Ferdinand Friis Hintze

Ferdinand Friis Hintze (1854-1928), sometimes referred to as Ferdinand F. Hinze Sr was a Danish-born convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who became the first missionary to preach in Greece.
Biography
He was born in the town of Roskilde, Denmark, the second of five children born to Anders Hintze and Karen Sophie Nicolai. His parents converted to the LDS Church when he was a small child. In 1862, Hintze was baptised into the church himself, after reaching baptismal age. In 1864, the family left Denmark and emigrated to Utah Territory, settling in what is now Holladay, then named Big Cottonwood.
Between 1877 and 1882, Hintze served at mission locations in the United States. In 1884, he was sent to the Scandinavian mission, arriving on 6th May 1884. In 1886, he was moved to the Turkish mission, where he served as mission president from 1887 until 1889. He returned to the Turkish mission (again as mission president) in 1897.
Greece
The LDS Church was not widely known in Greece at this time. In 1898, two Greeks, Rigas Pofantis and Nicholas Malavetis, who had encountered a newspaper article about the church, wrote to Salt Lake City, requesting further information. As a result, Hintze was instructed to travel to Greece, where he instructed the two men in March of 1899, becoming the first missionary to preach in Greece. Malevatis died in 1903, but Pofantis was baptised into the church in 1905, together with several others, including Malevatis' widow. Pofantis also translated part of the Book of Mormon into Greek.
Personal Life
Hintze was married to the following:
*Rasmina Madsen (1876-1886) divorced
*Augusta Matilda Wall (m.1878)
*Maria Sophie Jensen (m.1882)
*Nora Mikkelsen (m.1898)
Hintze sired thirty-two children. One of his children from his first marriage, Ferdinand Friis Hintze Jr (1881-1973) became a geologist.
Hintze published a number of religious works between 1895 and 1925. He died in 1928, aged 73.

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