When Apostle Erastus Snow, leader of the Scandinavian mission, arrived in Copenhagen 4 June 1850, accompanied by George P. Dykes and John E. Forsgren, they were among those who heard their testimonies and believed that they were men sent of God. The first converts were baptized 12 August 1850.

The early Mormon missionaries experienced enormous difficulties as they traveled throughout Danmark, Norway and Sweden spreading the word of the gospel and the Book of Mormon. They encountered widespread opposition to their missionary work and were regularly fined or imprisoned in an attempt to stop the growth of the church. Despite the difficulties they endured, they slowly succeeded in gathering small numbers of converts to their church. On 14 August 1852 a general conference of the Scandinavian Mission was held in Copenhagen.

Kiel was a major stop on the route to America for Scandinavian emigrants, shown here waiting to board ships in Kiel Harbor about 1853 The mission house in Liverpool from the Norwegian language book Jorden Rundt, en Reisebeskrivelse, by Andrew Jenson, printed in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1908.

John Erik Forsgren (1816-1890)   The first Swedish-American resident of Utah and the first LDS missionary to Sweden was John Erik Forsgren. Forsgren was born in Gävle, Sweden on November 7, 1816, and went to sea when he was about nine years old. As a sailor, he found himself in Boston where he met with LDS missionaries and was baptized there on July 16, 1843. The next year Forsgren moved to Nauvoo and later became the only Scandinavian in the Mormon Battalion. He reached Salt Lake City in 1847. Forsgren later married Sarah Bell Davis on February 15, 1849. Sarah was born April 15, 1829, one of the 10 children of prominent LDS member William Davis (the first pioneer and Bishop of Box Elder) and his wife Sarah McKee.   At the first General Conference of the Church held after the pioneers had arrived in Salt Lake Valley, Elder Erastus Snow, an apostle, and Peter Olsen Hansen were called to serve missions to Scandinavia. This happened in Salt Lake City on October 6, 1849. John Erik Forsgren asked that he might also be called to open missionary work in his native Sweden. They were joined by George Parker Dykes, who was already a missionary in England, and these four men formally introduced the Church into Scandinavia. Successful in finding converts from the beginning, the Church had one of its most dynamic periods of growth there from 1850 to 1870. Records show that 57 percent of the LDS converts in Scandinavia have been women and 43 percent men.   Hansen arrived first in Copenhagen on May 12, 1850, and immediately visited a Baptist congregation. The first Danish Mormon converts later came from that group. Elder Snow, Forsgren, and Dykes arrived on June 14, 1850.   Forsgren visited his family in Gävle, Sweden, and baptized his brother Peter Adolph Forsgren on July 19 (some say July 26), 1850 and his sister Christina Erika [Erike] Forsgren on August 4 of that year. According to the Sketch of the Life of Bishop William Davis, "Christina Ericka Forsgren had been converted to the Gospel in a remarkable manner.  Born in Gefle [Gävle], Sweden, she had been trained in the faith of the Lutheran Church from infancy.  As she grew to womanhood, however, she became dissatisfied with this church and prayed the Lord would show her the true path of salvation.  One Sabbath Day in church, she had an open vision in which it was made known to her that the Lutheran, or State church, was a man-made church without divine authority, and that God did not acknowledge it.  In the same vision she was shown that on a certain day a man would come to her with three books and that all who believed and accepted the things written in those books would be saved.  In fulfillment of this vision on the fifth day of July, 1850, Elder John Eric [Erik] Forsgren, a long lost brother visited her as a missionary of the Mormon Church and preached the gospel to her, making her acquainted with the three books—the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants! "Her brother, Adolph, was supposed to be upon his deathbed, ill with tuberculosis and given up to die by the physicians; but by the power of God he was instantly healed upon the administration of his brother, Elder Forsgren.  He received the gospel, being baptized on the 26th day of July 1850, being the first man in Sweden to receive the true gospel in this dispensation.  Christina Ericka was converted on the fourth day of August and was baptized into the church by her brother, John Eric [Erik] Forsgren, being the first woman to receive the gospel and be baptized in Scandinavia in the Latter days.  She was duly blessed by the Lord with the gift of dreams and visions, many inspired visions she had during her life, having literal fulfillment.  Among other visions, she saw in her native land of Gefle, Sweden, a vision of her future husband, and that she would enter into the sacred principle of plural marriage.  