Hans Funk

Hans Madsen Funk was born on the 15th of May in Eskesgård, Pedersker, Bornholm, Denmark, and christened at St. Peters church in Pedersker, Bornholm, Denmark on the 12th of June 1839.

On 4 November 1855, Hans was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Christian G. Larson. He immigrated to America in 1861 and by 1872 had set up a homestead in Lewiston, Cache County, Utah (see Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 4:412).
In 1879, Hans accepted a mission call to Scandinavia. He arrived in Copenhagen on 29 November 1879 and was assigned to preside over the Copenhagen Conference. In 1880, he and his companion held Church meetings on the island of Samsø (Holbæk County). They were arrested and imprisoned for three days. After his release, Hans baptized and confirmed a family living on the island. As one historian observed, “It seemed that every time the civil authorities undertook to hinder the progress of the work, they only helped to arouse the feelings of the people and further the good cause.” Hans departed from Copenhagen on 29 August 1881 aboard the steamer Pacific (see Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission, 238, 243, 258, 495).
A few months after he returned to Utah, Hans was ordained a bishop by William B. Preston. He served as bishop of the Newton Ward in the Benson Stake from 1884 to 1892. During his tenure, he was arrested for unlawful cohabitation. In November 1887, Hans was fined three hundred dollars and sentenced to six months in prison. The following May, he was released (see Jenson, Church Chronology, 19 November 1887, 19 May 1888). He died in 1892 in Newton, Cache County, at age fifty-three.