Jesperson Crossing the Ocean—Liverpool to New Orleans
Compiled By Wendy Kay Smith
The Benjamin Adams was a built in 1852 in Bath, Maine. It weighed 1170 tons and was 187′ x 37′ x 18′. It was a fully rigged three-master. It was built with three decks, a square stem, and a billethead. It carried up to 650 passengers at a time.
“Although the fifty-three-day passage was described as ‘very pleasant and prosperous,’ there were eight deaths (two elderly adults and six children), two births, and nine marriages. The vessel arrived at New Orleans on 22 March.” (1)
One of the children who died was Jens’s and Annie’s son Mads Jesperson, who died on March 3, 1853. He was just four years old and was buried at sea. (2)
After arriving in New Orleans, the company travelled via a steamship up the Mississippi River. Many on the ship got sick with cholera, and Jens was one of the men that was asked to help look after the sick. It wasn’t too long before he too become sick with cholera and died.
Hans tells of the experience “As we traveled up the Missouri River my Father, Jens Michael Jespersen, died with the Cholera. I was taken down sick with the same disease and was expected to die by all who saw me but through the Providence of God I landed safely on the Banks of the Missouri River where Kansas City now stands, with my mother, Ana Marie, sister, Mette Catherine, brother, Yern Jens.” (3)
Mette Catherine’s experience, “Catherine’s father, Jens Jesperson, took cholera and suffered with terrible cramps in his stomach for three days, then passed away. He was buried the same day on the banks of the Missouri River.”
“This was one of the saddest days of Mette’s young life. She was left without a father, after having just arrived in a strange land with her mother and two small brothers. That’s all that was left of the happy family of seven who had so recently left their native home.”
“In another day or so her mother came down with the cholera, too, and lay so sick that Catherine was sure her mother was going to die. This young girl of fifteen said that she could not endure life without her mother. Catherine got in bed with her so that she would contract the disease and live or die with her beloved mother. They were both very ill, but through the care of friends and the blessings of the Lord they both recovered, to continue their journey to Utah.” (4)
Annie Marie wrote of the voyage: “I was sick all of the time on the ship and a long time after. My husband said, ‘Maybe you’ll not live to reach Zion.’ My youngest son, Hans Madsen died the 14th of January, 1854 and the next to the youngest, Mads, died the last part of February the same year. That gave me much sorrow, but I acknowledged the hand of God in it and bore my sorrow patiently. When we reached St. Louis we were to lay over there a day and we contracted that awful contagious disease cholera. Some of the people got sick in the evening and died before morning. My husband took sick in the evening. He was very sick and suffered with cramps for three days, then he died.”
Sources:
- Sonne, Conway B. (Conway Ballantyne), 1917–. Ships, Saints, And Mariners: a Maritime Encyclopedia of Mormon Migration, 1830-1890. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987.
- Louisiana, New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820–1945, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5VM-FY2?i=278&cc=1916009&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQKNP-67N9
- “Personal History of Hans Jasperson,” digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org > Hans Jasperson, person ID KW8H-PJ1 > Memories > Documents: accessed 27 December 2020).
- “Mette Catherine Jesperson Jones Peterson,” digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org) > > digital image, FamilySearch.org > Mette Catherine Jesperson, person ID KWNY-455 > Memories > Documents: accessed 27 December 2020