Mormons settle Salt Lake Valley - Jul 24, 1847 - HISTORY.com Mormons settle Salt Lake Valley Share this: Mormons settle Salt Lake Valley Author Mormons settle Salt Lake Valley URL Publisher A+E Networks After 17 months and many miles of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Utah’s Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Gazing over the parched earth of the remote location, Young declared, “This is the place,” and the pioneers began preparations for the thousands of Mormon migrants who would follow. Seeking religious and political freedom, the Mormons began planning their great migration from the east after the murder of Joseph Smith, the Christian sect’s founder and first leader. Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont, in 1805. In 1827, he declared that he had been visited by a Christian angel named Moroni, who showed him an ancient Hebrew text that had been lost for 1,500 years. The holy text, supposedly engraved on gold plates by a Native American prophet named Mormon in the fifth century A.D., told the story of Israelite peoples who had lived in America in ancient times.

During the next few years, Smith dictated an English translation of this text to his wife and other scribes, and in 1830 The Book of Mormon was published. In the same year, Smith founded the Church of Christ–later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–in Fayette, New York. The religion rapidly gained converts, and Smith set up Mormon communities in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. However, the Christian sect was also heavily criticized for its unorthodox practices, which included polygamy. In 1844, the threat of mob violence prompted Smith to call out a militia in the Mormon town of Nauvoo, Illinois. He was charged with treason by Illinois authorities and imprisoned with his brother Hyrum in the Carthage city jail. On June 27, 1844, an anti-Mormon mob with blackened faces stormed in and murdered the brothers.

Two years later, Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, led an exodus of persecuted Mormons from Nauvoo along the western wagon trails in search of a sanctuary in “a place on this earth that nobody else wants.” The expedition, more than 10,000 pioneers strong, set up camp in present-day western Iowa while Young led a vanguard company across the Rocky Mountains to investigate Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley, an arid and isolated spot devoid of human presence. On July 22, 1847, most of the party reached the Great Salt Lake, but Young, delayed by illness, did not arrive until July 24. Upon viewing the land, he immediately confirmed the valley to be the new homeland of the Latter-day Saints. Within days, Young and his companions began building the future Salt Lake City at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains. Later that year, Young rejoined the main body of pioneers in Iowa, who named him president and prophet of the church. Having formally inherited the authority of Joseph Smith, he led thousands of more Mormons to the Great Salt Lake in 1848. Other large waves of Mormon pioneers followed.

By 1852, 16,000 Mormons had come to the valley, some in wagons and some dragging handcarts. After early difficulties, Salt Lake City began to flourish. By 1869, 80,000 Mormons had made the trek to their promised land. In 1850, President Millard Fillmore named Brigham Young the first governor of the U.S. territory of Utah, and the territory enjoyed relative autonomy for several years. Relations became strained, however, when reports reached Washington that Mormon leaders were disregarding federal law and had publicly sanctioned the practice of polygamy. In 1857, President James Buchanan removed Young, who had 20 wives, from his position as governor and sent U.S. Army troops to Utah to establish federal authority. Young died in Salt Lake City in 1877 and was succeeded by John Taylor as president of the church. Tensions between the territory of Utah and the federal government continued until Wilford Woodruff, the new president of the Mormon church, issued his Manifesto in 1890, renouncing the traditional practice of polygamy and reducing the domination of the church over Utah communities.

Six years later, the territory of Utah entered the Union as the 45th state. Related Videos Mormon Immigrants How did the Mormons end up in Utah? Joseph Smith The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon or LDS church) was started by Joseph Smith in 1830 in New York. Later, members of this church gathered in Nauvoo, Illinois. Some people disliked Mormon beliefs and practices and persecuted members of this church. After a mob murdered Joseph Smith in 1844, his followers started to think about moving somewhere where they could live peacefully. Enemies were still attacking Mormons in different ways. Because of this persecution, in the cold of February 1846 the Mormons began to leave Nauvoo. They journeyed to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, and set up a temporary community. The Mormon Battalion James K. Polk Because they had left behind their lands, buildings, and many possessions, the Mormons asked the federal government for financial help. The U.S. had declared war on Mexico in May 1846, so President James K. Polk agreed to enlist a battalion of Mormon men, who would receive pay for their service.

