Mormon Springs, Mississippi is currently an unicorporated community in northeast Mississippi. Specifically, it is located at 33°49′35″N, 88°17′44″W. Located along the east side of Wolf (or Wolfe) Road, it sits in a creekbed approximately 4.3 miles south of US Highway 278 and 11.1 miles north of Caledonia, Mississippi.
Many converts were baptised at this site, where members dammed up the creek, just east of the ford that crossed it, to create a pool deep enough to conduct baptisms. In 1843, the Buttahatchie Branch of the Church was organized a short distance to the west of the ford, where a small church was built to serve over 200 members. William Crosby was called to serve as the Branch President.
In the course of teaching the Crosby family, Elder John Brown met one of William’s daughters, Elizabeth. The two wed in 1844, tying Elder Brown to his Mississippi converts more permanently. After the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were martyred in June 1844, Brigham Young took over the leadership of the Church as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He called for men to help finish the Nauvoo Temple. John Brown and William Crosby, along with 5 others answered the call and made the journey to Nauvoo, Illinois, leaving Mormon Springs on March 14, 1845. After about three months, this group returned to their families in Mississippi. John Brown and William Crosby immediately returned to Nauvoo, accompanied by their wives, and worked on the Temple until its completion. During the winter of 1845-46, John Brown was asked by Brigham Young to return to Mississippi and lead the Saints from there, through Independence, Missouri, to link up with the main body of the Church members along the Platte River as they made their way west from Nauvoo, or at least that was the plan.
So John Brown and his family returned to Mormon Springs in January 1846. It was from this site that the Mississippi Saints began their westward journey, the first group departing on April 8, 1846.
-MS Saint
