Pioneers

‘I have been overwhelmed with a sense of belonging. I have been inspired, humbled, and changed.’

Raised by a devout Baptist minister in India and living in Samoa, Elsie was an unlikely source for bringing the gospel to her home country.

My fourth-great-grandparents’ love story is as good as any proper romance novel, but all the more special because it connects me to my ancestors in a deeply meaningful way.

Through song, dance, and stories, Deseret Book will be honoring pioneers whose stories historically have gone untold, including the indigenous people who were present in Utah before they arrived.

Does your child have a pioneer trek coming up this summer? Or are you a “ma” or “pa”? Deseret Book has you covered!

Is your family road tripping this summer? Some of the Church’s historic sites are just a stone's throw away from popular tourist attractions!

“The Latter-day Saint community [in Las Vegas is] vibrant across every facet—politically, public service, charitable. … No other group of people [comes] close.”

The legacy of the Mormon crickets isn’t over yet. Watch as a road in Idaho is saved from thousands of these intruding insects.

My grandparents were forced to live in prison camps during Word War II. When they were released, they found their way to Utah where a new community awaited them.

The first Spanish-speaking branch was organized in 1923. By 1946, the branch's women were setting an example for the world.

A new monument honoring early Black pioneers will be dedicated on Friday, July 22, corresponding with the 175th anniversary of the first wagon company’s 1847 arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.

One man is adding a recovered addict, a mental health hero, and an LBGTQ+ mediator to his list of pioneers to honor this year.

“Sometimes we too must turn and walk away from the future we expected and worked for.”

When the first volume of The Work and the Glory series was published in 1990, readers instantly fell in love with the Steed family and their adventures in 1800s Palmyra.

This Pioneer Day weekend, celebrate those who traveled with the Vanguard Company and trekked with the Mormon Battalion.

Mauli Bonner came away from the 2018 “Be One” celebration a changed man with an intense desire to learn more about Black pioneers and to teach others about them.

Did you know as recently as 1997, nearly 10,000 people made the 1,000 mile journey over 93 days on foot across the pioneer trail?

Still recovering from the Fourth of July and haven’t figured out your Pioneer Day plans yet? These fun activities and food ideas will have you celebrating in pioneer style in no time.

July is a great time to celebrate our collective heritage through music, especially this year as more venues open back up to the public.

The Kanesville Tabernacle was originally built for displaced pioneers to sustain Brigham Young as Church President in 1847.

Returning to his boyhood ward, President Henry B. Eyring repeatedly urged his audience to “follow the prophet” as he spoke at the 80th anniversary celebration of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers monument in Salt Lake City, honoring Utah’s silkworm industry.

Editor’s note: “This week from the pulpit” highlights recent messages by General Authorities and General Officers of the Church.

Mauli Junior Bonner says when he first learned about enslaved pioneers, it strengthened him—he wanted to learn more about them, why they stayed, and what their experience had been like.

What I’ve learned working with great historians is that they’re never afraid to really wrestle with the very human complexities that these stories offer. And for me, as a member of the Church, that complexity is actually what boosts my testimony.

Editor's note: "This week from the pulpit" highlights recent messages by General Authorities, General Officers, and leaders of the Church.

Brigham Young was lying in the bed of a wagon, having been severely ill for the last twelve days, when he saw the valley for the first time.1 He was forty-six years old, short and quite stocky, a carpenter by trade and physically robust; but “mountain fever” could put even the strongest men flat on their backs. Several diseases fell under that generic name because they all produced high fever, severe head and body aches, deep pain behind the eyes, chills, nausea, and vomiting. Colorado tick fever was one of the least severe of these illnesses, usually passing in a few days after the onset of the symptoms, but Brigham had been down for almost two weeks, suggesting that he may have contracted the more serious Rocky Mountain spotted fever. If so, it was remarkable that he was still alive. That strain persisted for weeks, and the fatality rate was high owing to the inflammation of the heart, lungs, and brain or the kidney failure it produced. The only known treatments were home-brewed remedies and rest, but sleep was hard to come by in a wagon on the plains. Summer days were bright and hot, and Brigham would have felt every bump in the road as the wooden wheels rolled over the uneven land. And he wasn’t alone in his suffering. Thirty-seven other Latter-day Saints traveling with him had also contracted the fever—a full quarter of the company. But they did not have the luxury of time to grant the sick much rest.2

A Latter-day Saint History video briefly highlights how one member of the Willie handcart company was from India. Here is a little bit more about her in celebration of Pioneer Day.

