In 1832, a few citizens of Connecticut joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Connecticut. In 1833, Wilford Woodruff, who later became a well-known missionary and Church President, joined the Church. In 1838, Woodruff returned to his hometown of Farmington and shared his faith with his family members. Afterward, Woodruff’s father, stepmother and sister and three others were baptized and formed part of a small congregation in Farmington. In the years following the death of Church Founder and President Joseph Smith in 1844, many Latter-day Saints on the East Coast migrated westward to join with the body of Church members traveling to the Great Basin. But near the end of the 19th century, Latter-day Saint missionaries once again traveled to the eastern United States to establish congregations.
Church membership in Connecticut in 1930 was 198. Connecticut’s first meetinghouse was completed in Hartford in 1952. Other congregations began to form, such as a branch in Ashford, which was established in 1977 and which dedicated a meetinghouse in 1982. In 2016, the Hartford Connecticut Temple, located in Farmington, was dedicated. Several Latter-day Saints on the faculty of Yale University have helped to build the Beinecke Library’s collection of Latter-day Saint historical documents, which is one of the largest outside of Utah.
Church members have regularly engaged in service within their communities in a variety of ways. For instance, in 1982, the Ashford Branch planted 100 blueberry bushes to serve as a resource for the hungry. More recently, Latter-day Saints can be seen participating in activities to improve schools, parks and other community resources.