The Connecticut Hartford Mission Area

This came in the lil' packet from my mission pres. It's pretty interesting!


Much of this country’s heritage is deeply rooted in the New England States. The Lord prepared this place. It was here that many great leaders of the nation were raised up to perform a work and lay the foundation of the Kingdom of God in these latter days. And it was here that God’s anointed were chosen to restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. Joseph Smith, Jr., was born in Sharon, Vermont in 1805. Brigham Young was born in Whitingham, Vermont in 1801 and Wilford Woodruff was born in Avon, Connecticut, a city close to Hartford.

The men and women who helped bring freedom to this nation did not stand alone but were inspired of God to accomplish their work, and they have left to this area a legacy of industrial advancement that has benefited the restoration of the gospel. The combinations of manufacturing, production and ingenuity provided a place of work and refuge for millions of immigrants who fled unjust forms of government; so when the time came, the scene was set for the hand of God to be made manifest in these New England States. In 1979, The Connecticut Hartford Mission was organized from parts of two missions, the Massachusetts Boston Mission and the New York Rochester Mission. The mission office is located in Bloomfield, and the mission home is located in West Hartford.

Both the mission home and the office are close to Hartford, which was named for Hertford, England in the 163 Os. Now the state capital and largest city in the state, it is located on the Connecticut River. For more than 150 years, Hartford was one of two state capitals; the other was New Haven, home of Yale University. New Haven was founded in 1638 and her port became the unloading dock for clipper ships bringing exotic cargo from the Far East to the New World. However, in 1875, Hartford was voted to be the single seat of government. In the past, Hartford has been the headquarters for some major insurance companies. The fortunes of these companies ebb and flow according to the tides of the insurance industry. It is a fact, though, that the loss of manufacturing jobs over the years has been hard on some of the cities that lie along Connecticut’s rivers.

The Housatonic River and Appalachian Trail share a part of Connecticut’s western border with New York and are mainly recreational areas, but the Connecticut, Quinnipiac, Naugatuck, Mystic Rivers and other major waterways in the state used to be a rich source of power for manufacturing industries. However, over the last forty years or so, highly water-dependent industries have abandoned their huge warehouses. Slowly, Connecticut’s cities have either developed cleaner, less polluting industries or declined in vitality. Another major river lies on the eastern side of our mission and that is the Thames. Almost every larger city in the state has a Trumbull Street because a vital Revolutionary War defensive fort over-looks the mouth of the Thames River into Block Island Sound-Fort Trumbull. Groton Submarine Facility and Naval Base are situated close to the mouth of the Thames. The cities of Providence, North Providence, Warwick, and Cranston Rhode Island make up part of the eastern boundary of our mission.

Although no great battles were fought on its soil, Connecticut joined with the other colonies in the Revolutionary War to fight for freedom. General Washington depended on Connecticut Governor Trumbull to provide war materials and food for soldiers. Connecticut representatives had taken part in all of the meetings that led to the formation of the Union. On the 9th of January 1788, Connecticut adopted the Federal Constitution and became the 5th state to enter the union.
The larger cities of the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island have become a gathering place for the “seekers” of a better life from South America and the Caribbean. They gather here to work for the families they leave behind; consequently, the Portuguese and Spanish Language programs are very much alive. The main religion of Rhode Island is Catholicism, while Connecticut is a mixture of Congregationalist, Catholicism and different versions of island Christianity. And, the cities of West Hartford and Hartford have sizeable Jewish populations. Most of the Indian Tribes have slowly disappeared, but their original languages appear to have much in common with the Algonquin Indians. The two most notable Indian reservations are the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot.

The Connecticut Hartford Mission area is culturally diverse, full of immense beauty and populated by people as solid as the rocky, ice-gouged landscape. Originally a place of preparation, patriots, pastors and priests influenced this part of the land. Then, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff and others, restored and pioneered new paths. Now, three stake presidents, the mission president, his wife and from 135 to 140 missionaries are behind a united effort to bring all of this diversity into one fold.