The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Louisiana

As of year-end 2007, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported 27,119 members, seven stakes, 49 congregations (32 wards and 17 branches), one mission, and one temple in Louisiana.

On January 4, 1841, Joseph Smith received a letter from Elam Ludington and Eli G. Terrill of New Orleans who requested an elder to assist the members of the church who were living there. "Send us Peter, or an Apostle to preach unto Jesus," they wrote, and enclosed $10 to help defray expenses. The group may have been among those from the sailing ship Isaac Newton, which arrived from London on December 21, 1840.

Harrison Sagers arrived at New Orleans on March 28, 1841. He preached to large crowds but was troubled by mobs, and was once protected from a mob by a group of courageous women who circled him in his defense. He baptized several people. Additional missionaries were sent from Nauvoo to assist Sagers.

New Orleans became the principal port of arrival for Latter-day Saints from Europe by November 1841. Over the next few years, 17,463 individuals immigrated by way of this port city. From 1844 to 1855, the New Orleans and Lafayette branch functioned in New Orleans, when New York became the port of arrival for the church immigrants due to outbreaks of major epidemics.

No other known missionary efforts was done in Louisiana until February 16, 1896 when missionaries were assigned to the Louisiana Conference, which was part of the Southern States Mission. Joseph A. Cornwall arrived in Louisiana on September 10 of that year. By the end of 1897, he and his companions had baptized their first converts. On March 12, 1899, the Red Rock Branch was organized. John R. Jones, a sawmill owner, befriended the missionaries and protected them from opposition. Alexander Colman Wagley was baptized on September 4, 1898, and became the first president of the Red Rock Branch. David A Broadbent, president of the Louisiana District from 1898 to 1899, reported 110 people had been baptized by June 16, 1899.

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