Who formed the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and faced discrimination as a result

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints was founded by Joseph Smith. 

The Mormons as they are more commonly called, faced angry mobs in Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and harsh conditions as they traveled West to Utah. The main years are 

1833 Missouri They were expelled from Jackson County. A mob forced them to move on, not under the easiest of conditions. 

Nov. 1839: The saddest problem happened as they were expelled from the entire state of Missouri. The governor issued an order that called for them to leave or be exterminated. 

1846 They were expelled again in the middle of winter. They decided to trek westward, but not under the most favorable conditions. They were weak and there was an outbreak of fever, but they had no choice. 

The reasons always seemed to have something to do with politics and the fear that the Mormons (because they practiced polygamy) would have a dramatic increase in power just because their numbers were growing. 

All of their history can be found on the internet. They did not have an easy time in Utah and much has been written about that. Their history is quite checkered.