Utah Centennial County History Series - Sanpete County 1999

HERITAGE W h e n Mormon apostle Erastus Snow and his companions checked into a cheap hotel in Copenhagen on 14 June 1850, they had little inkling of the success they were eventually to enjoy, for the fact that they were able to offer both economic opportunity through emigration to America and the possibility that any man of good character could become a priest was to make the Scandinavian mission, particularly in Jutland, one of the most productive fields in the history of the Mormon church.' During the following half century, 45,524 Scandinavians converted to Mormonism, and over 30,000 of them emigrated to the United States. Mormondom's total gain was somewhat less than those figures, for 13,417 fell away from the church for one reason or another and were excommunicated, but even with those losses, some 68 percent of emigrants remained faithful and joined their brethren and sisters in Utah. The province of Jutland, where the lot of the Danish peasant was most lacking in present happiness and hope of improvement, yielded no fewer than 53 percent of all Danish converts and 27 percent of all converts from Scandinavia.'