The Mormon Battalion at the Gila River in Arizona, a painting by George Ottinger (1833-1917). Around 500 volunteers enlisted and began a grueling march to San Diego (33 women and 51 children started out with them). During 1846-47, these men blazed a wagon route across the Southwest, but they never fought in the war. Their pay and their later explorations helped the Mormons become established in Utah. Where to go next? Meanwhile, the people gathered in Winter Quarters got ready to move again. Where to? It seemed that the Great Basin would be a perfect place to go. Why? The Great Basin lay far away from any government—in fact, this land belonged to Mexico at the time. (When Mexico lost the war, the United States took possession of the Great Basin.) Here, the Mormons hoped, they could live their faith in peace. Mormon pioneers, sketched by Ortho Fairbanks. In April 1847 the first group of Mormon settlers left and headed west along the California Trail. Brigham Young led a group of two children, three women, and 143 men.

They traveled on horseback or in oxen-pulled wagons for three months; then, on July 22, the first men entered the Salt Lake Valley. Brigham Young himself arrived on July 24, 1847. What other religious groups in U.S. or world history have moved all together to start a new colony? How are these different or the same as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? The Mormon migration Between 1847 and 1869, when the Transcontinental Railroad was built, about 70,000 Mormons migrated to Utah along the Mormon Trail. Many of them got help from their church. If they could not pay their way across the ocean, or across the plains, the Church’s Perpetual Emigration Fund might loan them the money they needed. When they arrived, they could pay off the loan so the money could help another immigrant. People traveled in companies of wagons. Some traveled by handcart. Salt Lake Valley in 1847, painted by H. Culmer. Getting started in a new place. Once the settlers arrived in the valley, the real work began.

Today, when most people travel to a place, they stay in a hotel or with friends, and they go out to eat at restaurants or buy food from a grocery store. But when the first pioneers arrived in Utah, the only people in the region were American Indians and a few explorers, traders, and mountain men scattered around. Basically, these new immigrants had to make or grow everything they would need in their new lives. What would be the most important things to do first? Right away, that first group of pioneers began get the land ready for farming. The first big challenges were digging irrigation ditches to bring water from City Creek into the fields, and getting crops planted right away. They also built a fort where Pioneer Park now is. This fort had little cabins with sod roofs built along the wall. Making a city. Brigham Young directed that Salt Lake City (and other towns) be set up on a grid system. The streets were to run north-south and east-west. Young wanted the streets to be wide enough for two wagons to easily pass each other. We should be grateful for this, because of all the cars, bicycles, busses, and TRAX trains that share the streets today! Spreading out.

As the “Mormon Village” of Salt Lake City began to thrive and later groups of pioneers arrived, Brigham Young sent settlers to other areas of the state. He sent a variety of skilled people to each community, so that each town would have people who could farm, work with iron, wood or leather, weave cloth, and more. By 1850, Mormons had started the communities of Bountiful, Farmington, Ogden, Tooele, Provo, and Manti. Each had a leader who had authority over both community and church affairs. Sometimes, groups of people decided on their own to move somewhere and set up a community, without direction from the church. By 1857, the Mormons had started more than 90 settlements. Life in a new place. Most communities also established an irrigation system . Why was irrigation so important? At first, the new settlers built log cabins—or they lived in dugouts or even in their wagons for a while. When the communities got more settled, they could build houses and buildings out of stone, adobe brick, or brick Many of these communities also built forts around their cabins for protection when Native Americans and the settlers were fighting.

The Mormon village in Utah was a planned community of farmers and trades people. The village would include a main living area and farms and farm buildings on the land beyond. Life in these villages centered on the day's work and church activities. The early pioneers worked hard, but they also loved to relax with music, dance, and drama. Learn more. Every community and region has its own fascinating story behind its founding. Many communities or regions were settled because church leaders wanted the people to produce everything the territory would need: cotton, sugar, fruits, tobacco, grapes, metals, grains, silk, and other goods. United by their faith, the people worked together to build their communities. Some of these ventures worked, some didn’t, but all the tales are ones of industry, bravery, and hope. See what you can find out about your community--and learn the stories of the people and the industries that were here before you. The Mormons | People & Events | PBS People & Events The Great Mormon Migration Brigham Young, circa 1850-1. They were a people who felt called by God, chosen to create a New Jerusalem.

It was fitting, then, that in order to realize the dream, the Mormons endured a 1,300-mile journey of Biblical proportions. Time to Go Mormons had been considering moving west -- beyond the borders of the United States -- since before Joseph Smith's 1844 murder, but his assassination made it clear that the period of relative calm the Mormon faithful had enjoyed in Nauvoo, Illinois, was coming to an end. In 1845 mob violence against the Mormon community increased, and the Illinois legislature revoked the city's charter. Depiction of Mormon winter migration, 1846. Exodus, Part One Brigham Young , who was emerging as the church's new leader, conducted a census that fall, counting more than 3,000 families and some 2,500 wagons. He then divided church members into smaller administrative groups of tens, fifties, and hundreds (following the pattern described in the Old Testament when, after crossing the Red Sea dry-shod, the Jews went through the wilderness searching for the Promised Land). Appropriately, Young named the collective the Camp of Israel.