This had its fulfillment when she met Bishop Davis in the year 1853, for she recognized in him at once, the man shown to her in vision as her husband [NOTE: See story below].  Thus does the Father bring his faithful children together and their footsteps in mortality.  To her credit, be it said, Sister Christina was ever true and faithful to the sacred principle of plural marriage.  She was a true wife and mother, faithful to her husband and to her God, and to every trust in life.  She was of a cheerful, noble disposition, ever seeking to help, to do good and to teach faith.  Without murmuring she passed through the hardships incident to pioneer life—through the years of famine, of scarcity, of pioneering, rearing a noble family who bears her name in honorable remembrance.  She lived to see the rough primitive wilderness bud and blossom as the rose and though at her first coming, the settlers were living together in the 'Fort' for protection, she lived to see a beautiful city named in honor of the Prophet Brigham Young, rise out of the desert—the home of a happy and contented people."  These conversions were followed on August 12, when eight men and seven women were baptized by the Mormon missionaries at Oresund, near Copenhagen. The first Danish branch of about fifty members was organized in Copenhagen a month later. These were the first Latter-day Saint converts in these northern lands, initiating the process by which thousands of Scandinavian Mormons emigrated to Utah in the nineteenth century.   Elder Forsgren organized a branch in Gävle that same year, but immediately after their second meeting the authorities arrested him and attempted to deport him to New York. Although hampered by the lack of constitutional protection for freedom of religion in Sweden--Forsgren had been banished from the country within three months of his arrival--Mormon proselytizing in Sweden accelerated during the 1850s, finding its greatest success in the southern province of Skåne.   While still in Gävle, Elder Forsgren was one day summoned to the office of the public prosecutor, and the prosecutor asked him if he had a picture of the Prophet Joseph. He procured a picture, and the officer set fire to it. While it was burning, Elder Forsgren had a vision in which he saw the city of Gävle destroyed by fire. He told his friends of this vision, and also that they would be in America, when the visitation would take place. Nineteen years from the date of the burning of Joseph's picture, the city of Gävle was almost totally destroyed by fire, and the conflagration started in the very house where the picture of the Prophet had been sacrificed to the flames.   So Forsgren was only able to spend three months (June-September 1850) spreading the gospel before he was banished from Sweden. Efforts in Danmark proved more successful, largely because Elder Forsgren made friends with the ship's captain and instead of returning to the USA was able to go ashore in Helsingör, Danmark. Copenhagen became the center for the Church in Scandinavia as communication from Salt Lake City went through the Scandinavian Mission office located there. “The Spirit of the Lord seemed to lead me to this city, to commence my labors.  From my first appointment my mind rest upon Copenhagen, as the best place in all Scandinavia to commence the work, and everything since strengthened my convictions” (Erastus Snow, One Year in Scandinavia, p. 5).   March 1851 saw publication of the first Danish LDS book of hymns. Using the standard translations of the Bible, Forsgren and the other missionaries in Copenhagen realized the pressing need to have the Book of Mormon (Mormons Bog) also translated into Danish. Peter Olsen Hansen and Elder Snow's translation was printed by F. E. Bordings Bogtrykkeri in May 1851. This was the first foreign language edition of the Book of Mormon. Skandinaviens Stjerne (The Scandinavian Star), published in 1851, was the first official periodical of the Church in Scandinavia. It later became Den Danske Stjerne (The Danish Star), presently Stjernen.   Thus through the zeal of Forsgren and his fellow early missionaries, the Church gained a foothold by 1853 in all the Scandinavian countries except Finland. To understand the environment in which early missionaries to Scandinavia found themselves, it is necessary to know that a strong liberal movement prevailed there in the mid-1800s. On June 5, 1849, only months before the first LDS missionaries came to Danmark, King Frederik VII signed the new Danish Constitution, which guaranteed the people freedom of speech, press, and religion. This provided the greatest level of religious freedom in all of Scandinavia.  