emigrants to Aalborg, where I, until May the 16th made preparations in connection with the other emigrants, for the long journey ahead of us.

May the 9th, 1866. I was married to Lise Thomsen. President [Peder] Christiansen married us.

May the 16th. We emigrating Saints had our things taken aboard the steamer and we sailed out from Aalborg at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and had a fine sailing, and in the morning, at 7 o'clock the next day, May the 17th, we were in Copenhagen (Kjobenhavn), where our things were taken aboard the steamship "Aurora," and that ship sailed out from Copenhagen at 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

May the 17th, cont. At 6:30 o'clock in the afternoon we sailed and passed the Danish Island Möen, with some fine forest grounds, and with the imposing "M?ene Klint" reaching out and up from the shore, 240 feet tall. We arrived the following day, May 18th, in Kiel, Germany, from which city the company went by train to Altona. From there the women and children continued in a small steamer to the near to Altona laying for big city of Hamburg, while the men walked to Altona. On their arrival in Hamburg, the emigrants were lodged for the night in a large emigrant building, where we were given meals.

May 19th. We went aboard the double-decked ship Kenilworth. Many hundreds of ships were anchored in the harbor, and many steamships were crossing around forth and back in the harbor.

May the 20th, 1866. Our things were taken aboard the ship.

Tuesday, May the 22nd. More emigrants, who had left Copenhagen the preceding day, came to us, as arranged by the accompanying presiding brethren, Carl Widerborg, the present Scandinavian mission president, Samuel C. Sprague, the former president, that should take us to "Zion", and other prominent elders. Elder Mort?n Lund was appointed Sprague's assistant. Elder Fred R. E. Berthelsen [Bertelsen], his secretary, and Elder Ole H. Berg the guard for the emigrant company, that were divided into 42 messes.

May the 23rd. We were by two steam boats, dragged up the Elbe (or Elben) River to some certain point. President Carl Widerborg had been aboard the ship Kenilworth and blessed it for its long voyage across the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

May the 24th. Brother [Jens] Rosenbreen's [Rosengren] 5 year old boy died. (Rosengreen's [Rosengren] family were from the Copenhagen Conference. It is not stated who were emigrating of that family.

May the 25th. The ship Kenilworth lifted anchor in the River Elbe at Hamburg, May 25th, 1866, with its precious cargo of 684 souls on board; of these 583 were from Denmark, 33 from Norway, 73 from Sweden, and 5 from Germany. The route around the north of Scotland was chosen by the captain.

May 26th. Fine weather. A sister from Copenhagen gave birth to a boy, May 27th. Nice weather. No wind and a gospel meeting was held on the deck.

May 28th. Somewhat stormy weather. Many were seasick. N. C. Kjargaards [Kibsgaard] wife gave birth to a son.

May 29th. Clear air. Favorable wind.

May 30th. Some wind and some seasickness.

May 31st. Fine weather.

June the 1st. Good wind for sailing. We sailed between the Shetlands and the Orkney islands. A little girl 1 years old died. She was a daughter of the Petersen family from Randers [Denmark].

June the 3rd. Sunday. Meeting held. The wind still. [p.43]

June the 4th. But I felt sick and laid sick until the 10th of June, when we had a gospel meeting under the deck. I could stand to go a little up on the deck.

June the 11th, 1866. Air foggy at that date, and the following days, we had the wind against us part of the time.

June the 15th. Friday. Storm, with the wind against us.

June the 16th. Cold air. A woman from Copenhagen Conference died.

June 17th. Sunday. Very cold. The meeting under the deck.

June 18th. Still wind. Air warm. A big mail-steamer from Europe passed us.

June 19th. Ole Borses [Berg's] child died. No good wind for our sailing the 20th, 21st and 22nd of June.

June 23rd, Saturday. Storm. C. [Christen] Christensen's wife from Kobbero [Denmark] died.

June 24th Sunday. Meeting. Wind against us, also the next day.

June 25th. A younger man from Aarhus Conference died, (name not given.)

June 26th and 27th. Wind against us.

June 28th, 29th and more or less until the 12th of July favorable.

July the 12th. The pilot came aboard to direct the ship into the harbor of New York, and to the place of quarantine at Castle Garden.

July the 15th. We could see land, and July 17th, we landed, at Castle Garden. We had had a long and dreary voyage, but we had been treated in a kind manner by Captain Brown, and the ship's crew.

July 17th. On the evening of the day, when we passengers of the Kenilworth were landed at Castle Garden, we proceeded forward in our journey on a large freight steamer to New Haven, Connecticut, where we arrived on the morning of July the 18th, and after staying there for a few hours, the journey northward by train was begun, passing through the States of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to Montreal, in Canada. Here we had to accept passage in some very uncomfortable and dirty freight cars, in which we traveled through Canada, the route of travel being along the north bank of the St. Lawrence River, and the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

July the 20th. On the evening a part of the train jumped the track near Port Hope, but no one was hurt.

July the 21st. We came on other wagons.

July 22nd. We had lodging in a big house during the night.

July the 23rd. We came on another train, and we reached Chicago July the 24th in the night. We were now taken to another train to Quincy, Illinois. A steamer took us across the Mississippi River to the Missouri side of the river, where we found shelter from the burning sun in a nearby grove. After a 4 hour rest we continued our disagreeable railroad ride until we came to St. Joseph, July 27th.

July 27th, 1866, continued. We were from this place given steamboat passage up the big Missouri River during two days time; and we had continually to suffer insults from a morally dirty and wicked crew. Finally we reached to Wyoming, Nebraska, Sunday morning, July the 29th at 7 o'clock in the morning. I and [Jens] Thomsen, with our wives, to our surprise met at the place we now had come to Brother C. Mikkelsen . . . .We waited at that place until the 13th of August (two weeks time) before we could be taken over the mountains to Utah. The teams from Utah carried provisions with them to be given to the emigrants; that were in need of same; [p.44] and many were that.

We had had a hard time of it during part of the time of our journey, as not less that 33 persons of our company had died from cholera or some other disease, before we had reached to the La Plata [the Platte] River. . . . [p.45] [ABRUPT END OF TRANSLATION OF JOURNAL]

BIB: Poulsen, John Christian. Diary (Ms 1700), pp. 43-45. (CHL)
(source abbreviations)