Missionary work had been conducted in the region during the early Church period, but the Southern States mission wasn't officially organized until the April Conference of 1876 when John Brown and several others were called to open the southern states of the U.S. to missionary work.
The mission would shrink between 1893 and 1902 losing: Maryland (1893), Arkansas (1895), Texas (1897), West Virginia (1902), North Carolina (1902), Kentucky (1902), and Tennessee (1902). Although it would gain a few of these states back when the Middle States Mission closed in 1903.
Formed in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States
1876 April 8
Henry Green Boyle Set Apart as Mission President
1876 October 9 – 1877 November 13
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Arrived at Home
John Morgan Set Apart as Mission President
1878 January 25 – 1888 January 4
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Released
William Spry Called as Mission President
1888 January 4 – 1891 August 13
Start Date Details
Called
End Date Details
Released
J. Golden Kimball Set Apart as Mission President
1891 July 31 – 1894 May 23
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Released
Elias Smith Kimball Set Apart as Mission President
1894 May 11 – 1898 June 27
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Departed from the Field
Benjamin Erastus Rich Set Apart as Mission President
1898 June 10 – 1902 July 3
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Arrived at Home
Ephraim Hesmer Nye Called as Mission President
1902 May 22 – 1903 May 15
Start Date Details
Called
End Date Details
Died in Position
Nathan John Harris Called as Mission President
1903 June 1 – August 7
Start Date Details
Called
End Date Details
Released
Benjamin Erastus Rich Called as Mission President
1903 August 7 – 1908 August 8
Start Date Details
Called
End Date Details
Released
Charles A. Callis Set Apart as Mission President
1908 April 14 – 1934 February 3
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Released
LeGrand Richards Set Apart as Mission President
1933 December 29 – 1937 June 19
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Released
Merrill Daniel Clayson Set Apart as Mission President
1937 June 8 – 1940 August 4
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Arrived at Home
William Porter Whitaker Set Apart as Mission President
1940 July 17 – 1943 September 10
Start Date Details
Set Apart
End Date Details
Departed from the Field
Heber Meeks Set Apart as Mission President
1943 August 25 – 1948 April 22
End Date Details
Released
Media
Southern States Mission Map 1876
Missionaries in an Airplane
Southern States Missionaries
Missionaries of the Southern States Mission
United States Mission Presidents
Publications Office Staff
Mississippi Conference
First Annual Conference of the Presidents in the Southern States Mission
Arriving Elders
East Tennessee Conference, 1895
South Carolina District Conference, November 1928
Arriving Elders
Southern States Mission Photograph, circa 1910
Florida Conference
Southern States Mission Headquarters
Missionaries in North Carolina
New Arrivals
Missionaries at Lookout Mountain
Conference Presidents of the Southern States Mission
Arriving Elders
1902/11: South Carolina Conference - Southern States Mission, 1902 November 15
Southern States Mission Caricature 1907, Circa 1907
Missionaries from the Southern States Mission about 1926, Between 1925 October – 1927 November
Southern States Mission, about 1926, Between 1925 November – 1927 November
First Southern States Mission Home, Circa 1867
Jacksonville, Florida Chapel, Circa 1926
Southern States Mission Companions with John Henry Gibbs and William Shanks Berry, 1884
Tribute to Elders William Shanks Berry and John Henry Gibbs, Circa 1884
Southern States Mission Home in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Southern States Mission Map 1897