Although Young hoped to begin the migration in spring 1846, local hostility forced the Mormons' hand. The first wave of about 3,000 people began to leave Nauvoo in early February, and their suffering was intense. They crossed the frozen Mississippi River -- dry-shod. In one evening on the trek nine babies were born, their parents barely able to provide any shelter from the elements. Wagons collapsed, people died from exposure, and it took 131 days for the Mormon convoy to travel 310 miles to relative safety on the banks of the Missouri, where the river divided Nebraska and Iowa. Still, church members kept the faith throughout their tribulations. William Clayton, who had been ordered to travel ahead of his pregnant wife, was so overjoyed to learn of his son's birth that he wrote a hymn, "Come, Come, Ye Saints," that has become a Mormon standard. Its hopeful last line: "All is well! All is well!" Winter Quarters All was well for a time in the area (near what is Omaha, Nebraska today) that the Mormons reached in June 1846.

Local Native Americans were friendly, and Young decided they would remain in what became known as "Winter Quarters" until the following spring. But when winter came, scurvy claimed as many as 15 percent of the camp members; Young's son would later call their settlement "the Valley Forge of Mormondom." Young, himself sick in February 1847, had been plagued by self-doubt, but a vision of Joseph Smith helped him become the strong leader his followers needed for the second, thousand-mile portion of their journey. Wagon train crossing the Platte River 1840s-1850s. Exodus, Part Two In April 1847, an advance party of 25 wagons led by Young left the Winter Quarters and headed towards the Rocky Mountains. They traveled along the Platte River, creating a new route on its north bank rather than risk encounters with other settlers on the Oregon Trail. The first half of the journey was along the plains and easier going than the mountains that loomed up past Fort Laramie, Wyoming. But the Mormons kept going, marching by day and leavening the evenings with campfire dance and song. There was also much sickness.

Like many others in the pioneer band, Brigham Young came down with "mountain fever." On July 24, after 111 days of travel, a wagon carrying the prostrate Young reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Looking out on the terrain, Young declared, "It is enough. This is the right place." Steel engraving looking south of Salt Lake City, Utah in 1853. A Permanent Home As Young was reaching his destination, another wagon train with more than 1,500 people and nearly 600 cows was leaving Winter Quarters and heading west. Over the next two decades more than 60,000 Mormons would journey to the Utah Territory; thousands came by wagon, and thousands more pulled handcarts across the harsh terrain. Many died along the way, and the survivors found the country they sought to escape would soon expand its borders to encompass them. In 1857 during the " Utah War ," the Mormons abandoned their Salt Lake City homes as the U.S. Army approached, but returned to them unscathed and would never again be forced to flee for their lives and abandon everything they knew; for the first time, they had found a permanent home.

Mormon Settlement Mormon Settlement BRIEF HISTORY OF UTAH Ron Rood and Linda Thatcher Utah's thousands of years of prehistory and its centuries of known recorded history are so distinctive and complex that a summary can only hint at the state's rich heritage. The synopsis offered here follows major themes in Utah history and includes some of the significant dates, events, and individuals. Bibliography Brigham Young When Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his brother Hyrum were assassinated at Carthage, Illinois, in June 1844, Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders decided to abandon Nauvoo, Illinois, and move west. Their exodus began February 4, 1846. With the outbreak of the Mexican War, President James Knox Polk asked the Mormons for a battalion of men. Volunteers were recruited and the Mormon Battalion formed. During their famous march of 1846-1847 from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to San Diego, California, they forged a wagon route across the extreme Southwest. Their pay and their later explorations helped the pioneer settlers.

In April 1847 the pioneer company of Mormons was on its way from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to Utah. The reports of Fremont and conversations with Father De Smet, a Jesuit missionary to the Indians, helped to influence their choice to head for the Great Basin. An advance party, including three African-Americans, entered Salt Lake Valley July 22, 1847, and the rest of the company on July 24. Planting and irrigating as well as exploration of the surrounding area began immediately. Although the struggle for survival was difficult in the first years of settlement, the Mormons were better equipped by experience than many other groups to tame the harsh land. They had pioneered other settlements in the Midwest, and their communal religious faith underscored the necessity of cooperative effort. Basic industries developed rapidly, the city was laid out, and building began. Natural resources, including timber and water, were regarded as community property; and the church organization served as the first government. Settlement of outlying areas began as soon as possible. Bountiful, Farmington, Ogden, Tooele, Provo, and Manti were settled by 1850.

