Christine Gertraude Walz - Part 3

     In the years 1876 and 1877, Christine's sister, Christina Magdalena and her husband, George, and her sister Anna Maria joined with a few villagers who were attending non-Lutheran church services in

Kuppingen

Kuppingen. Kuppingen was some 12 miles from Walddorf. A man in the group named Hickley claimed to have the gift of prophecy and revelation and proclaimed himself a prophet of God. He had many followers.

     Meanwhile, two missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in the area from the Swiss-German Mission. They were Elder Jacob Miller of Providence, Utah, and Elder Parer of North Ogden, Utah. They went to the home of a Brother Bessler near Kuppingen who was already a member of the new Church. He informed the elders about the Hickley organization and encouraged them to visit these people - which the elders did.They found the people to be humble and ready to listen to the gospel message. Everyone in the group joined the Church, including Hickley.

     It was through the Hickley organization that Christina Magdalena and her husband George, her sister Anna Maria, and some distant cousins became interested in the LDS Church. They were baptized and confirmed on November 10, 1877, by Elder Miller. News of the baptisms spread rapidly in the community. The Lutheran minister warned the people against the missionaries from America. He told them to remember it was a grievous sin in the sight of God to depart from the church in which they already claimed membership. Nevertheless, the new members were grateful to the Hickley organization and to the elders who brought the true message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to their homes.

     As a result of the Walddorf people becoming affiliated with the unpopular American religion, persecution became intense and unpleasant. Young Conrad was removed from his place at the front of his class in the school and was seated in the rear. Plans were made for some of the family members to go to America. Christina Magdalena and her husband George, sold their home and several tracts of land. Their sister Anna Maria prepared to go with them. Before leaving Germany, Christina Magdalena went to the Lutheran minister and asked him for the names of her family as they were recorded on the church records. She told him she wanted her children and her children's children to know where they came from. He said, "That is fine,' and presented her with many names. After the Logan Temple was dedicated, Christina Magdalena and her husband went to the temple and did the work for all the names they had brought with them.

Wyoming

     The Walddorf converts traveled to England and sailed from Liverpool September 14, 1878, aboard the Wyoming. In their company were 300 other converts from Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark. They arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 3, 1878.

     From Salt Lake City, George and Christina Magdalena and their three children departed for Logan, Utah, to stay the first two weeks at the home of Elder Jacob Miller in nearby Providence. They then stayed two weeks at the home of another returned missionary. At that time they rented a home in Logan. In January 1879 they purchased a one-acre lot and built a home.

     Meanwhile, back in Germany, Christine worked as a maid at inns and as a waitress in speisehaeuser or eating houses until she was 21 . One day a man came in and challenged her and one of the other waitresses to fix him a bowl of chicken soup with lots of fat bubbles in it. The first one who could do it would win the contest. The other girl added more grease and lost the contest. Christine won because she remembered how her mother used to do it - take out as much grease as possible.  (Note:  I can remember going to my Grandmother Cook's home, Christina Magdalena Buchmiller Cook, and seeing her homemade noodles draped over her kitchen chairs.  She could fix chicken and noodles to die for.  Maybe she learned this from her mother, Christine since she won this contest.)

     The Franco-German War ended during this period and a new German empire was being formed. Military personnel were all about. Christine gave her heart to a young soldier but he had to leave for duty elsewhere. They promised each other they would marry later. In the meantime, Christina Magdalena had written and asked her younger sister, Christine, to come for a visit to America.

     About this time Christine turned 21 and received an inheritance from her parents' estate. Arrangements were made for her to travel to Liverpool and join a group of Latter-day Saints on the same ship her sisters and family had used - the Wyoming. They sailed May 21, 1881, in a company under Elder Joseph R. Mattherson and arrived in New York June 1. The company continued by rail and arrived in Salt Lake City June 10, 1881.

     Wyoming was a British single-screw steamship built in 1870 at Newcastle, England. She had an iron hull, three decks, two masts, one funnel, and the earliest compound engines in the trans-Atlantic service. The ship's dimensions were 366'x 43'x 27' with total weight of 3,238 tons. Her home port was Liverpool. Over a 20-year span the ship made 39 voyages transporting 10,473 Latter-day Saints to America. No other ship carried so many new church members across the Atlantic Ocean.