Welsh Emigration and the Mormon Movement: A Halkyn Connection

Emigrants embarkation at Waterloo Docks, Liverpool - The Illustrated London News

In 1849, the first organised group of Welsh converts to the Mormon faith set sail for America. Their ship, the Buena Vista, departed from Liverpool carrying men, women and children who were leaving Wales to join fellow believers in the United States.

The emigration was organised by Captain Dan Jones, a native of Halkyn in Flintshire. Jones had emigrated to America in 1840, where he worked as a riverboat captain on the Mississippi. While there, he came into contact with members of the Church of Jesus Christ      of Latter-day Saints and soon converted to the faith.

Jones quickly became a prominent figure within the movement. He is said to have been present shortly before the death of the church’s founder, Joseph Smith, who reportedly told him he would one day return to Wales to carry out missionary work.

Following Smith’s death, leadership of the church passed to Brigham Young. Young encouraged Jones to return to Wales as a missionary. At that time there were only around 200 members of the church in Wales, but Jones’s efforts proved remarkably successful. Between 1845 and 1848, thousands were baptised, and in 1849 he organised the first group emigration from Wales.

Life in steerage on an emigrant ship - The Illustrated London News

Jones returned again in 1852, and further missionary activity led to even more converts leaving for America. In some communities, entire groups of families chose to emigrate together. It is recorded that around 250 people left Halkyn alone in 1852 — a significant number for a relatively small community.

The wider Mormon movement traces its origins to Joseph Smith in New York in the 1820s. Smith claimed to have been guided by an angel to buried golden plates containing the record of an ancient people. His translation of these plates was published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon. Early attempts by the movement’s followers to establish a permanent community in the United States were met with hostility, and both Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed in Illinois in 1844.

Under Brigham Young’s leadership, members of the church travelled west, eventually settling in what became Utah Territory in 1847. From there, missionary efforts expanded into Europe, including Wales. Between 1849 and 1852, tens of thousands of converts from across Europe emigrated to join the growing settlement in America.

For Flintshire communities such as Halkyn, this movement represented a remarkable chapter in local history. The departure of hundreds of people would have altered families, chapels and neighbourhoods, leaving a legacy that can still be traced today — not least through descendants now living in the United States and beyond.