Mormon Trail

The overland route followed by Latter Day Saint migrants from the United States to the Great Salt Lake Valley, especially from 1846 through the 1850s.

Nauvoo: An Illinois city that became the principal Latter Day Saint settlement before the 1846 exodus. The westward migration began when Latter Day Saints left this settlement.
Joseph Smith: The founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and its first president. His leadership shaped the community whose members later undertook the migration.
Heber C. Kimball: A prominent early Latter Day Saint apostle and close associate of Brigham Young. He helped lead the first pioneer company from Winter Quarters to the valley.
Salt Lake City: The capital of Utah, founded by Latter Day Saint settlers in 1847 in the Great Salt Lake Valley. The trail's arrival led directly to the founding of this settlement.
Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database: A historical database documenting individuals and companies that traveled to Utah with Latter Day Saint migration. Its records connect named migrants to specific companies and journey dates.
Winter Quarters: A temporary Latter Day Saint settlement on the west bank of the Missouri River, occupied chiefly in 1846–1848. Many migrants paused here to survive the winter before continuing west.
Persecution of Latter Day Saints: Hostility, legal conflict, and violence directed at Latter Day Saint communities in the nineteenth-century United States. Threats and expulsion helped drive the departure from Illinois.
Eliza R. Snow: A Latter Day Saint poet and leader who migrated west with the 1846 exodus from Nauvoo. Her writings and leadership document women's experience in the migration.
State of Deseret: A proposed western state organized by Latter Day Saint settlers in 1849 but never admitted to the United States. The migrants' new political community first sought recognition under this name.
Willie and Martin handcart companies: Two Latter Day Saint handcart companies caught in severe weather during their 1856 westward journey. Their rescue illustrates the deadly risks of late-season travel on the route.

Linked from 8 pages