Captain James Brown, pioneer, missionary, commonwealth builder, and founder of Ogden, Utah, was born in Rowan County, North Carolina, September 30, 1801. His parents were Scotch - Irish stock and were among the early settlers in North Carolina. His father, James Brown, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His mother was Mary Williams Emberson (Emmerson). [Mary "Mollie" was the widow of a Revolutionary War soldier and had been left with two children: John Emberson and Margaret Emberson.]

From the marriage of Mary and James were the following children: Susan, Jane, Mary, Nancy, Obedience, Patsey, William, James and Daniel. James Brown, the father of Captain James Brown is represented as having been a very tall, dark-complexioned man of wonderful anatomical and muscular proportions. [It was said of him:] "If ever good men lived upon the earth, Grandfather Brown was one of them."

During his youth, James engaged with his brothers working on his father’s farm and pursuing those studies, which fitted him for responsible positions. At the age of 18 he became a school teacher. He gradually grew in popularity and was elected Constable of Rowan County. Later he was made Sheriff of the same county, which position he filled with honor to himself and held until he left North Carolina.

On March 2, 1823, he was married to Martha Stephens by Ranson Harris at the waters of Flat Creek Swamp, Rowan County, North Carolina. She was the daughter of Alexander Stephens and Mary Daley, also early settlers of North Carolina. The following children were born to James and Martha in North Carolina: John Martin I, Alexander, Jesse Stowell, Nancy and Daniel.

His brother, Daniel Brown, moved to Brown County, Illinois, in 1831, and wrote back telling James what fine opportunities the new country afforded. Accordingly, James, his wife Martha and five children made the journey by wagon and team to Illinois where they settled in spring of 1833. That same year he returned to North Carolina to adjust his business and settle his property matters, returning to Illinois in the autumn of 1833.

After living in Brown County for two years, where he engaged in farming on a large scale, he moved to Adams County, Illinois. Illinois was a new country at this time and the land had to be cleared of timber before it could be cultivated. Wild meat was plentiful and at first served as the main food for the family. As the country became more settled the people raised vegetables and grain. They also raised hogs and cattle.

[James] was Justice of the Peace in Adams County, and by his firm yet sympathetic character, he became very popular in that region. Through his enterprise he was in a fair way of becoming a wealthy man. In his early manhood he had accepted the Baptist doctrine. He was a firm believer in the Bible and frequently addressed the Baptist congregation.

While living in Illinois the following children were born to James and Martha: James Moorhead, William, Benjamin Franklin, and Moroni.

In the spring of 1838, after the Mormons had been expelled from Missouri and had begun to settle in Illinois, he heard the Gospel preached at Dunkard by Jacob Foutz and David Evans. After hearing their sermons, he said, "Gentlemen, if that is the doctrine which the Mormons teach, I want you to come and preach in my house." The meeting was held two weeks later and Jacob Foutz and Tarletor Lewis came to preach. Soon after James and Martha and the children were baptized. James became a zealous laborer and carried the glad tidings to his brothers and sisters, who had also settled in Illinois. Soon he was ordained an Elder and went on a mission to Illinois and surrounding territory to preach the gospel and collect means to be used in the construction of the Nauvoo Temple and Nauvoo House.

On September 28, 1840, his wife Martha, died during childbirth, leaving him with a large family. She was buried near Kingston, Adams County, Illinois.

[On January 23, 1841,] he was married to Susan Foutz, daughter of Jacob Foutz and Margaret Foutz. She was the daughter of the man who first brought Mormonism [to him.] She bore him one son, Alma Brown, who died August 18, 1842, at the age of three weeks. Susan died soon after of consumption.

In the spring of 1842 he moved to Nauvoo. Soon after Susan died he married Esther Jones Roper, widow of Robert Roper [Roper]. They were married by Stephen Abbott in Nauvoo. Of this union [five children were born: twins August and Augusta were born in 1843 and lived only one day; a son, Amasa Lyman, lived two months;] Esther Ellen, who married Mr. [James Leech] Dee, and [Martha] Alice Brown, who died at the age of 16 in Ogden, Utah.

