Garden Grove is a small town in Decatur County, Iowa, United States. The population was 174 at the time of the 2020 census.
The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. The battalion was a volunteer unit of between 534 and 559 Latter-day Saint men, led by Mormon company officers commanded by regular U.S. Army officers. During its service, the battalion made a grueling march of nearly 1,950 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California.
The Mormon Trail is the 1,300-mile (2,100 km) long route from Illinois to Utah on which Mormon pioneers traveled from 1846–47. Today, the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails System, known as the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail.
The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah. At the time of the planning of the exodus in 1846, the territory comprising present-day Utah was part of the Republic of Mexico, with which the U.S. soon went to war over a border dispute left unresolved after the annexation of Texas. The Salt Lake Valley became American territory as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war.
Levi Savage Jr. is a prominent figure in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was one of the LDS Church's earliest missionaries to Asia and was one of the leaders of the Mormon pioneers traveling in the Willie Handcart Company.
Hosea Stout was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement, a Mormon pioneer, soldier, chief of police, lawyer, missionary, and politician in Utah Territory.
Christopher Layton was a Mormon colonizer and Patriarch who founded the cities of Kaysville, Utah; Layton, Utah; and Thatcher, Arizona. Layton, Utah, is named after him.
William Cook Prows was an early Mormon leader and American settler who may have been the first man to discover gold on the Comstock Lode, leading to a rush of mining in the area during the mid-19th century.
Thomas Bullock was a Mormon pioneer and a clerk in the Church Historian's Office of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Levi Ward Hancock was an early convert to Mormonism and was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for nearly fifty years. He was also one of the witnesses of the Book of Commandments.
James C. Sly was a Mormon pioneer, member of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican–American War, scout for early west trails used during the California gold rush, journal keeper in 1848 and 1849, early US western settler of several communities, and Mormon missionary to Canada.
John Holladay was an early settler and namesake of the settlement of Holladay's Burg, Utah Territory, which became Holladay, Utah. He and his family were early LDS pioneers in Colorado, Utah, and California.
Elam Luddington, Jr. was a Mormon pioneer, officer in the Mormon Battalion, first missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to preach in Thailand, and 2nd City Marshall for Salt Lake City.
Jesse Carter Little was a Mormon pioneer and a member of the presiding bishopric of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Stanley Buchholz Kimball was a historian at Southern Illinois University. He was an expert on eastern European history and also wrote on Latter-day Saint history, including his ancestor Heber C. Kimball and the Mormon Trail.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in California refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in California. California has the 2nd most members of the LDS Church in the United States, behind Utah. The LDS Church is the 2nd largest denomination in California, behind the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a presence in Mexico since 1874. Mexico has the largest body of LDS Church members outside of the United States. Membership grew nearly 15% between 2011 and 2021. In the 2010 Mexican census, 314,932 individuals self-identified most closely to the LDS Church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Colorado. The first congregation of the Church in Colorado was organized in 1897. It has since grown to 148,708 members in 310 congregations.
John Erik Forsgren was a Mormon pioneer and missionary. He was the first missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to preach in Sweden.
James Stephens Brown was a notable participant in the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California. He was also a member of the Mormon Battalion, a missionary, notable writer and speaker, and a prolific husband and father
