During the October 1849 general conference of the LDS Church in Salt Lake City, it was decided to send missionaries to several European nations.

Erastus Snow, Peter O. Hansen, and George P. Dykes were sent to Denmark where they arrived in 1850 and quickly established a congregation in Copenhagen.

Denmark had recently obtained put in place a new constitution, which granted freedom of religion for the first time.

[6] Snow's and his missionary companion, Peter O. Hansen, worked together on translating the Book of Mormon into the Danish language.

Reasons to immigrate included to get away from the anti-Mormon attitude of many Danes and to avoid conscription in the Danish army during the Second Schleswig War.