Immigration had swelled the population to 11,380, half of whom were farm families. The typical family of 1850 consisted of two parents in their 20s or early 30s and three children. A leader was generally chosen by church authorities to head each settlement, and others were selected to provide basic skills for the new community. Small settlements were frequently forts with log cabins arranged in a protective square. Wagon train Between 1847 and 1900 the Mormons founded about 500 settlements in Utah and neighboring states. At the same time, missionaries traveled worldwide, and thousands of religious converts from many cultural backgrounds made the long journey from their homelands to Utah via boat, rail, wagon train, and handcart. The Mormon village in Utah was to a degree patterned after Joseph Smith's City of Zion, a planned community of farmers and tradesmen, with a central residential area and farms and farm buildings on the land beyond. Life in these villages centered on the day's work and church activities. Educational facilities developed slowly. Music, dance, and drama were favorite group activities. Brigham Young Brigham Young Brigham Young, ca.

1850 Brigham Young later in life Brigham Young was born June 1, 1801 in Whittingham, Vermont. He was the ninth of eleven children, growing up in an unsettled frontier environment characterized by frequent family moves to various communities throughout upstate New York. Despite the influences of a strict, moralistic family and being exposed to the religious fervor that characterized the "burned-over-district" of upstate New York, he was slow to associate with a particular religious denomination until he formally joined the Methodist Church in 1824. His formal education was minimal and he was apprenticed to be a carpenter, painter, and glazier-trades which he used to support himself. In 1824 he met and married his first wife, Miriam Works, by whom he had two daughters. By 1830 he was living in Mendon, New York where he first came in contact with the teachings of the newly-formed Mormon Church. However, he did not submit to baptism until 14 April 1832 and only then when other members of his immediate family joined.

He found Mormonism appealing in its emphasis on Christian primitivism, its millennialistic orientation, authoritarianism, certain Puritan-like beliefs, and the fact that it offered him an avenue to achieve status and recognition through its lay priesthood. Young's commitment to Mormonism was further strengthened as a result of his initial meeting with Joseph Smith, whom he found to be a dynamic, charismatic leader and believed to be a true prophet of God. From this point on, Young threw his full energies and talent into promoting Mormonism. In the process he fulfilled several Church missions and other assignments including participation in the Zions' Camp expedition of 1834. He rose quickly through Church ranks and by 1835 had been appointed to the Council of the Twelve Apostles. In 1838 he took charge of the Mormon exodus to Illinois in the wake of the Church's expulsion from Missouri. By this time Young was the senior member of the Council of the Twelve. In 1840 Brigham Young traveled to England, where he took charge of missionary efforts, supervising the dramatic growth of Mormonism in that country.

Following his return to Nauvoo in 1841, Young affirmed his complete loyalty to Joseph Smith by embracing the controversial and still-secret practice of polygamy, despite his initial personal reluctance. Young's commitment was underscored by his eventual marriage to a total of 55 wives (accounts differ) and fathering of fifty-seven children by sixteen of these women. Young emerged as Mormonism's principal leader, following the assassination of Joseph Smith in 1844, skillfully and successfully beating back the claims of several challengers. By 1846, in response to extreme anti-Mormon violence, Young determined that his followers could not remain in Illinois and proceeded to organize the mass Mormon migration West. Through careful planning and preparation, he presided over what became the largest and best organized westward trek of pioneers in history.

He personally lead the first pioneer company to the Great Basin, and on 24 July 1847, upon seeing the Great Salt Lake Valley for the first time announced: "It is enough, this is the right place, drive on." Over the next thirty years, he continued to supervise the migration of thousands of emigrants to the Great Basin through the formation of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, which brought them West by various means, including covered wagon, handcart, church teams and finally railroad. He also oversaw Mormon settlement in dozens of far-flung communities throughout Utah and also in Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, and California in the process becoming one of the foremost colonizers in American history. With the formation of the territory of Utah in 1850, Young was appointed its first territorial governor, a post which he held until 1857. But relations between Young and the federal government were less than ideal, particularly in wake of the Mormon Church's public acknowledgment of polygamy in 1852.