In fact, the second missionary to go to Sweden, Mikael Johnson, was deported from Gävle in the spring of 1852 to Copenhagen via Malmö even though he was a Swedish subject. Many of the missionaries who went to Sweden subsequently were imprisoned or sent away again. In Norway a Dissenter Law guaranteeing religious freedom to all Christian denominations was passed as early as 1845. As soon as Mormon missionaries began to proselytize in Norway, some of the clergy and public officials questioned whether Latter-day Saints could be considered Christians. On November 4, 1853, the Supreme Court of Norway ruled that Mormons could not enjoy protection under the Dissenter Law, and missionaries were arrested and fined for preaching, baptizing, or administering the Sacrament. Unable to pay, they had to go to jail, where they studied the scriptures, sang hymns, and taught the gospel to the jailers, who often were sympathetic and provided them with the best cells. In Sweden limited religious freedom was finally granted by law in 1858, but it was not until 1952 that the Church was given full legal religious freedom. For Scandinavians, plural marriage was a real problem. It took a long time after the 1890 Manifesto to convince the public that Mormons who lived their religion were law-abiding and hard-working citizens with strict moral principles. The right to exercise full religious freedom has come slowly to the Latter-day Saints in Scandinavia. But the resentment long prevalent among Scandinavian public officials and clergy has gradually turned into respect and, in some instances, into admiration for the Church, which can now legally pursue full worship and perform all its ordinances in all the Scandinavian countries.   Beginning in 1852, many Scandinavian members emigrated to the United States. Particularly in the nineteenth century, poverty, starvation, persecution, and hopelessness motivated people to seek a better life and, for Latter-day Saints, the spirit of gathering to the “Promised Land” in Utah was strong. There they could enjoy religious freedom and practice their religion without ridicule or harassment. The Church in Western America has been significantly augmented by these immigrants. From 1850 to 1950, 27,000 members of record emigrated from Scandinavia. If unbaptized children under eight years of age were counted, the total would be much higher. A little more than half of these emigrants were Danish, a third Swedish, and the balance Norwegians. Emigrating Icelanders amounted to less than one percent. A 1950 survey concluded that about 45% of the Church membership was at least partly of Scandinavian descent.   Forsgren played a key role by escorting the first large company of Scandinavian (mostly Danish) Latter-day Saint immigrants to make the trek to Utah in 1852-53. The early arrivals in Utah came largely from agricultural settings, while later immigrants were primarily city dwellers. Some received help to emigrate from the Latter-day Saints' Perpetual Emigrating Fund; more were assisted by friends and relatives. As a rule, the Danes join other Mormon emigrants at Copenhagen, and then took a steamer from there to Kiel or Lübeck in north Germany, a train to Altona or Glückstadt, sailed across the North Sea to either Hull or Grimsby in England, and traveled by rail to Liverpool, where they sailed for America. Forsgren's group, for example, sailed with 297 on the chartered ship Forest Monarch from Liverpool to New Orleans, which historian William Mulder has dubbed “the Mayflower of Mormon emigration from Scandinavia”. Some of the group followed Forsgren to Box Elder County as settlers. His brother and sister also emigrated to Utah about the same time and they all settled in Brigham City.   According to the Sketch of the Life of Bishop William Davis, John E. Forsgren's wife Sarah Bell Davis lived with her parents while her husband was on a mission. “After his release from his missionary labors Elder John E. Forsgren came to 'Box Elder' to meet his wife, bringing his brother [Peter] Adolph and his sister Christina Ericke with him.  As Elder Forsgren introduced his sister, Ericke, to Bishop Davis, he uttered these significant words:  'Brother Davis, here is your wife!'  He little realized at the time the prophetic nature of his words, but it came true and in the fall of 1853 when they first met, they were favorably impressed with each other and on the 20th day of February 1854, Brother Davis entered into the sacred principle of plural marriage, and was sealed for time and eternity to this faithful woman.”  William Davis died November 22, 1883. Davis's first wife Sarah McKee died on February 20, 1888; and his second and last wife Christina Ericka Forsgren died on February 21, 1906.   