Itawamba 1845 LDS Branch

Circa 1844-1845 a group of families of the Richey/ Adair/ Mangum clan then living Itawamba County, Mississippi converted to the new Mormon Religion and created their own branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is believed this group was too far away to regularly attend worship services at the LDS Branches at Buttahatchie 1845 LDS Branch in Noxubee County (where James Richey lived) or their old homestead in Pickens County, Alabama (site of the Moscow 1845 LDS Branch. There was another LDS branch further north in Tishomingo County, MS.

The Itawamba Branch is not listed on the BYU Mormon Places Cartography Project of known church branches, but it appeared to have a much large membership than any of the three closest branches.

This is an informal census based on currently available genealogical information to help their descendants to better understand and appreciate their ancestral roots.

Introduction
Many of the members of this group had close connections to a similar group meeting just across the stateline at the Moscow 1845 LDS Branch in Pickens County, Alabama. A lot of these families originated from Laurens County, South Carolina circa year 1800 and sometime in the 1820s settled in Pickens Co. Around 1840, many of them moved on to Itawamba County.

After 1845 many of these Mormons left to join the great exodus heading west to settle Utah. Most of them participated in the Mississippi Wagon Company which spent the winter of 1846/47 in Pueblo Co with the Mormon Battalion Sick Detachments. This but them further west than any of the Mormon pioneers that season. They quickly followed Brigham Young's advance party into the Salt Lake Valley that summer.

Because of their experience with farming cotton in the Deep South, many of this groups were called to participate in the Mormon Cotton mission to settle Washington County, Utah and raise cotton there from 1850-1868. Afterwards many moved further south to help establish Mormon settlements in Arizona and pursue their warm-weather farming talents there.

Branch History
The Mangums, Richeys, Adairs and Browns were scattered across Pickens Co AL, Itawamba Co MS, Chickasaw Co MS and Noxubee Co MS.

Major autobiography with lots of references to Mangums, Richeys, and Adairs and their history by James Richey [see notes of James Richey for a couple of varying versions of his story] mentions his grandmother: [Appears she was probably baptized in 1844.]. The typographical errors are per the original:

After staying with my friends a few days Itawamba County I went to Chickasaw Co. to where my Uncle Thomas Adair lived and preached to them the Gospel in that vicinity. I then returned home to my father's house in Noseuher County. After resting a while I started out in company with elder Daniel Thomas on preacjing tour. We went into the northwestern part of the state of Alabama on the Butteharhe River. From there we went to Itawamba in the state of Mississippi and preached to the people in the neighborhood of Where my relatives lived. A number of them belived and was afterwards baptized into the church. We then went to Chickasaw County in the state of Mississippe and preached into the church. The names of those that were baptized are as follows Thomas Adair and wife, John Mangum and wife, my grandmother, Seli Rebecca Adair and John Wesley Adair. After this I returned home and gave my attention to work of preparing to remove with my fathers friends to the city of Nauvoo in the State of Illiois to wich place we removed in the year of 1845. After we arrived in the City we had much sickness in the family. While I was gone up the river to help to bring down a raft for firewood. My oldest sister Rebecca was taken sick and died in my absence, which was a heavy blow to me as well as the rest of the family. In the course of the year my brother Robert and sister Martha Ann also died with malaria. In the course of the summer I returned to the State of alabama for my grandmother Rebecca Richey but her son kept her money from her so I failed in that part of my mission."

Vital Records
Records show this branch existed at least by 02-Dec-1843 to after 08-Apr-1846 Source Document: Times and Seasons 5:5, 462.

Thomas Adair Family
Accepted preaching of their grandson, James Richey (1821-1890) and joined the Buttahatchie branch while living further north in either Chickasaw or Itawamba County. The father did not leave Mississippi, but almost everyone else followed the Mormons west to Utah. Several of their older children were already married by 1845 and are thus listed seperately
 * Thomas Adair (1774-1858) - died in 1858 Mississippi
 * Rebecca Brown (1776-1846) - died at LDS Refugee Camp - Mt Pisgah, Iowa in 1846.
 * Eliza Jane Adair (1811-1892) -
 * Thomas Jefferson Adair (1814-1895)
 * Sarah Ada Adair (1815-1852)
 * George Washington Adair (1818-1897)
 * John Wesley Adair (1820-1903) - served in The Mormon Battalion and later m. Rebecca Frances Mangum (1814-1894) -
 * Mary Ann Adair (1822-1892) -
 * Laney Ann Adair (1824-1881) -

Family of Samuel Adair
Married, oldest son of Thomas Adair above. This family joined the church, traveled west to Utah and later settled in Apache County, Arizona. Married in 1829 in Pickens Co. Moved to Itawamba Co circa 1840. Moved to Ill/Iowa circa 1845.
 * Samuel Jefferson Adair (1806-1889) - father - his parents and siblings were part of the Buttahatchie Branch.
 * Jemima Catherina Mangum (1809-1848) - mother
 * William Jefferson Adair (1830-1846) -
 * John Milton Adair (1833-1899) - m. Eliza Jane Richey (1837-1908) in Utah and then help settled Mormon colony in Lincoln County, Nevada
 * Permelia Jane Adair (1837-1883)
 * George Washington Adair (1837-1909)
 * Joseph Jasper Adair (1842-1846)
 * Rufus Columbus Buleson Adair (1844-1847)

John Mangum Family
Accepted preaching of James Richey (1821-1890) and joined the church while living further north in either Chickasaw or Itawamba County. Their daughter Lucinda would soon marry James Richey.
 * John Mangum (1763-1843) - Died 1843 in Itawamba Co
 * Rebecca Canida (1785-1847) - Died in 1847 in Winters Quarters, Nebraska
 * Jemima Catherina Mangum (1809-1848) - m. Samuel Jefferson Adair (1806-1889)
 * William Mangum (1811-1888)
 * Rebecca Frances Mangum (1814-1894) - m. John Wesley Adair (1820-1903) who served in the Mormon Battalion - they moved to Utah.
 * John Mangum (1817-1881)
 * Joseph Eastland Mangum (1822-1848)
 * Virginia Jane Mangum (1824-1904)
 * Lucinda Mangum (1826-1903) - married to James Richey (1821-1890)

James Mangum Family
This couple married in 1842 in Itawamba County. Moved out west to the LDS Saints they had several children after they left Mississippi, circa 1845.
 * James Mitchell Mangum (1820-1888) - Son of John Mangum (1763-1843), above.
 * Eliza Jane Clark (1827-1859) - granddaughter of Thomas Adair (1774-1858) above.
 * Joseph Daniel Mangum (1844-1846) -
 * Samuel Harvey Clark (1829-1868) - younger orphaned brother of Eliza Jane (and grandson to Thomas Adair (1774-1858) above). He was most likely living with one of his relatives in Itawamba Co.