Overview to California LDS Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka Mormon features uniform traditional family-centered religious worship at many located in the area. Special programs include women's relief society, youth groups, scouting, welfare services, family history centers, sports and cultural events, and daily religious study groups (seminary and institute). The LDS Church is the second largest organized religion in California.

California has more members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (over 750,000) and Temples than any state except Utah, attending almost 1400 congregations statewide divided into about 160 Stakes.

Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have played important roles in California History. For example, a group of a few hundred Mormon converts from the Northeastern United States and Europe arrived at what would become San Francisco in the 1840s aboard the ship Brooklyn, more than doubling the population of the small town. A group of Mormons also established the city of San Bernardino in Southern California in 1851.

The Mormon Battalion also had a lasting impact on California history during the time of the Mexican-American War. While in California they engaged in public works projects, road-building, local security and also help to discover gold at Sutter's Mill.

LDS Arts & Culture - California
Check the calendar for special Christmas, easter and summer series performances.

BYU Living Legends California 2012 Tour
Jan 27-Feb 4 : Las Vegas, Irvine, Escondido, Riverside, Oxnard, More
Celebrating cultural traditions of Latin America and the Pacific Islands. Authentic choreography, costumery, and dance music including Hawaiian Hula and Mexican Fiesta dances.
Concert Schedule -

Family Search - Genealogical Resources for California
Researching your Early Family History in California - try these resources:
California Genealogy - Collections of Early California cemetary records, obituaries, mission stories, 49 pioneer stories and more.
California History Project - County Genealogy Groups and Early Newspapers
California Pioneer List - a list of settlers to California who migrated to or were born in California prior to 1880
California Historical Society - early pioneer history
California State Library - Official State History Collections.
Cindy's List - Directory of California Family History Sites

Family Search - Google Books
Researching your Early Family History in California - try Google Books:

Retail Outlets - LDS Themed
Missionary Depot - Orange CA - One-stop shopping for anyone who just got their mission call.
Be Ready Inc - Oceanside CA - Wide range of disaster preparedness kits and seminar presentation for any church, business, school, club, etc. Also carry's boy scout and LDS church supplies.

California Pioneer Heritage Foundation - Preserving the legacy of LDS pioneers of the 1840s and 1850s - Mormon Battalion, Ship Brooklyn, Gold Rush and Early Settlements.

Lincoln California LDS Stake
Newest LDS California Stake [Jan 2011]
Including congregations from the communities of Lincoln and Loomis, it is the newest LDS Stake in the state of California. The Lincoln Stake was created in 30 Jan 2011 from a division of the Rocklin and Roseville Stakes with Mark Steven Perez as first stake president.

California LDS Special Interest:
California YSA Conference - August
SoCal Mid Singles - Yahoo Group - Long Beach
LDS Singles for Fun in SoCal - Yahoo Group
San Diego County Group - For LDS Singles over age 30 in or near San Diego County.
San Diego YSA - YSA San Diego (ages 18-30)

Latter-Day Saints YSA Adventure
This special feature is loaded with resources to help you make the most of your YSA Experience
LDS YSA Ward Directory - Congregations in USA and Canada for YSA and Single Students
LDS Arts & Culture - Preview to the many LDS theme performing arts, festivals and pageants.
LDS Family Adventure Guide - Youth conferences, marriage & dating, activities, scouting, seminary, institute, mission service and other highlights for your family.
LDS Historic Landmarks Guides - Many ideas for LDS themed vacation adventures to historic pioneer sites, great temples, visitors centers and more.
LDS Media Guide - See our massive directory of LDS themed websites, radio shows, magazines, bloggers and every thing else where people from all walks of life discuss how their life and church interact. Many sections have open commentary.

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Church operated museum commerating the 1847 completion of the longest infantry march in US History, over 2000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego. The Mormon Battalion consisted of five companies that totaled over 500 men. Multimedia presentations, historic artifacts including authentic muskets, cannon, and fine artwork.
Mormon Battalion Commemoration [4th Sat of Jan] - Annual Military Parade and Dutch Oven Bakeoff in San Diego Old Town State Park - Children's crafts and games, pioneer music, living history reenactments, wagon rides.

Anza Borrego Desert State Park
Find Mormon Battalion Wagon Trail across the California Desert

Mormon Battalion River Crossing Monument
West Wetlands Park, Yuma AZ.

Fort Moore Pioneer Monument
Hill Street - Chinatown - Los Angeles, CA. -
Site of Fort built and manned by Mormon Battalion 1847 during occupation of Los Angeles in the Mexican-American War.

Los Angeles California Stake
In January 1923 under the supervision of Pres. Heber J Grant, The Los Angeles Stake was the first LDS stake organized outside of the Intermountain region and the also the first urban stake created outside of Salt Lake City.
Adams Ward - 1st LDS Ward created in California (1923) - still meets in its landmark building on Manhattan Place featuring LDS themed stained glass windows.

Heritage Farms Oak Glen
Mormon Pioneer Trek Reenactment
Several Working Living History Farms and Apple Orchards are located near scenic Oak Glen, high in the hills above Yucaipa. The farms grows apples, blackberries, cherries, pumpkins and raspberries. Several homesteads host a wide range of living history festivals and themed dinner shows from the civil war, colonial era, pioneer era and other great legends.