By 1857 relations between Young and the federal government had deteriorated to the point that President James Buchanan dispatched United States Army troops to Utah to ensure the seating of a new territorial governor, resulting in a bloodless skirmish known as the Utah War. Tensions between Young and federal officials remained high over the next several years, with a variety of actions directed against Young and his followers; these actions included the federal dispatch to Utah of a second armed force in 1862 (this one composed of California Volunteers) and their establishment in Salt Lake City, the enactment of the Morrell Anti-bigamy Act in 1962, and the passage in 1874 of the more severe Poland Act. Young, himself, was subjected to house arrest for several weeks in 1872 and jailed briefly in March 1875. As a church leader, Brigham Young stood in marked contrast to his predecessor, the charismatic, idealistic, and theologically innovative Joseph Smith. Instead, Young inspired his followers by his down-to-earth demeanor and through his skills as a pragmatic organizer and executive. His emphasis in both his actions and sermons was on the practical means essential for building up the Kingdom of God in a frontier environment.

Only rarely did Young venture into the realm of theological and doctrinal innovation and then with mixed results. His pronouncements emphasizing blood atonement and the Adam-God theory had minimal impact on the long-range course of Mormon theological development. More important was Young's 1847 implementation of denial of the Mormon priesthood to blacks, a practice that remained in effect until its repeal in 1978. Brigham Young's activities as a pioneer businessman were also noteworthy. He engaged in a wide variety of enterprises by himself and in partnership with others. In the realm of transportation, these included a wagon express company, a ferryboat company, and a railroad. In the field of manufacturing he processed lumber, wool, sugar beets, iron, and even operated a distillery. His greatest success as a businessman came in real estate. By the time of his death, his personal fortune was calculated at $600,000 making him the most successful Utah businessman up to that time. Moreover, Young utilized his business talents in an effort to promote Mormon self-sufficiency.

He supervised the formation of the Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution (the basis for the later ZCMI Department Stores) and the establishment of several self-sufficient cooperative communities known as the United Order of Enoch. In undertaking these enterprises, he was seeking to protect and insulate his followers and their distinctive practices (particularly polygamy) from both the actions of an increasingly assertive federal government as well as those of the ever larger number of non-Mormons who had moved into the Great Basin. However, his efforts were less than successful, particularly in light of larger forces that were bringing the economy of the Great Basin more and more into the mainstream of the larger American economy, a development beyond the control of any one man. Brigham Young died in the midst of such developments on 29 August 1877 of complications resulting from apparent acute appendicitis. See: Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (1985); Newell G. Bringhurst, Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier (1986); Dean C. Jessee, ed., Letters of Brigham Young to his Sons (1974); Richard F. Palmer and Karl D.

Butler, Brigham Young: The New York Years (1982); Eugene England, Brother Brigham (1980); M. R. Werner, Brigham Young (1925); and Ray B. West, Kingdom of the Saints: The Story of Brigham Young and the Mormons (1957). Utah Emigration and Immigration Genealogy - FamilySearch Wiki United States Emigration and Immigration lists several important sources for finding information about immigrants. The Tracing Immigrant Origins FamilySearch Wiki article introduces the principles, search strategies, and additional record types you can use to identify an immigrant ancestor's hometown. Online Sources Mormon Migration by Harold B. Lee Library of BYU History Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were the pioneer settlers of Utah and have always accounted for a high percentage of the population. The first wagon train of pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. By the time the railroad reached Utah in 1869, more than 69,000 Mormons had made the trek across the Great Plains. Since most of the immigrants were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, check Tracing LDS Ancestors and the section on LDS Emigration and Immigration sources .

Some will be repeated here. Early pioneers came primarily from the New England, mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern states as well as Canada and Great Britain. The population of the early settlements grew because of missionary work overseas. British converts formed the largest foreign-born immigrant group followed by the Scandinavians. Significant numbers also came from France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Other LDS pioneers came from such divers areas as Australia, South Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Near East. A few African-Americans were among the earliest arrivals in Salt Lake. Members of other denominations migrated to Utah from all parts of the United States and from other countries. The California Gold Rush and the western movement brought new settlers. Jewish merchants established businesses. United States military personnel arrived in the 1850s and 1860s. Some chose to stay when their service ended. Other Indexes and Records 1847–1868 Utah Immigration Card Index, Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1963. FHL films 298440–298442.

This is also known as the "Crossing the Plains Index." This is an incomplete but valuable list of the pioneers who crossed the plains before the railroad reached Utah in 1869. It is arranged alphabetically by head of the family. Most of the information has been taken from the Journal History of the Church . 1849–1925 European Emigration Card Index. Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1951. FHL films 298431–298439 . This index is also known as the Crossing the Ocean Index. It is an alphabetical card index to the Saints who crossed the ocean on their way to Zion. This index is incomplete because it focuses only on ships chartered by Church agents. The cards are filed by the head of the family or the leader of each group. The name of the ship and the date of departure from Liverpool is included. 1847–ca1914 Early Church Information File . This index is cited fully in LDS Biographies . Histories Histories of some of the groups who traveled together to Utah have been published.

