Mexico, Pioneer Settlements in

From The Encyclopedia of Mormonism

See this page in the original 1992 publication.

Author: Robinson, Shirley Taylor

LDS colonization in Mexico was planned as a place of refuge from persecution in the United States and as a springboard for teaching the gospel in Latin America.

In 1875, President Brigham Young sent Daniel W. Jones and others to Mexico to look for possible places to settle. They found the Mexican government anxious for colonization in the sparsely settled areas of northern Chihuahua and Sonora. LDS colonization in Mexico did not begin, however, until after the first severe persecution precipitated by the passage of the 1882 Edmunds Act (see Antipolygamy Legislation). In 1885, hundreds of families, many of which practiced polygamy, crossed the border into Mexico. In the next several years, seven colonies were founded on the Casas Grandes River and its tributaries in northwestern Chihuahua: Colonia Díaz, Colonia Dublan, Colonia Ju rez, and the mountain colonies Cave Valley, Pacheco, García, and Chuichupa. In addition, Latter-day Saints established Colonia Oaxaca and Colonia Morelos on the Bavispe River in northern Sonora.

Hardship marked the early years as land-title problems, hunger, drought, hostile Apache Indians, and such diseases as smallpox and diphtheria challenged the Saints' determination to make the desert valleys their home. With capable leadership they persevered. In addition to local leaders, at one time or another six of the Twelve Apostles of the Church resided in the Mexican colonies.

Most of the settlers had already helped establish colonies in the western United States. With this experience, they imported to Mexico the best varieties of fruit trees for their orchards and selected breeds of cattle and horses. Within ten years, the colony lands were covered with canals, dams, man-made lakes, and irrigated crops. Thriving villages had wide streets lined with maple trees and lilacs and red-brick homes reminiscent of villages where many of the settlers had had their roots. There were stores, mills, and factories. Each community built schools to ensure the acquisition of cultural, literary, and technical skills. Through hard work, the colonists achieved a high degree of self-sufficiency.

On December 8, 1895, the first stake in Mexico was formed, with Colonia Ju rez as its center and Anthony W. Ivins as stake president. In 1912, during the Mexican Revolution, local Church leaders led a general exodus and abandoned the colonies as the members sought refuge in the United States. Before the revolution, more than 4,000 Latter-day Saints lived in the colonies. Nearly one-fourth later returned and became part of Mexico's revolutionary history, enduring the raids of Pascual Orozco's "Red Flaggers" and American General John J. ("Black Jack") Pershing's search for Pancho Villa.

In 1990, there were again approximately 4,000 Latter-day Saints in the area, about 500 of them descendants of the original pioneers, and the area was still a major supplier of fresh fruits to other parts of Mexico. The Church schools in Mexico are bilingual, with the Ju rez Academy a regional center of culture and learning (see Academies). A striking number of Church leaders have roots in the Mexican colonies. The area also produces a high number of Spanish-speaking missionaries and mission presidents, whose work has extended beyond Latin America to Spain and the Spanish-speaking population worldwide.

While visiting Colonia Ju rez on November 11, 1989, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the president of Mexico, commended the LDS colonists in Mexico in these words: We appreciate your dedication, honesty, sobriety, and respect for law. You have contributed to the elevation of the regions where you live together, work and labor intensely, and with this you also elevate the level of our nation. You have incorporated new technology, more efficient productive processes, and have shared your knowledge and experience with the rest of your fellow citizens, adding generosity to the characteristics that distinguish you. We know that you are a good people who do good [transcribed and translated by Guillermo Toscano Arrambí, on file at Ju rez Academy].

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