A trusted follower, Olof Olsson, had been sent ahead in mid-1845 to locate a suitable place to settle in the United States. Olsson had arrived in New York on the "Neptunus" on 16 December 1845. There he met a fellow Swede, Olof Gustaf Hedström, who suggested that Olsson contact his brother, Jonas Hedström, who was living in Victoria, Illinois, Knox County near the Mississippi River. Other followers were not so lucky. Several vessels foundered during the cross-Atlantic voyage, drowning hundreds of Janssonists. Many others died from cholera during the trip, or soon after they arrived.