My father, who was career Air Force, has LDS pioneer ancestry. As I was growing up, I learned that the Tree (my maiden name) line came from England in the late 1800s and ended up in Davis and Summit counties in Utah. I assumed they were LDS converts in England who immigrated to Utah.
In reality, they heard that there was money to be made in the American West, so they left the small English village where they had been for generations and came looking for the American dream. Once they landed in Utah, they became land-owners and even got involved in local politics.