This Week in History

1) Janet Ledingham Christopherson, wife of my great-great uncle Martin Christopherson, was born June 14, 1857 in Leith, Midlothian, Scotland.  She was a convert, along with her family, to the Mormon faith.  Together, they left for Utah on a sailing vessel in 1866.  After six weeks at sea, they walked across the plains to Salt Lake City, Utah.  The story is that they arrived in 1869! 

 2) My great-uncle Nils Olausen Jordbaerhaugen and Annie Friel were married on June 17, 1918 in Saskatchewan, Canada.  Nils left Norway in 1907 and traveled first to North Dakota where his brother was living.  He eventually left for Saskatchewan, Canada, with three friends in search of land to homestead.  By 1915, he had a farm and a house built.  He then married Annie, who had come from Balfron, Glasgow, Scotland.  Her father and brother had emigrated a few years before she and her mother decided to sail the Cassandria across the Atlantic during the summer of 1916 -- the middle of World War I and a perilous voyage because of hidden mines in the ocean.
Pictured: Annie and Nels on their wedding day, June 17, 1918.