Mathias Christian Lund - Missionary to Denmark

What a find! The other day I decided to do a Google search for Mathias in all his various names. When I used "Mathias Christan Funk Lund" look what I got -- A book about Scandinavian Missionaries! Apparently, Mathias served an LDS mission back to the motherland. The entire contents of the book are online for all to see. Below is his entry.

Source: Anderson Shauna C., and Susan Easton Black, and Ruth Ellen Maness., Legacy of Sacrifice: Missionaries to Scandinavia, 1872-94 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, January 2007), page "K, L"; electronic copy, Brigham Young University, (: accessed 10 June 2011.

Mathias Christian Funk Lund

(Mathias Kristian Funch)

1849–1926

Residence: Plain City, Weber Co., Utah
Arrival date in Copenhagen: 20 June 1888
Missionary labors: Copenhagen Conference
Departure date from Copenhagen: 24 April 1890
Name of departure ship: Cameo

Birth date: 31 August 1849
Birthplace: Arnager, Nylarsker, Bornholm, Denmark
Father: Funch, Didrik Jacobsen
Mother: Hansdatter, Karen (Catherine)
Spouse: Swensson, Pauline Persson
     Marriage date: 11 May 1874
     Marriage place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Death date: 2 March 1926
Death place: Ogden, Weber Co., Utah
Burial place: Plain City Cemetery, Plain City, Weber Co., Utah

On 5 September 1858, Mathias was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was endowed on 11 May 1874 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City (see FamilySearch).

While a resident of Plain City, Weber County, Utah, he accepted a mission call to Scandinavia in 1888. He arrived in Copenhagen on 20 June 1888 and was assigned to labor in the Copenhagen Conference. After completing this mission, he departed from Copenhagen on 24 April 1890 aboard the steamer Cameo with 116 emigrating Latter-day Saints and six other missionaries. The voyage across the North Sea was marked with considerable seasickness and stormy weather. The Cameo arrived at Hull, England, on 27 April 1890 (see Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission, 307, 313).

Mathias returned to Weber County, where he worked as a farmer in Plain City. He died from pneumonia at the Ogden Hospital at age seventy-six. His funeral was held in the Plain City chapel (see “Plain City Resident’s Funeral Set for Thursday,” Deseret News, 3 March 1926).

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Not only did this entry provide me with lots of new information like mission dates/locations, ship names, and other sources to look for, when combined with everything else I know, I learn more about his wife. Mathias left for his mission in June of 1888 at the age of 38, leaving Pauline at home with 4 young children (ages 11, 6, 3, 1) and 6 months pregnant with her fifth! Wow!