Description:

Young Brigham 1801 - 1877 List of "Danish Saints" in Utah territory indebted to Brigham Young via the Perpetual Emigration Fund one year before the Civil War.

1pp pale blue lined paper signed by creditor Niels Nielsen and two witnesses in Brigham City, Box Elder County, Utah territory on April 30, 1860. At bottom, Niels Nielson authorized the transfer of debts owed him by twenty debtors to Brigham Young: "I do hereby transfer the aforesaid notes + a/c's to Brigham Young - Trustee in Trust for the C.J.C of L.D.S. - as a Donation to the Perpetual Emigration Fund - for the benefit of the Danish Saints". In very good condition, with expected folds, tears along creases, and uneven and browning edges. Docket information located verso. Page measures 8" x 12.25".

Mormon missionaries like Erastus Snow (1818-1888) traveled to Scandinavia during the 1850s to proselytize for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. Thousands of "Danish Saints", as the Danish Mormon converts were called, emigrated to the United States between the peak years of 1852-1862. By the Civil War, Utah territory had the largest number of Danish-American immigrants.

The Perpetual Emigration Fund, financed by church resources and private monies, enabled an estimated 30,000 converted Mormons including our Danes to emigrate out west between 1849 and 1887. Emigres were given financial assistance as a loan which they had to pay back through labor, services, or money. The Perpetual Emigration Fund helped poorer people from the east coast of the United States and Europe to travel thousands of miles to western Mormon settlements including the Great Salt Lake Valley. These church-sponsored loans to new converts purchased ship passage, railroad tickets, wagons or handcarts, livestock, lodging, food, and supplies. If Perpetual Emigration Fund recipients had not paid off their debts by 1880, they might have benefited from the Jubilee pardon granted by then Church President John Taylor that absolved half of outstanding debts.

European immigration of converted Mormons is extremely well-documented, and many historical records are available digitally. But as one might imagine, many Scandinavian immigrants had the same names, or their names were spelling inconsistently throughout records. Finding our "Niels Nielsen" is therefore problematic, but Niels Hans Nielsen (1816-1893) is a good candidate. Nielsen traveled from Liverpool to Philadelphia on the Westmoreland between April and May 1857, and then to the Great Salt Lake Valley via company leader's Mathias Cowley's Company. Nielsen, along with about a dozen other Danish families, was one of the founding members of Brigham City in the northwestern corner of modern day Utah. In 1866, Nielsen had become the presiding Elder and returned to Scandinavia on a mission. He returned along with 201 Danish Saints via the Norwegian vessel the Cavour. If Niels Hans Nielsen was in fact the Niels Nielsen of our document, he had repaid his debts to the Perpetual Emigration Fund and become wealthy enough to transfer debts owed to him back to the fund three years after his arrival in the United States.

Twenty Danish immigrants and Perpetual Emigration Fund recipients are listed under the headline: "List of Notes + a/c's - with the names of parties - donated by Bro. Niels Nielsen to the P.E. Fund Company". These debtors had racked up $1,741.75 of unpaid debts by the spring of 1860. Debts were incurred at the onset of early spring transatlantic voyages taken between 1857-1860. Outstanding debt amounts ranged from Ane Jensen's $14.40 to Jens Jensen's $280.00.

With provenance information from the Robert A. Siegler Auction Galleries, New York City. This piece was part of Lot 62A sold for $4,750 at the 464th sale conducted between January 28-30, 1975.

A remarkable document relating to Danish emigration to the Utah territory, and mentioning Brigham Young by name!

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