Mormon Geographical Areas - Utah and Beyond
When researching Mormon family history it is important to know that historically the Mormons have settled in a number of different locations. While today Mormons are spread around the United States as well as the world, there are several locations where larger pockets of Mormons tend to reside due to the fact that these locations have historically been important to the development of the Mormon faith.
The Mormon faith began in New York, where founder Joseph Smith lived at the time with his family. This time period is often referred to as the New York period. Smith and his family lived near Fayette, New York at the time. Before the early members of the church eventually relocated to Ohio, there were approximately 1,000 members living in the area.
From the very beginning, church members were quite active in sending missionaries not only west through the United States but also overseas as well. In 1831, missionaries began moving to the Ohio region. Smith, his wife and a number of other church members eventually moved there. Soon; however, they found it necessary to flee and an area near Independence, Missouri was chosen as the site for Zion.
In 1837, the first efforts were made toward overseas missionary work when a group of Mormons headed by Heber C. Kimball arrived in Liverpool, England. Two years later, another group followed Brigham Young to Illinois, where they settled on the banks of the Mississippi River, establishing a settlement known as Nauvoo. This would become the largest Mormon settlement to date. Within a few years, members of the Mormon church began their trek west; however. Eventually they would scatter throughout Iowa, establishing what became known as the Mormon Trail all the way to Utah. A number of cities were established by Mormon pioneers in Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada and Utah as well as southern Canada and northern Mexico. The largest area to be established by the Mormons; of course, was Salt Lake City; beginning in 1847. Although for a number of years Mormons outside the United States moved to Utah in order to be near other church members, as the years passed, this mass immigration largely ceased. Instead, church members remained where they were. As a result of the massive missionary work that occurred in South America, Hawaii, New Zealand, Europe and Canada, thousands throughout the world became members of the church. In Africa and Brazil, in particular, the church began to grow exponentially.