John E. Forsgren

John Erik Forsgren (7 November 1816 – 22 January 1890) was a Mormon pioneer and missionary. He was the first missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to preach in Sweden.

Forsgren was born in Gävle, Sweden. At the age of nine, he began working on seafaring ships. While docked in Boston, Massachusetts in July 1843, Forsgren met missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was baptized. Shortly thereafter, he married fellow-Mormon Mary Ann Hunt. They moved to Nauvoo, Illinois to join the principal gathering of Latter Day Saints.

In 1846, Forsgren volunteered for the Mormon Battalion, and was the only Swede in the battalion that marched to San Diego, California. In 1847, after the battalion was discontinued, he met his wife in the Salt Lake Valley. In 1849, he married Sarah Bell Davis, his first of several plural wives.

In 1849, Erastus Snow, and Peter O. Hansen were called by the LDS Church to preach in Scandinavia. Forsgren petitioned to be permitted to join them, and his request was granted. After arriving in Copenhagen in 1850, Forsgren went alone to Sweden and began preaching in his hometown of Gävle. The first person he baptized was Peter Adolph Forsgren, his brother. (Peter Forsgren was the first person living in Scandinavia to be baptized into the LDS Church.)

As a result of his preaching against Lutheranism, Forsgren was charged with disruprion of the peace and ordered to be deported to the United States. The captain of the ship Forsgren was placed on allowed Forsgren to leave the ship when it docked temporarily in Denmark, and Forsgren traveled to Copenhagen and was reunited with Snow and Hansen. In February 1852, Snow appointed Forsgren as his successor as president of the church's Scandinavian Mission, and Forsgren held this position until December, when he was replaced by Willard Snow.

...
Wikipedia