It’s been 174 years since the pioneers left their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois, and began the trek west in search of religious freedom.

Emily Hill would go through more challenges than her 20-year-old self setting sail to join the Saints ever thought she would. But those experiences helped her write prose that would inspire millions.

It's that time of year again. The time when Latter-day Saint youths don bonnets and straw hats as they head out on an epic pioneer journey reenactment called trek.

It’s not the traditional pioneer story.

It can be hard to imagine what life was like for the pioneers. We read stories of their miracles and tragedies, but what about the time in between? What was daily life like? Comparing certain aspects of our lives to their's side-by-side may help you better understand and appreciate how life has changed since 1847. Here are nine glimpses of life from a pioneer's perspective:

Most of us have heard of Ephraim Hanks, Porter Rockwell, Eliza R. Snow, and many other high-profile pioneers who accomplished notable events during the early years of the Church. But there are also others who were influential members of the Church who impacted the Latter-day Saints as well as the outside world. Here are just a few significant pioneers that you may never have heard of before.

Top leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participated in the unveiling of the Pioneer Children’s Memorial at This Is the Place Heritage Park on Saturday in Salt Lake City. The new landmark honors the lives of more than 650 known children who died during the 1,300-mile journey Latter-day Saints made in the mid-1800s from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Utah.

On June 1, 1801, Brigham Young was born in Whittingham, Widdham County, Vermont. At the same time, approximately 900 miles southwest of Whittingham, four-year-old Elisha Hurd Groves was growing up on a farm in Madison, Kentucky. No one could guess at the time the succession of events that would bring these two men together as they fled their homes and journeyed halfway across the country.

"This is supposed to be where she was going to have a final resting place. And it's a little heartbreaking, I think, for the whole family," Jacob Oscarson says.

Ardis E. Parshall became tearful as she walked across the cemetery lawn to see the new monument honoring William and Marie Graves. Although she knew their story, it was like she was meeting them in person for the first time.

Where there was once only a slightly bent metal wagon wheel adorning Rebecca Winters's grave, now her final resting place has not only moved but has also gained a headstone and a signpost commemorating her trek west, her passing, and, in some ways, every Latter-day Saint pioneer.

Sissel, the world-renowned vocalist known for her ethereal arias throughout the Oscar-winning film Titanic, will join the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square at the 2019 Pioneer Day concerts. The concerts will be held in conjunction with communitywide celebrations at 8 p.m. mountain standard time on July 19 and 20 in the Conference Center. The concerts will be conducted by Mack Wilberg, music director of the Choir, and Ryan Murphy, associate music director.

When the coast-to-coast telegraph was completed in Salt Lake City in October 1861, Brigham Young sent a clear signal to President Abraham Lincoln: “Utah has not seceded but is firm for the Constitution and laws of our once happy country.” Less than eight years later, on May 10, 1869, hundreds gathered at Promontory, Utah, to witness another coast-to-coast completion. The driving of the last spike of the transcontinental railroad reverberated continuity to a once broken nation.1

In A. J. Russell's iconic photograph of the celebration following the driving of the golden spike, Samuel S. Montague, chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad, is shaking hands with Grenville M. Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad. Somewhere in the crowd is Leland Stanford, who first missed and then tapped the golden spike into a pre-drilled hole in a special railroad tie made of polished California laurel.

During her most tender years, Mary Fielding Smith learned from both her father and mother the meaning of hard work, discipline, devotion to God, and sacrifice.

“I knew in whom I had trusted, and with the fire of Israel’s God burning in my bosom, I forsook my home.” So wrote Jane C. Robinson Hindley, who was one of about 90,000 European converts who gathered to an American Zion in the mid-19th century.

What a fascinating article from Atlas Obscura, which remembers one of the many Latter-day Saints who lost their lives on their journey to a new home.

Editor's note: This article originally ran on LDSLiving.com in 2018.