The arrival of Mormon Pioneers into California coincided with a time when the United States, led by President James Polk, was pursuing a policy of Manifest Destiny. This principle held that the territorial United States should cover the American Continent all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific and was a contributing factor to the Mexican-American War (1845-1848).

Brooklyn Saints:
July 1846 saw the arrival of over 160 Latter-day Saint Pioneers on the Brooklyn arrive in San Francisco Bay led by Samuel Brannon. They would create what was both the first American and first Mormon settlement in the Western United States.

Twenty men from this group attempted to start a farm called New Hope near Stockton. John Horner became a successful farmer, settling in Fremont CA.

Overland LDS Immigrants 1846
Several LDS Pioneers came to Northern California via overland routes:

• Rhoads Family - arrived from Missouri in same company as the anti-Mormon ex-governor, Lilburn Boggs. They settle near Sutters Fort.
• Murphy Family - Lovinia Murphy came to California with ill-fated Donner Party. She died but some of her children survived.
• Wimmer Family - (not to be confused with another family of same name onboard the Brooklyn) - settled in Northern California and found gold before the big discovery at Sutters Mill.

Mormon Battalion:
The only unit in the history in the history of United States armed forces to be organized purely along religious lines. After a long march from the plains of Iowa to San Diego, it would be the largest infantry unit positioned in the west to secure California for the American Flag. Arrived in San Diego in Jan 1847 and officially disbanded in July 1847. Some member reenlisted in the regular army, others marched straight to rejoin their families just arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley, and others traveled up north to find work with Mr. Sutter at Sutter's Fort where they discovered gold.

Sutter's Mill:
Several recently discharged members of the Mormon Battalion had worked at Sutter's Mill in 1848 prior to their return home to Utah. Here they played an important role in the discovery of gold that launched the famous gold rush. 24 Jan 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill. Additional discoveries were made at a Mormon encampment at Mormon Island.

By April 1848, Sam Brannan prints mails east extra copies of his newspaper, The California Star to sensationalize the news and thus launches the great California Gold Rush of 1849. He would make a fortune selling mining supplies to the new arrivals. Many members abandon the San Francisco branch to work the gold fields, of which many locations took Mormon names. Porter Rockwell and Apostle Amasa Lyman would come to work out here also. In July 1849, Mormon gold miners arranged to send a big wagonload of tithing gold back to Church Headquarters in the Great Salt Lake which minted it into gold coin.

During this time Brigham Young sent several gold missionaries to work claims in the area and to get some desperately needed hard cash for the Saints in Utah. Two apostles were also sent to administer to the saints scattered across Northern California at the time, Amasa Lyman and Charles Rich. Porter Rockwell and Addison Pratt were also busy in the area during this time as well as a number of missionaries traveling to and from the Polynesian Islands.

San Bernardino Colony:
Over 600 Latter-day Saints, including many former members of the Mormon Battalion settle in modern day San Bernardino in 1851. They mostly return home in 1859.

California Mormon Newsroom:
Latter-day Saints in the News in California:
May 2011 Mormon Helping Hands
Travel to Mormon Battalion Center - Old Town San Diego Tour
Uchtdorf Speaks at Los Angeles World Affairs Councils
California LDS Teen wins Holocaust Poetry Contest - 2011

BSA Hotlinks:

• MainTour Scout Guide

LDS California Family Support Groups
LDS Homeschooling in California -

California LDS in the News & Blogs
Latter-day Commentary - California LDS Blog
California Latter-day Saints and Propositions 8 - FairMormon.org - documentary of the Mormon Church involvement with the passage of the Proposition and its aftermath.

California Mormon Singles Groups:
California LDS MidSingles Groups
MSA Super Fun Weekend - Several Super Conference Weekends each year.
Huntington Beach Singles Conference - Orange County
Orange County Singles Conference - Several events each year.
Huntington Beach 1st Ward Midsingles -
Newport Beach 1st Ward Midsingles -
Santa Monica Midsingles - (Westdale 2nd Ward Midsingles)
Los Angeles Stake Midsingles -
Pacific Beach Midsingles Ward -
San Diego North Stake Midsingles -
Redlands 3rd Ward Midsingles -
San Bernardino Stake Midsingles -
High Desert (Victorville) Midsingles -
Fresno Area - Midsingles
Modesto/Central Valley Midsingles -
San Luis Obispo Stake Midsingles -
San Francisco Bay Area Midsingles -
Tri-Valley (Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin) Midsingles -
Sacramento Midsingles -

California Mormon Wedding Photography:
Online photo journal - wedding planning ideas:
Lori Anderson Photography - Newport Beach - Delightfully Engaged - Wedding ideas you won't find anywhere else.
Amanda Abel Photography - Utah & California LDS theme weddings and engagements.
Jennifer Gilmore Wedding Photography
The LDS Bride
Amber Katrina Blog - L.A. Wedding Photographer

California Mormon Photo Journal:
L.A. Mormon Temple Christmas Lights