Country Profile

USA-Mississippi

The first records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mississippi indicate missionaries arrived in Tishomingo County in 1839 and baptized 13 people amidst much persecution. Nearly 90 Latter-day Saints in 40 wagons escaped opposition in Mississippi, arriving in Nauvoo, Illinois, in April 1842. Persecution from enemies continued for the next four decades, culminating in the attempt to persuade the governor to force Church members from the state in 1880. A small congregation was organized in Monroe County in 1843. In 1846, a company of Church members left Monroe County expecting to join the main body of Saints in the Rocky Mountains. Instead, they became the first group of Latter-day Saints to cross the plains, wintering with fur trappers in Colorado that year.


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