Here is John E. Forsgren's Scandinavian Missionary Record with further biographical details:   Name, Age From (Birthplace) Started-Ended (Time Served) Missionary Service Remarks John Erik Forsgren, 33 Salt Lake City (Gävle, Sweden) 14 Jun 1850 - 20 December 1852 (2-1/2 years) John Erik Forsgren labored first as a missionary in Sweden and after being banished from that country labored in Danmark (Bornholm & Falster/Lolland) and presided over the Scandinavian mission after the departure of Erastus Snow in March 1852 until December 1852. Returning home, he was the leader of the first large company of emigrating members from Scandinavia. Went to sea when about 9 years old and visited North America for the first time in 1832. Eleven years later, after participating in a number of lengthy voyages to Europe, South America, and other parts of the globe, he became acquainted with the LDS Church while in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was baptized by Elder William McGheen on 16 July 1843. The following year he migrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he made the acquaintance of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Afterwards he went to California as a member of the famous Mormon Battalion, being the only member of Scandinavian birth belonging to that body. He arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley in October 1847 from California. After his return from his mission to Scandinavia in 1853, Elder Forsgren lost the spirit of the gospel and eventually left the Mormon church (see the story about Brigham City below which he helped settle and the economic difficulties there connected to the church which may have influenced his decision). He died in obscurity in Salt Lake City on 22 January 1890.   Brigham City has a Rich History Brigham City's history of pioneer settlement begins late in 1850 when William Davis and Simeon Carter came to Box Elder and selected a site on which to build homes, then returned to Salt Lake City for the winter. In March 1851 Davis, James Brooks and Thomas Pierce returned to Box Elder Creek where they built a row of log rooms known as the “Davis Fort” and located in the northwest part of town. Within the year they were joined by several other families, including Carter.   Henry G. Sherwood surveyed farms of 40-80 acres at the Box Elder settlement, extra-large because the rocky nature of the soil meant larger plots were needed to sustain a family. Families were glad, in the spring of 1852, to move from the cramped and bedbug-infested fort and begin building cabins and farming their plots.   In 1853 settlers received an order from Brigham Young to move into forts because of increasing Indian hostilities in some areas of the Territory. A second fort was built at Box Elder, formed of low houses close enough together for enclose the area on three sides, with the south side open and a larger log building erected as a meeting house and school. A stone monument at 300 North and 200 West shows the approximate location of this fort. That same summer the first LDS immigrant company composed entirely of Scandinavians arrived in Utah, led by John Forsgren whose wife was the daughter of Bishop William Davis (married to Forsgren's sister). Many of those settled in Brigham City. LDS Fall Conference in 1853 was an important one for Box Elder, with Elder Lorenzo Snow directed to select 50 families to colonize the community. As was the custom, these families were to include various types of craftsmen in order to make the community self-sufficient. Elder Snow wanted Box Elder to be a model Mormon village, so directed Territorial Surveyor Jesse W. Fox to divide the large farms into smaller parcels, mostly five-acre lots, in order to make room for the newcomers. Most of the contingent of new settlers arrived in the spring. As Box Elder grew, so did the need for a proper building for church, theatre, social and county government, which at that time was vested in the church leaders. The center of town, Main and Forest, was the logical location and rock walls for a basement were laid by the fall of 1856. This was roofed over with slabs and put to use as a cozy meeting place for the winter. The original adobe structure, built in 1857, still forms the core of the present courthouse, making it the oldest remaining courthouse in Utah. It was a dignified federal style square building, updated in 1887 with an attractive Italianate style cornice, window heads and a clock/bell tower. By 1865 Brigham City had approximately 1,500 residents and flourishing local businesses. Lorenzo Snow, encouraged by Brigham Young's idea of a self-sufficient society, called together other leaders to form a cooperative. Establishment of home industries was an important part of the cooperative movement. A tannery was built in 1869 and soon to follow were a boot and shoe shop, harness shop, butchery, woolen factory, sheep herd, sawmill, carpentry shop, dairy, hats and millinery, brush factory, pottery, tailoring and clothing, brick and adobe yard, plus a mercantile store. The cooperative issued scrip in various denominations with which to pay workers. This freed US currently for purchase of equipment and merchandise from outside the community, and also required employees to do their purchasing at the co-op. However, disaster in many forms struck the Brigham City Mercantile and Manufacturing Association: grasshoppers and drought destroyed crops, the woolen mill burned and rebuilt at great expense, a sawmill in Idaho was destroyed. Worst of all, in 1878 a tax was levied on the scrip issued by the cooperative. Combined with the other debts, the cooperative was officially dissolved. In 1884 the Supreme Court ruled on the tax case, favoring both ZCMI and the Brigham City Co-op, and the money was returned. It came too late to save the home industries.   