Organized in the Fall of 2001, the First Mississippi Company celebrated its 20^th Birthday at its 2021 Fall meeting and took the opportunity to thank its leaders and briefly review its history and achievements. On 20 October 2001, the Organizing Governor and Organizing Members met in Jackson, Mississippi, to approve bylaws, elect officers, and to hear a program entitled “Jamestowne and the Founding of Our Country.” On 12 May 2002, Jamestowne Society Companies’ Chair Carolyn Farmer presented the First Mississippi Company Charter, signed by the Society Secretary of State Anne Tyler Netick and Society Governor Charles “Dan” McGuire. To mark this special occasion, Charter members received Charter Member Certificates and Commemorative Virginia Quarters. The presentation of these original Company certificates began the tradition of presenting all new members attractive Company certificates featuring Jamestowne colors: burgundy ribbons and a gold seal embossed with the Company’s name. 

For fourteen years the First Mississippi Company (FMC) was the only company in the state. Meetings were primarily held in Jackson, but also in other cities such as Hattiesburg and Tupelo. Today the FMC holds all of its bi-annual meetings in the Jackson metropolitan area in April and October so as not to conflict with the Society’s May and November meetings in Virginia. By 2014 the FMC had 47 members, increasing its membership 135% in thirteen years. In 2015 a second company formed to serve members in the northern part of the state, followed by the chartering of a third company to serve the southern part of the state in 2016. The FMC membership dropped to 23 as members left to join regional companies, and in 2015 the FMC began to recruit and rebuild its membership. By 2021, the FMC’s membership had risen to 116, an extraordinary five-fold increase in just six years.  In 2020, FMC had to adjust its meeting schedule because of the Sars2 pandemic.  However, FMC held both bi-annual meetings in 2020 and 2021.