Larsen Family Travels from Denmark by Christena A. Larsen

Larsen Family travels from Demark to America

Excerpts from the personal history of Christena A. Larsen Larsen found on Family Search.org

(These excerpts tell us how the Larsen's were introduced to the Latter Day Saint Church and the process of their immigration from Denmark to America in 1876.  Our direct ancestor Niels Larsen (brother of Christena Larsen) was 8 years old at the time of their conversion and immigation.

I was born on March 11, 1857, at Skalberg Odense, Denmark. I lived there until I was seven years old at which time my parents moved to Shallen, where I lived until I was fourteen years old. At the age of fourteen, as was the custom, I found employment in the home of a well to do farmer.

When I was sixteen years old my father died, leaving my mother a widow with seven children.

My mother was a great Bible student, but did not belong to any church. She visited around from one church to another but felt very dissatisfied. About this time the Mormon missionaries came into our vicinity and started to spread Mormonism. All of my friends and acquaintances seemed very opposed to the teachings of the missionaries. However, my mother, being very interested in anything pertaining to the Bible and always searching for something which would better satisfy her in a religious line, was interested in their message.

Disregarding the taunts and laughs of my friends, I went with my mother to one of the Mormon Meetings. As we entered the saints were singing and their song seemed to penetrate my very soul, and I felt that I belonged with these people. I couldn’t see why it was that people were saying they were wicked.

A few days after we had heard the message my mother had a dream in which she saw one of the missionaries and heard him say, “You have heard the truth, now accept it.”

My mother and I were baptized on the 19th day of April, 1876. We had to be very quiet about accepting the gospel. When I was baptized I had to wait until everyone had gone to bed and everything was quiet, then I threw the clothes that I was going to be baptized in out of the window and crept very quietly down the stairs and out of the court. I walked to my mother’s home where the missionaries were waiting to baptize us.

After we were baptized mother walked about halfway back home with me. After she left me, I had about a mile to go. All the way back I could hear something flying around me, making a terrible hissing sound. When I got to the gates of the court, they rattled and shook, making a terrible noise; this frightened me because I thought the dog would hear the noise and wake up the people in the house. However, I opened up the gates and the dog was lying peacefully in his kennel and did not even hear me enter. I was greatly amazed to think that I could hear all this noise and confusion and yet the dog, who was always a very good watch, dog, could be sleeping so peacefully, and a great fear entered my heart, but I seemed to hear a voice say to keep right on going, that this spirit had no power over me. I entered my room without any further trouble.

The next morning while I was in the garden, my mother came to see me. I told her of my experience. She sad to be very careful not to speak of it to anyone else, but that she had also heard the noise and had seen the evil spirits flying around us. She said that immediately after we had left the missionaries, she could see a form of different shapes and colors flying around us, hissing and spitting angrily. My mother said that she felt sure that it was the evil spirits and that they were angry because we had joined the church.

As soon as possible after this my mother sold all of her things and we made preparations to leave for Zion. My employer was so angry when he heard that I was leaving that he kept my wages for three months.

We left Denmark in June, 1876. We stopped in Liverpool, England to rest for a few days before starting on our voyage across the ocean. We traveled second class with the other immigrants. When we arrived in New York, I was so bewildered; I can scarcely remember what happened. However, I know that as soon as we were allowed to, we came on to Utah with other converts.

In Ogden we were met by elders of the church, who took us in their wagons to Mantua, where we took up our new life among converts who were mostly of our own nationality. Among the elders who met us at Ogden was Lars A. Larsen and we travelled in his wagon, arriving at Mantua July 23, 1876.