Mormon Springs

Mormon Springs. . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized on April 6, 1830. Missionaries first arrived in northeastern Mississippi in 1839. Here at Mormon Springs many converts to the church were baptized. Using stones to dam the stream, they made a baptismal font just to the east of the ford that then crossed the stream. The Buttahatchie branch of the church was organized here in 1843, with William Crosby as branch president. A small church was built on the west side of the ford to serve over 200 members. , From this site, on April 8, 1846, the first Saints left for their trek west under the direction of John Brown. They were the first to establish a religious colony in the West since the Spanish priests of 1769. Several members of this group, known as the Mississippi Mormons, were also among the advance scout party who first entered the Salt Lake valley in Utah on July 22, 1847. By the time Brigham Young entered the valley on July 24, 1847, they had already planted potatoes, beans and buckwheat. True to their Southern tradition, these faithful Saints had also planted a turnip patch. , Many of these early converts were marvelous frontiersmen, resourceful colonizers and shrewd traders. Because of their abilities, nearly all of them were eventually called to lead Mormon colonies to Colorado, Utah, California, Oregon and other areas of the West. They were valiant in their love of God, their prophet and their religion.