During the 1997 sesquicentennial celebration of the arrival of the pioneers, many new materials were published. Many list the names of those who immigrated. Check the FamilySearch Catalog for these newer histories. A number of serial publications by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers include lists of the names of pre-1869 immigrants, names of those who died along the trail, accounts of the journey, and other pioneer information. Many of these were published for the centennial of a group's year of immigration. There is some duplication in these publications and they are listed in order of publication dates. The sources Heart Throbs of the West, Treasures of Pioneer History, Our Pioneer Heritage, Lessons, An Enduring Legacy, and Chronicles of Courage are cited in Utah Biography . The Oregon-California Trails Association is an educational organization that promotes the story of the westward migration to Utah, among other places. Their site includes a personal name index to trail diaries, journals, reminiscences, autobiographies, newspaper articles, guidebooks and letters at Paper Trail, A Guide to Overland Names and Documents . They also publish Overland Journal.

Independence, Missouri: Oregon-California Trails Association, C1983– At various libraries (WorldCat) ; FHL book 973 H25oj vol. 1– cont. . Passenger Arrival Records Many LDS immigrants leaving Europe and Great Britain came on chartered ships from Liverpool, England. Between 1840 and 1854, New Orleans was the major port of arrival for LDS immigrant ships. Between 1855 and 1890, most of the ships arrived in New York, Philadelphia, or Boston. Suggestions for help in locating your immigrant ancestor can be found under LDS Emigration and Immigration . There was no port of entry common to the non-LDS overseas immigrants. The Family History Library and the National Archives have passenger lists for east coast and some west coast ports between 1820 and about 1920. See United States and Tracing Immigrant Origins for these passenger lists. Other Sources Biographies often include when ancestors came and where they arrived. Minorities section may have sources for various groups. These sources will give information on common routes and journeys they people may have traveled.

Mormon Pioneers History - Pioneers Mormon Pioneers The history of the Mormon Trail cannot be understood without an awareness of the Mormon religion itself. The great Mormon migration of 1846-1847 was but one step in the Mormons' quest for religious freedom and growth. The Mormon religion, later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was founded by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830 in Fayette, New York. Smith experienced visions as a teenager and would later be regarded as a prophet by the Mormons. In 1827, he claimed that an angel showed him buried gold plates which he then transcribed into The Book of Mormon. All who subscribed to the beliefs of this text became known as Mormons. Membership grew rapidly, but not all were enthused about Smith's new religion. Persecution of the Mormons led to subsequent moves westward for the church, first to Ohio, then to Missouri and then to Nauvoo, Illinois. Smith envisioned a permanent settlement in Nauvoo. But both the Mormons' time in Nauvoo and Smith's life were to be short-lived.

From 1839 until 1846, the Mormon church was headquartered in Nauvoo where church members were able to prosper and practice their religion peacefully. But before long, tensions arose when many citizens began to view the Mormons with contempt. Mormon practices such as polygamy, in combination with the quick growth of the church, contributed to a growing intolerance among some Illinois citizens. Hostilities broke out and on June 27, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by an angry mob while jailed in Carthage, Illinois. Brigham Young stepped in as Smith's successor and immediately began furthering Smith's plans for a move to the Far West. By now, the Mormon population of Nauvoo neared 11,000, making it one of the largest cities in Illinois. Yet the persecution of Mormons continued. In one month alone in 1845, more than 200 Mormon homes and farm buildings were burned around Nauvoo in an attempt by foes to force out the Mormons. Possible locations for a new home for the Mormons included Oregon, California and Texas.

But with Smith's acquisition of John Fremont 's map and report of the West in 1844, the Salt Lake region of Utah was chosen as the Mormons' destination. Young and his devotees made plans for an exodus to this new land. By 1846 the Mormon migration had begun. 1846 When Brigham Young and 3,000 Mormons set out for Utah on February 4, 1846, expedition leaders expected to reach their goal by the coming winter. But unforeseen difficulties forced the Mormons to abandon their original schedule. The journey was split into two sections: Nauvoo to Omaha, Nebraska in 1846; and, Omaha to the Salt Lake Valley of Utah in 1847. The first section - 265 miles - tested the Mormons most severely. Although plans had already been made for the first group to leave Nauvoo in the spring of 1846, rumors of federal persecution and revocation of the Nauvoo city charter persuaded Brigham Young to begin the move earlier than expected. February that year in Iowa was marked by harsh weather and bitter cold.

