Latter-Day Saints (aka LDS or 'Mormons') believe in The Book of Mormon, which tells the story of a family who immigrated from Jerusalem by boat to the Americas. According to the Book of Mormon, 2 predominate tribes emerged from the descendants of 2 of the original sons of Lehi (the patriarch who led his family on the voyage be sea to the Americas): The Nephites from Nephi and the Lamanites from Laman.

The Lamanites are portrayed as being dark-skinned (due to a curse from God for their wickedness) while it is assumed that the Nephites were more fair-skinned (early editions of The Book of Mormon describes them as "white and exceedingly fair and delightsome" though that was subtly altered in later editions - see https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/knowhy-57-what-does-it-mean-be-white-and-delightsome-people-2-nephi-306 )

Although the Nephites are portrayed as generally being more 'righteous' than than the Lamanites, the roles flip at various periods throughout the history depicted in The Book of Mormon, and the Nephites are eventually killed off in war with the Lamanites when they devolve into 'wickedness' towards the end of the account.

Prior to his death, one of the last remaining righteous Nephites (Mormon) buries the record of his people compiled on brass plates somewhere near what is now present-day upstate New York. It is these that are recovered and translated into the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith in the mid 1800's while establishing the LDS religion in the United States.

I'm not a history expert, nor do I wish to make any claims of the veracity here of a religion that claims a global membership of over 17 million people. However, many LDS believe that the indigenous inhabitants that European settlers encountered in the Americas are the descendants of the Lamanites.

Interestingly, some Native American tribes claim ties to ancient Israel. Again, I'm not sure what actual evidence there is of any of this, but that's the history I was taught while being raised in the LDS church ;)