Bibliography   Christensen, Marius A. “History of the Danish Mission, 1850-1963”.  Masters thesis, Brigham Young University.    Forsgren, John Erik. “Diary of John E. Forsgren”.   Haslam, Gerald M. Clash of Cultures: The Norwegian Experience with Mormonism, 1842-1920. New York, 1984.   Jenson, Andrew. History of the Scandinavian Mission. Salt Lake City, 1927.   Mulder, William. “Mormons from Scandinavia 1850-1905”. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1955.   Mulder, William. Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia. Minneapolis, 1957.   Sketch of the Life of Bishop William Davis. Undated manuscript on file in the Brigham City, Utah, city library and available online at http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/WDavis.htm.   Snow, Erastus. One Year in Scandinavia: Results of the Gospel in Denmark and Sweden, Sketches & Observations on the Country & People, Remarkable Events, Late Persecutions & Present Aspect of Affairs. Liverpool: FD Richards, 1851. Available online at http://www.cumorah.com/etexts/scandinavia.txt.   Zobell, Albert L., Jr. Under the Midnight Sun: Centennial History of Scandinavian Missions. Salt Lake City, 1950. Facts About Danmark and Mormonism in the 19th Century   Peter Clemensen (Boston) was the first Dane baptized in the Church in the early 1840’s. Although he did not remain active in the Church, he remained faithful long enough to share the Gospel with a few others.    Hans Christian Hansen (Danish Sailor in Boston) was baptized in 1842 after learning the Gospel from Peter Clemensen. Hans Hansen moved to Nauvoo, met the prophet Joseph, and helped construct the Nauvoo temple.  He is attributed as the first and only Dane to have seen the Prophet Joseph Smith alive.  He wrote to his brother Peter Ole Hansen in Copenhagen.   Peter Ole Hansen left Danmark to find out about the Church and in 1844 was baptized.  He began translating the Book of Mormon with the support and excitement of Brigham Young.    At a General Conference 6-7 October 1849 several men were issued mission calls.  Included in that group were Elder Erastus Snow (member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles) and Peter Ole Hansen.  Both men called to serve in Danmark.    11 May 1850 – Peter O. Hansen arrives in Copenhagen. 14 June 1850 – Erastus Snow, George P. Dykes, and John E. Forsgren arrive in Copenhagen and meet with Peter O. Hansen. 21 July 1850 – The first public meeting was held at Peter Beckstrom’s Store Kongensgade in Copenhagen.   Many asked to be baptized yet Elder Snow held them back for more experience.  In a dream/vision he was told that he mustn’t hold them back.    12 August 1850 near Osterbro by Langelinie opposite Kalkbraenderut (Lime Kilns), Erastus Snow baptized Oleurich Christian Monster. He later immigrated to Utah and died in 1884. 15 people were baptized that day.  16 August 1850—Eleven more Saints were baptized, including Knud H. Brunn. He was the first Danish Lutheran to be baptized—the rest were Baptists.   14 August 1850 – All newly baptized members were given the gift of the Holy Ghost. 18 August 1850 – Three daughters of Hans and Eline Dorthea Larsen of Christianshavn were blessed.      Within two months the Elders baptized 26 persons.   At his first-year report, Erastus Snow reported: ·        300 members. ·        2 Branches. ·        A Danish translation of the Book of Mormon (Mormons Bog). ·        Portions of the Doctrine and Covenants in Danish completed. ·        A Psalm Book. ·        A pamphlet “En Sandheds Rost” (“Voice of Truth”).   Of the converts in the first year: ·        53% of the Converts came from Jylland. ·        37% of the converts came from Copenhagen (Sjaelland). ·        10% of the converts came from Fyn.   By 1900, Danmark had 23,533 converts (1,055 missionaries).   1852-1860 – 3,750 Danes came to America, of which 2,138 were LDS and on their way to Utah (57% of all Danish emigration were Latter-day Saints).   1860s – 46% of emigrating Danes were Saints.   1870s – 2,388 Saints came over.   1890 – The Church started discouraging the Saints from emigrating.    Of the faithful (those who were active) Saints in Danmark (1850-1905), 74% emigrated to the United States (Utah). In comparison, from 1905 – 1963 a total of 45.9% emigrated.   Most of the statistics above are from “History of the Danish Mission, 1850-1963,” a masters thesis completed at Brigham Young University by Marius A. Christensen.