With 500 wagons, the Mormons grimly faced miles of axle-deep mud bogs and rough, obscure trails. Many of the emigrants were unskilled in trail life and leadership was disorganized. Because of the hurried departure, important provisions had been left behind by many families. All of these factors combined to cause difficulties on a day to day basis. Yet as the Mormons forged ahead, they became more organized and began traveling in groups of 10s, 50s or 100s. To make things easier on Mormons who had delayed their departure from Nauvoo, improvements were made to the route along the way. Settlements such as Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah were established to provide way stations for the coming immigration. Finally, by June 13, 1846, the first group of Mormons reached the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa. It had taken 120 days to cross 265 miles for an average of 2.25 miles a day. Some of these Mormons stayed in Council Bluffs, which was renamed Kanesville, while others crossed the Missouri and established Winter Quarters in present-day Omaha.

Brigham Young decided that the original plan to reach the Rockies by fall was now impossible. The Mormons would be staying on the Missouri until the following spring. Winter Quarters would prove to be a harsh stopping place during the winter of 1846-1847. 1847 Today in History - July 24 | Library of Congress Library of Congress Today in History - July 24 July 24 Listen to this page Pioneer Day Completing a treacherous thousand-mile exodus, an ill and exhausted Brigham Young and fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. The Mormon pioneers viewed their arrival as the founding of a Mormon homeland, hence Pioneer Day. The Mormons, as they were commonly known, left their settlement in Nauvoo, Illinois , and journeyed West seeking refuge from religious persecution. The final impetus for their trek was the murder of founder and prophet Joseph Smith on June 27, 1844. Statues and sculpture.

Brigham Young, seated in rotunda ,[United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.] Theodor Horydczak, photographer, circa 1920-1950. Horydczak Collection . Prints & Photographs Division Determined to settle in an isolated region, the pioneers made their way across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains to Utah. They lost many of their party to disease during the winter months. By the time that they reached Utah, the desolate valley was a welcome sight. Potatoes and turnips were soon planted, and a dam was built. With solemn ceremonies, the settlers consecrated the two-square-mile city, and sent back word that the “promised land” had been found. By the end of 1847, nearly 2,000 Mormons had settled in the Salt Lake Valley. Salt Lake City, Utah 1891 . H. Wellge, panoramic map artist, American Publishing Co., 1891. Panoramic Maps . Geography & Map Division Mormon Temple Grounds , [Salt Lake City, Utah]. L. Hollard, photographer, 1912. Panoramic Photographs .

Prints & Photographs Division July 24 is still celebrated as Pioneer Day in Utah and several other Western states. The bravery of the original settlers and their strength of character and physical endurance is commemorated with festivities including games and music, speeches, parades, rodeos, and picnics. Learn More Mormons begin exodus to Utah - Feb 10, 1846 - HISTORY.com Mormons begin exodus to Utah Share this: Mormons begin exodus to Utah Author Mormons begin exodus to Utah URL Publisher A+E Networks Their leader assassinated and their homes under attack, the Mormons of Nauvoo, Illinois, begin a long westward migration that eventually brings them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been persecuted for their beliefs ever since Joseph Smith founded the church in New York in 1830. Smith’s claim to be a modern-day prophet of God and his acceptance of polygamy proved controversial wherever the Mormons attempted to settle. In 1839, Smith hoped his new spiritual colony of Nauvoo in Missouri would provide a permanent safe haven for the Saints, but anti-Mormon prejudice there proved virulent.

Angry mobs murdered Smith and his brother in June 1844 and began burning homes and threatening the citizens of Nauvoo. Convinced that the Mormons would never find peace in the United States, Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, made a bold decision: the Mormons would move to the still wild territories of the Mexican-controlled Southwest. Young had little knowledge of the geography and environment of the West and no particular destination in mind, but trusting in God, he began to prepare the people of Nauvoo for a mass exodus. On this day in 1846, Young abandoned Nauvoo and began leading 1,600 Mormons west across the frozen Mississippi in subzero temperatures to a temporary refuge at Sugar Grove, Iowa. Young planned to make the westward trek in stages, and he determined the first major stopping point would be along the Missouri River opposite Council Bluffs. He sent out a reconnaissance team to plan the route across Iowa, dig wells at camping spots, and in some cases, plant corn to provide food for the hungry emigrants.

