The King's Daughters was founded January 13, 1886, by ten women who were dedicated to service in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The vision came through Mrs. Margaret Bottome as a result of an incident aboard ship when she was returning home from Europe. A young man on that ship died -- a seminary student whom she had just met.

Here is how she described her reaction in one of her articles published in the Ladies' Home Journal:

"As I paced the deck in the day that followed and looked up at the boat that swung day after day with his body in it, as if he was being rocked to sleep, the thought came to me, oh, if I had only been in a sisterhood wearing a badge that would have denoted service to humanity, they might have asked me if I would not like to see the young man who called for his mother, for I learned that no woman had seen the youth during his illness, and I pictured to myself how glad the mother would have been if I could have written to her and told her I had seen her boy. At that hour I wished for a Sisterhood that should not be known by any distinct dress but by some kind of badge."

So on that day in 1886, the ladies chose the silver Maltese cross as their badge, with a purple ribbon as a substitute for those who could not afford one. They chose as a motto:

Look up and not down,
Look forward and not back,
Look out and not in,
And lend a hand.

The watchword chosen was: In His Name, and the text: Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.

Since their adoption, the cross, the watchword, the motto and the text have remained unchanged. The name of the group today is The International Order of The King's Daughters and Sons.

The Mississippi Branch was organized in 1900 in Greenville. The Branch's purpose is to encourage the circles in the state in their projects and membership, to coordinate a project in which all the circles participate and to provide a communication link between the circles and with the Order at its international level. They do this by conducting a state convention annually, by sending delegates to the international meetings, and by appointing directors whose mission is to promote and provide information about the Order's scholarships and activities in the areas of: Student Ministry, Health Carrers, North American Indian, Around the World, and Chautauqua Scholars.

The Willing Hearts Circle was organized in Brookhaven in 1894 -- the second Circle in the state. They began caring for the people of Brookhaven and Lincoln County by nursing and visiting the sick and furnishing food, clothing, and medicine for the needy. In June of 1914 the Circle purchased the furnishings of the Brookhaven Sanitarium, a hospital established three years previously by Dr. Harvey F. Johnson and Dr. D. W. Jones in a two-story frame building at 156 W. Chickawaw Street. [The stained glass window in the chapel of KDMC was donated by the great-grand-daughters of Dr. Johnson, one of whom--Phyllis Spearman--has been a vital member of the Willing Hearts Circle for many years.]

In 1922, the Circle, with the assistance of a bond issue passed by the City and bricks donated by the Brookhaven Pressed Brick Company, opened a new hospital on the corner of N. Jackson and W. Congress Streets. A nursing school was also operated there between 1924 and 1944. After several additions at that location, the hospital moved to its present location on Highway 51 North in 1964 into a building leased from the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors.