The first members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who were known as Mormons or Latter-day Saints (LDS), immigrated to what is now Utah in 1847. About 70,000 LDS immigrants from all over the world arrived in Utah between 1847 and 1880. Mormons continue to move to Utah today.
While members of the LDS church began to move to Utah in the 1840s and 1850s, migration to the region continues into the twenty-first century. Their ideas, religious beliefs, and cultural traditions and practices influenced the social, economic, and political make-up of Utah.
Push and Pull Factors
Several factors contributed to Mormon migration to Utah. Since Joseph Smith organized the church in 1830, members of the faith faced persecution from their neighbors. For example, Mormons were pushed from Missouri and Illinois after tensions resulted in violent attacks. In 1847, Utah was a part of Mexico, which was one factor that pulled members of the LDS faith to its lands. They wanted to live outside the United States, hoping that they could practice their religion free from persecution and regulation. Utah territory became part of the United States in 1848 due to the Mexican American War. Mormons were American citizens again.
Settling
Within a few years, church president Brigham Young had sent members to settle more than 100 towns across Utah, Idaho, and even California. They planted crops, lived on farms, and worked in Utah’s many industries.
Members worked to build homes, roads, railroad depots, irrigation systems, and church buildings. Some opened restaurants and hotels and ran local newspapers. Others earned money as carpenters, tinsmiths, cobblers, or cloth makers. Some worked for or owned railroad and mining companies. The Fifteenth Ward Relief Society, part of an LDS women’s group, opened a store that offered food and other goods for purchase.
Building Community
Mormons supported each other in many ways. They shopped from Mormon-owned businesses and organized community events, including a celebration that commemorated the arrival of the first members to the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847.
Church membership was an important aspect of Mormon community life. Members worshiped together on Sunday and during conferences. Women were part of the Relief Society, and young women participated in the Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Association, later known as the Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association. Members read church-sponsored publications, including the Relief Society Magazine and the Deseret News. Members also worshiped in temples, attended leadership meetings, and generally counseled one another. Their faith shaped their practices, relationships, and how they lived and thought of others.
Today
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continue to live, work, and worship in Utah. Every year during the spring and fall, Latter-day Saints from around the world travel to Utah to attend the church’s General Conference. Latter-day Saint temples and church buildings dot the Utah landscape. There is no doubt that the arrival of the first members of the LDS church in 1847 shaped Utah’s religious, political, economic, and social culture from that point forward.
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