As an adult, I went to business school in Kingston, and the Saints are quite aware, and proud, of this pioneer connection.

I always wondered what that connection was between BY’s missionary efforts and the conversion of Iran Nathaniel Hinckley (who was born in Bastard–no this is not a typo-Township in Leeds County (next door to Frontenac County). Not sure if any exists, but it sure is interesting that the grandfather of one of our most beloved prophets was born/raised for a time near the area where another of our beloved prophets laboured.

My less-active father passed away when I was a boy in Eastern Ontario, so my family pined for the day when we could go to Cardston and be sealed to him. Given the number of times I heard of the town, it developed a myth-like aura in my young mind. In fact, as an adult, when I moved to Alberta, the first thing I did was drive my spouse and children to the temple in Cardston, and I marvelled that such an oasis could exist in our lovely Dominion.

We also experience a little Zion effect in Edmonton, when I was a grad student at the U of Alberta. It seems our ward was bi-furcated. If you had a mortgage, you were a high priest, and if you were in the elders quorum, you lived in low-income housing. A good percentage (25 or so?) of the units in the complex where we lived were LDS students. We also have very fond memories of this time in our life, as the student lifestyle draws you closer to others in similar circumstances.

My understanding is that southern states members settled here after facing persecution in the South. There is a member of our HC here in TX who grew up in one of the small towns. His stories might as well come from AZ UT or Idaho

I suspect that both of these counties is where there are large church farms/canneries?

He continued as principal and as a teacher until 1899 when he resigned. He married Mary Julia Goodey in 1900 in Salt Lake City, but they continued to live in Rexburg. In 1906, George and Julia Cole were sent by the Church to colonize the first permanent Mormon settlement in Northern California. They departed cold, windy Rexburg in the fall of that year with several other families and moved to sunny Gridley, located 70 miles north of Sacramento. George and Julia built a home in Gridley where the first meetings of the Church were held.

Soon Gridley had more than fifty members of the Church and a branch was organized with George as the Branch President. He served in that capacity for several years.

George was an able and talented musician and led the church choir for many years. He was active in his community. He served several years as the secretary of the Gridley Federal Farm Loan Association. George died in Gridley in 1932 and is buried there.

I also ran across an article by a low-income housing group that discusses the group’s challenges fighting the local power structure: “Gridley, approximately 60 miles north of Sacramento, was settled by white Mormons moving west from Utah, and is still largely controlled by their descendants.” “Herald publisher Bill Burleson quickly became the key factor in opposing Tierra del Sol. Everyone interviewed for this case study emphasized the importance of Burleson’s power in Gridley. He is one of the white Mormons who control much of the city, and makes his opinions known in a gossip-and-editorial column called ‘Pi-Line’ that runs on the front page of the newspaper his grandfather founded decades ago”

Mrs.–thanks very much for the further data. I guess I should have anticipated the results of my request: the dots of green sticking up in far away California and Nebraska are the statistical result of having what I would suppose consists of little more than a half-dozen LDS families or so crowding into the small counties in the state. But oh well–a little Zion is better than none at all!

(congregation data from http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/counties)

California:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_County,_California
U. S. Census population estimate (2006): 1180, smallest in California
Only mormon connection I could find: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodfords%2C_California
1 congregation, 651 people, about 50%

Nebraska:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaine_County%2C_Nebraska
U. S. Census population estimate (2006): 492, smallest in Nebraska
One congregation of 195 people, so about 35% of the county
(though the nearest building appears to be in the next county over)

And the Florida dot:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_County%2C_Florida
U. S. Census population estimate (2006): 7782, smallest in Florida
3 congregations with 790 adherents, about 10%