William Tapscott 1859 ~~~ Voyage to America - 11 April 1859

Ship/William Tapscott/11 Apr 1859
 Ship: William Tapscott
Date of Departure: 11 Apr 1859 - Port of Departure: Liverpool, England LDS Immigrants: 725 - Church Leader: Robert F. Neslen Date of Arrival: 13 May 1859 - Port of Arrival: New York, New York Source(s): BMR, Book #1046, pp. 102-130 (FHL #025,691); SMR, pp. 69-77; Customs #367 (FHL #175,547); SMR, 1859 (FHL #025,696)

Notes: "DEPARTURE. -- On the 11th instant, the ship William Tapscott set sail for New York, with 725 Saints on board. May the blessing of heaven accompany them on their journey Zionward; and may the Saints whom they have left behind in these lands be stimulated to increased exertions to swell the emigration list for another season, that they may then rise and follow them."
"ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTH COMPANY. -- William Tapscott, 725 souls. On Monday, April 11th, 1859, the ship William Tapscott sailed from Liverpool, England with 725 British, Scandinavian and Swiss Saints on board. 

The Scandinavian portion of the company, consisting of 355 souls, had sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark, on the steamer L. N. Hvidt April 1st, 1859, in charge of Elders Carl Widerborg and Niels Wihelmsen, and reached Grimsby, England, on the sixth, after a rather long and stormy passage over the German Ocean. From Grimsby the emigrants continued by rail to Liverpool, when they, on the seventh, went on board the William Tapscott, and were joined by the British and Swiss emigrants. 

Elder Robert F. Neslen was appointed president of the company, with Henry H. Harris and George Rowley as counselors. After going through the process of government inspection, clearing, etc., President Neslen, in connection with his counselors, proceeded to organize the company into ten wards, namely, five English and five Scandinavian, appointing a president over each, to see to the faithful observance of cleanliness, good order, etc. The Scandinavian Saints occupied one side of the vessel, and the British and Swiss the other. The company was blessed with a most pleasant and agreeable voyage, which lasted only thirty-one days. The health of the passengers was exceptionally good, which was demonstrated by the fact that only one death occurred on board, and that was an old Swedish sister by the name of Inger Olsen Hagg, sixty-one years old, who had been afflicted for upwards of five years previous to her embarkation. 

This was counterbalanced by two births. In the matrimonial department the company did exceedingly well, as no less than nineteen marriages were solemnized on board; of these five couples were English, one Swiss and thirteen Scandinavian. 

Every day during the voyage the people were called together for prayer and every morning and evening at eight o'clock. On Sundays three meetings were held on deck, and fellowship meetings in each ward two nights a week. The monotony of the voyage was also enlivened with singing, instrumental music, dancing, games, etc. in which as a matter of course, the junior portion took a prominent part, while the more sedate enjoyed themselves in seeing and hearing the happifying recreations. 

Elder Neslen writes that he felt it quite a task when he was appointed to take charge of a company composed of people from so many countries, speaking nine different languages, and having different manners, customs, and peculiarities, and thrown together under such close circumstances; but through the faithfulness and diligence of the Saints, which were universally manifested, he soon found the load far easier than he had anticipated, and on the arrival of the company in New York, it was pronounced by doctors and government officers to be the best disciplined and most agreeable company that ever arrived at that port. 

Arriving safely in the New York harbor, the emigrants were landed in the Castle Gardens on Saturday, the fourteenth of May. On the same day, in the evening; most of them continued the journey by steamboat up the Hudson River to Albany, where they arrived the following morning. Thence they traveled by rail via Niagara to Windsor, in Canada, where they, on the sixteenth crossed the river to Detroit, and thence continued the journey by rail, by way of Quincy to St. Joseph, Missouri, where they arrived on the twenty-first. In the afternoon of that day they boarded the steamboat St. Mary which brought them to Florence, Nebraska, where they arrived on the twenty-fifth, in the morning. 

The whole route through the States was one which no former company of emigrating Saints had ever taken. Brother George Q. Cannon and those who assisted him in the emigrating business were quite successful in making arrangements for their transportation by rail direct to St. Joseph, instead of, as first contemplated, shipping them to Iowa City. On their arrival at Florence the Saints were organized into temporary districts and branches, with presiding officers over each, whose duty it was to look after the comfort and welfare of the people which encamped at that place. Prayer meetings were held regularly twice a week in most of these temporary branches. About fifty of the Saints who crossed the Atlantic in the William Tapscott stopped temporarily in New York and other parts of the United States. (Millennial Star, Vol. XXI, pp.286, 419; Morgenstjernen, Vol. III p.82)" 

"Mon. 11. [Apr. 1859] -- The ship William Tapscott sailed from Liverpool, England, with 725 Saints, under the direction of Robert F. Nelsen. The company arrived at New York May 14th, and at Florence, Nebraska, May 25th."
". . . On Friday, April 1, 1859, a company of Scandinavian Saints, consisting of 355 souls, namely 224 Danes, 113 Swedes and 18 Norwegians, sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark, on the steamer 'L. N. Hivdt,' in charge of Elders Carl Widerborg and Niels Wilhelmsen. After a rather stormy voyage over the North Sea the company reached Grimsby, England, on the 6th. From Grimsby the emigrants continued the journey by rail the same day to Liverpool, where they, on the 7th, went on board the ship 'William Tapscott,' Captain Bell, and were joined by British and Swiss emigrants. Elder Robert F. Neslen was appointed president of the company, with Henry H. Harris and George Rowley as counselors. Under them Elders Soren P. Guhl, Johan F. Klingbeck, Peter A. Fjeldsted, Anders Petersen, Lars Petersen and Morten Petersen presided over the Scandinavians.

 Brothers Christian Jeppesen and Niels Jacobsen acted as interpreters and Hans O. Magleby and Anton Petersen as cooks. On Monday, April 11, 1859, the ship lifted anchor and was tugged out of the Mersey into the open sea with its precious cargo of 726 souls. Songs of joy resounded from all parts of the ship as it was pulled out to sea, but these were subsequently succeeded by a chorus of those who, during the first days of the voyage, yielded to the usual attack of seasickness, in which most of the passengers participated to a greater or less extent. . . ."

Names of Passengers abourd:
https://saintsbysea.lib.byu.edu/mii/voyage/433

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