The Madsen family lived in Tornved, Sjælland, Denmark, where Ole was a farmer. They joined the Church in 1853. Church meetings were often held in their home, and in 1854 the Vig Branch was organized there.
Family members were persecuted after their baptism. Christena recalled: "The missionaries held meetings in our home while a mob raged outside throwing eggs at the windows, and we children were not allowed to go to school because we were Mormons, so we did not get the education we should."
For three years, Ole Madsen served the Church in his Aaronic Priesthood offices. He was ordained an elder in March 1856, just before the family left for Copenhagen, where they joined with other Saints who were journeying to Zion.
Ole Madsen paid in full the passage for his family. He also paid most of the passage for 60-year-old Kirsten Knudsen and a smaller amount for an unknown person. On April 23 the Madsens boarded the steamship Rhoda with 156 other emigrating Saints from the Scandinavian Mission.
After a long voyage to Liverpool, and then on board the Thornton to America the company arrived at the campground in Iowa City, where Ole helped build handcarts and Ane helped sew tents. The Danish Saints had five tents, with 19 or 20 people in each one. The Madsen family was assigned to share a tent with the Jens Nielson, Peter Larsen, and Rasmus P. Hansen families from Denmark and 60-year-old Lars Wandelin, a watchmaker from Sweden. Ten-year-old Ane Marie Madsen now had two girls her age to play with on the trip: Bodil Mortensen (with the Nielson family) and Sophie Larsen. Five-year-old Anders Madsen had Niels Nielson with whom to share adventures.
By October 23 the Madsen family had arrived in Wyoming. For more than two weeks, they had endured a shortage of food, and for five days they had endured winter storms. A handful of rescuers had arrived two days earlier. Ole Madsen’s wife and children needed his strength more than ever, and Ole did not let them down. Through the blizzard and across Rocky Ridge, Ole helped and protected his family. He carried them across the streams so they would not be wet. Hannah recalled seeing “their exhausted and sick father pushing a handcart with his young son Anders strapped on top.”
The Willie company journal tersely recorded, “Crossed several creeks on the road. Several men were near frozen through the day.” By the time the Madsen family reached the camp at Rock Creek Hollow, Ole’s boots were frozen to his legs. Hannah described how her father lay down, wrapped himself in a blanket, and died during the night. The next morning, she said, “with the help of some of their friends, a shallow grave was scraped out in a wash to the side of the road.” Ole Madsen was buried in a common grave with 12 others who had died after crossing Rocky Ridge.
Christena recalled the events of that tragic night: "Mother suffered a great deal, [and Father] pulled his handcart all day without having anything to eat. ... He pulled the cart all day, without food, cold and hungry. ... [He] went to bed and the next morning [he] was dead. ... That same night several others died, one [a] small girl 10 years old... They who died that night were [buried] with their boots or shoes on and covered. That night the wolves howled all night."
Ten-year-old Ane Marie Madsen lost her father and her friend Bodil that day. She recalled that the women and men were crying, but the children did not cry “because they received a larger portion of food that morning, as parents could not eat all of it. ... It consisted of a small scone about the size of the palm of your hand.”
Christena remembered her mother’s gnawing hunger: “[The rescuers] baked flap jacks, as they called them. Sometimes they would burn them [and] throw them away. Mother would pick them up, take them into the bushes, and eat them, she was so hungry.”
With the help of the rescuers, Ane Madsen and her daughters and young son continued their journey another nine days before they met enough rescue wagons at Fort Bridger that they could ride the final 113 miles to Salt Lake City. Christena Madsen’s daughter recorded: "They pulled and pushed the handcart, until their hands were so cold and fingers so crooked they never again came back into shape. ... They arrived in Salt Lake City ... homeless, penniless, [able] to speak only in Danish, but they acknowledged the hand of God in their deliverance. They had left all that was near and dear to them to come to Zion to live the gospel of Jesus Christ [and] be in fellowship with Christ the Lord."
I love Ole Madsen's example of sacrifice. I love that he carried his wife and children across the river to spare them from the cold, but ended up dying himself. It is the ultimate story of rescue in the sense that he gave his life for those he loved.
Have a great week!
Sister McHood
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