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From ldschurchnews entry for Vermont:
Vermont
Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack met and courted in Tunbridge, Vt. After their marriage they lived on several Vermont farms and were renting from Lucy's father when their son Joseph was born at Sharon in 1805. Other early Church leaders born in Vermont include Oliver Cowdery and five members of the original Quorum of the Twelve — Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Luke S. and Lyman E. Johnson and William Smith.
The first Latter-day Saint to visit Vermont was Jared Carter, who in October 1831, returned to his hometown of Benson to preach to relatives and other members of a Free Will Baptist congregation...
...By July 1835, when several members of the Quorum of the Twelve met at St. Johnsbury to organize the Vermont Conference, there were about 150 members in good standing in the state with branches at St. Johnsbury, Danville, Charleston, Andover and Benson. During the next 10 years, numerous missionaries worked in Vermont and other branches were organized. But from the beginning the state's Latter-day Saints were encouraged to gather to Kirtland, Ohio, and later centers farther west. After 1850, few Church members remained in the state and there was only limited contact with the Church until the Eastern States Mission was re-opened in 1893.
...In July 1909, the Vermont Conference was organized and 16 elders were assigned to the state. A year later, a Sunday School was organized in Barre and eventually a branch, which was closed in 1921 after all but one of its families moved to Utah. In that year, the eight elders and two sister missionaries in Vermont were assigned to Bennington, Rutland, Montpelier and White River Junction, visited people in many other communities, and reported there were about 60 Church members in the state.
In late 1927, the Vermont Conference was transferred to the Canadian Mission, and in October 1937, became part of the newly-established New England States Mission...
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The Rigby Star newspaper (of Rigby, Idaho) published a letter on Feb 13, 1913 from one Elder J. Mason, who wrote from Barr, Vermont:
"I can say that I feel well in the gospel and contented with my lot. We do not seem to arouse the minds of the people at present.
"When we arrived here the word was sent out 'The Mormons have come back. There were two
articles written about us in the Free Press by a minister. We answered him in the paper and called on him privately, but he would not accept our views.
"We have organized a Sunday school aud hold school every Sunday,also bible classes on Wednesday evening. We have a small congregation of Latter Day Saints and have hired a hall for services which cost $4 a month.
"I will say I was certainly pleased at bearing from you, and concerning the Rigby Star, it certainty is a welcome visitor and finds the way regularly to this corner of the Union.
"We have only nine elders in the Vermont Conference. The people are very prejudiced toward the Mormons.
"I have led six hundred mils in six months on the train. I have walked through every county in the state. We try to work where the elders have not been before. Our conference is in good shape. We need a few new elders soon to change off the old ones.
"In closing I will say I feel well in the work and the time is passing rapidly."
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LeRoy spent his first month in the city of Burlington, VT, being assigned to Ogdensburg, NY in March 1917. At that time, there did not appear to be any significant LDS presence in Ogdensburg, which was at the northern edge of the state, across the St. Lawrence from Canada.
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The 1941 edition of the Encyclopedic History of the Church (p. 911) has the following entry for Vermont Conference:
"Vermont Conference, or District of the Canadian Mission, comprises the Latter-day Saints residing in the state of Vermon, U.S.A. There are branches of the Church in Burlington and Barre... For many years the L.D.S. missionaries laboring in Vermont were under the jurisdiction of the presidency of the Eastern States Mission, but in 1927 Vermont was transferred to the Canadian Mission."
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