Page "Year Without a Summer" Paragraph 24

The crop failures of the “ Year without a Summer ” may have helped shape the settling of the " American Heartland ", as many thousands of people ( particularly farm families who were wiped out by the event ) left New England for what is now western and central New York and the Upper Midwest ( then the Northwest Territory ) in search of a more hospitable climate, richer soil, and better growing conditions.

Chichester Canal circa 1828 by J. M. W. Turner According to historian L. D.

Stillwell, Vermont alone experienced a drop of 10, 000 to 15, 000 people, erasing seven previous years of population growth.

Among those who left Vermont were the family of Joseph Smith, who moved from Sharon, Vermont, to Palmyra, New York.

This move precipitated a series of events which culminated in the publication of the Book of Mormon and the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.