The mass of Mormons made the journey to the Missouri River, and by the fall of 1846, the Winter Quarters were home to 12,000 Mormons. After a hard journey across the western landscape, Young and his followers emerged out onto a broad valley where a giant lake shimmered in the distance. With his first glimpse of this Valley of the Great Salt Lake, Young reportedly said, “This is the place.” That year, some 1,600 Mormons arrived to begin building a new civilization in the valley. The next year, 2,500 more made the passage. By the time Young died in 1877, more than 100,000 people were living in the surrounding Great Basin, the majority of them Mormons. Young, however, had not escaped the troubles that plagued the Church in the East. By early 1848, the Mormons’ haven became a U.S. territory after the American victory in the Mexican War. The Mormons had finally found a permanent home along the Great Salt Lake, but its isolation and freedom from persecution was short-lived.

Related Videos The Mormon Migration: A Quest For Religious Freedom - A History Day Project A Quest For Religious Freedom The Mormon Church: Troubles and Migration This painting is of the Mormons migrating from Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Mormons were forced to leave every state in which they settled. The Mormons, who first emerged as a religious group in 1830, were driven from New York state to Ohio, to Missouri, to Illinois, and finally to Salt Lake City, Utah. The reason that they were forced out was the ideas of their religion.The main reason that people did not like them was that they practiced polygamy. Polygamy is the practice of having more than one wife. Many people were against this practice, because they thought it was immoral. They also had a way to get land. If you owned land and you were Mormon, you had to deed it to the church and then the church would deed it back according to peopls needs. In 1831, Joseph Smith moved the church community to Kirtland, Ohio. The church's main source of income and power was the Mormon- run Kirtland Bank.

Everything was going fine until 1837 when the bank system splintered because of fights over power within the church. After the fall of the bank, the Mormons gave up and moved to Missouri. The "Winter Quarters" in Nebraska. In Missouri, the Mormons were again attacked in the "Massacre at Hawns Mill." During the massacre, twenty Mormons were killed, and many more were wounded. Joseph Smith and others were arrested after the massacre on what appeared to be false charges. With Joseph Smith still in jail, the Mormons were ordered out of Missouri. This is a model of Brigham Young's house in Utah. Fifteen thousand Mormons fled to open land in Illinois, where they built there dream city and named it Nauvoo, under the leadership of Brigham Young. A few months later, Joseph Smith escaped jail and came to Nauvoo. After the Mormons settled into Illinois, Smith, his brother, and other church leaders were jailed. The reason of the jailing is that they thought the leaders of the Mormons were in charge of the Mormons and if they jailed their leaders, then the whole religion would cease to exist. Fortunately for the church, Brigham Young was not recognized as a leader, and he was not imprisoned.

A mob attacked the jail on June 27, 1844, and Joseph Smith and his brother were fatally shot. In the winter of 1845, the Illinois legislature repealed the Nauvoo charter, leaving its court system powerless, and its militia illegal. The Mormons were left with no protection from anti-Mormon mobs. By Autumn 1845, church leaders promised they would go west in the spring. Five thousand church members were told to save food and prepare to migrate. They tried to finish the temple so they could leave properly endowed in God's grace. Anti-Mormons did not like the fact that the Mormons wanted to finish the temple. They thought that if the Mormons were planning to finish the temple, they would stay. Anti-Mormons began planning a tax against the Mormons. This is Brigham Young's Book of Mormon, which he took with him on his migration from Illinois to Utah. During the first week of February 1946, wagons crossed the frozen Mississippi River. Unfortunately, many Mormons only had enough food for a few days, and had to be helped by those who were more prepared. A couple of hundred people stayed in Lee County, Iowa; others traveled during the winter.

This is Brigham Young's compass, which he used to lead the way across the United States. The apostles, who friends with Smith and all had a major part of the church's system, organized the Mormons into two large groups, then into groups of one hundred each, then into groups of fifty, and finally into groups of ten, with officers over each. Food and supplies were distributed to each group of fifty. Soon the Mormons met up with the Popuwatom Tribe, who agreed to let the Mormons use their land. Those settlements became known as the Winter Quarters. As Mormon wagon trains traveled to the Winter Quarters, a U.S. Army captain requested that five hundred Mormons be sent to fight in the Mexican War. Brigham Young agreed, and the army gave money in exchange for the soldiers. When Young reached Utah he was sick and had to be carried in a carriage. When the Mormons reached Utah, Young sat up and looked out over Great Salt Lake Valley and said, "This is the place." The first Mormons arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, and began building Salt Lake City.

By 1869, eighty thousands saints (taken from the church's official name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) had come to Utah.

Question: Which religious grou0p migrated westward to the Great Salt Lake, Utah, in 1847?
Answer: Mormons