GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Descendant of a Scandinavian emigrant, Julie Molen of Seattle, Wash., left behind her husband and two grown children to join the Sea Trek expedition not just for the Scandinavian leg but the whole trip from Ejberg, Denmark, to New York. The voyage is to take two months.
During in-port events, she wears a traditional costume similar to that worn by her great-great-grandmother, Anemargarithe Jorgensen of Lolland, an island part of Denmark. Her ancestor was a convert to the preaching of the Latter-day Saint missionaries and, in 1863, walked from her home to Copenhagen before taking emigrant passage with another family on board the steamer Aurora bound for Hamburg. Another ship then took them to England, and finally, on 6th May 1863, they set sail from Liverpool on board the BS Kimball to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
"She must have have received a powerful testimony to leave her family behind — both parents and siblings," explained Sister Molen. During the crossing, her ancestor met her future husband.
"She was alone in the world," said Sister Molen. "I'm alone during this re-enactment and I imagine that she must have had some of the same feelings. At least I know where I'm going; she had no idea what lay ahead. I look at things I've seen on board ship: children running about, young people getting into the rigging, and others being seasick. These are all the same kinds of things she would have experienced. We talk differently, our costumes are different, but the feelings are still the same."
After arriving in New York, Anemargarithe continued with the same family who took a covered wagon and a milk cow across the plains.
"Her job was to mind the cow," said Sister Molen. "She swam the Platt River with that cow."
Sister Molen sees the Sea Trek expedition as a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. She visited Scandinavia last year and saw where her great-great-grandmother had lived.
"I'm trying to get the feel for what these emigrants gave up," explained Sister Molen, "All that I have I owe to her. I wouldn't be here today if she had not sacrificed for her faith. I've never met her, but I'm proud of what she did."