Anna Sophie Nielsen

Anna Sophie Nielsen is the third of five children and only daughter of William Christian Nielsen and Jensine Iversen, both of Denmark. The family immigrated to America by sailing on the ship “Monarch of the Sea.” On the ship, measles, dysentery and cholera plagued many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many fell victim of those illnesses.

After arriving in America, the Nielsen family traveled to Nebraska where they joined the Isaac A. Canfield Company to journey west to the Salt Lake Valley. The company departed Florence, Nebraska on July 27, 1864.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. During the journey west, 2-ear-old Anna Sophie passed away from the effects of cholera (a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water). She is buried along the Mormon Trail West.