At this time he fulfilled three short time missions for the church. The first was to Mississippi, where he allayed prejudice and made many converts. In 1843 he organized a small branch called the Buttshatchy Branch in Monroe, Mississippi. The same year he fulfilled a mission to Iowa and in the spring of 1844 [he] was called on a mission to North Carolina. Here he carried the gospel to his oldest sister, Susan Brown, who had married Siren Jackson. His sister warned him of her husband’s prejudice against the Mormons and admonished him to leave. His retreat was saluted with the report of Siren’s rifle and the whizzing of a bullet past his head.

Captain James Brown knew the Prophet Joseph and his brother, Hyrum, personally. When they were martyred in Carthage Jail, Captain Brown was on a mission to North Carolina. When he returned home he called his brother, Daniel, and told him that they must avenge the Prophet’s death. Accordingly, they took their rifles, mounted their horses and began the journey to Missouri with the intention of killing Governor LilburnBoggs. After riding all night James said to Daniel, "I fell that we should knell down and pray." In the midst of their prayer, a voice said to them "Vengeance is mine and I will repay; return to your homes in peace." This they did.

After his return from North Carolina he engaged in running two mills, a sawmill and a gristmill, which were located on the Skunk River near Augusta, Iowa. He spent much time and money in building his mills to supply the population with lumber and lath and flour. His flour mill was built of hard wood and had three running stones. Thus we find him again applying his enterprise and genius [and his ability to establish and build up his country,] at the same time holding himself in readiness to heed any call that might be made of him by the authorities of the Church.

The principle of polygamy had been taught and practiced by the leaders of the Mormon Church. It was at this time that Captain Brown embraced the principle. He married Sarah Steadwell Wood in 1845. She was his first polygamous wife. She bore him one son, Harvey Brown, who was born [October 8, 1846 in a wagon box at Winter Quarters, situated on the banks of the Missouri River near Kainesville, Nebraska.]

While he lived in Nauvoo he became a fast friend of Stephen Abbott. Through this friendship they entered into an agreement that if anything of an unusual nature happened to either of them the other would care for his family.

In the year of 1844, while Stephen Abbott was floating timber down the Missouri River for the construction of the Nauvoo Temple, he took a cold, which turned to pneumonia, and died. On the eighth day of February 1846, James was married to Abigail Smith Abbott, Stephen’s widow. She was his second polygamous wife.

He remained in Augusta, Iowa until the Saints were expelled from Nauvoo in 1846, when he and his family joined them at Winter Quarters.

Earlier in the year of 1846 the United States had declared war on Mexico and a volunteer army had been raised through the middle Western States, called the "Army of the West", under Colonel Stephen W. Kearney. Brigham Young had been in touch with President Polk through [James] Jesse C. Little, and President Polk had promised to help the Mormons go to the Rocky Mountains. The Mormons, in turn, were to raise a battalion to become a part of the "Army of the West." At first they were to send 1,000 men then later it was decided that 500 should go. Colonel Kane was entrusted with the orders to Colonel Kearney and he and [James] Jesse C. Little traveled west together. Captain James Allen was sent to enlist four or five companies. Captain James Allen met Brigham Young at Council Bluffs on June 30, 1846. A meeting was held and 500 men for a battalion was enlisted. James Brown was appointed Captain of Company "C." Each company chose its officers from the men enlisted. They were equipped with mules, horses, wagons and provisions to do for a year. Four women were sent with each company to serve as laundresses.

On July 16, 1846, James Brown married Mary McRee Black, [a widow], in Council Bluffs, Iowa. This was the day he was inducted into the army. So the army made ready to march to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On the night of their departure the men were honored with a ball. Colonel Kane describes it as a very festive occasion, although five hundred families were to be left without their natural protectors and providers. The Battalion was raised to allay the prejudice of the people, prove loyalty to the United States Government, and for the temporal salvation of Israel. The Battalion men decided to march in their own clothes so the money allotted them for clothes, plus their wages from the time they left Council Bluffs until they arrived at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas went to help their families and the leaders of the Church. This was a benefit, as the Saints at that time were very poor, having been driven from their homes.

Captain Brown made arrangements for his three wives, Esther, Sarah and Abigail and their families, to stay at Council Bluffs until he could bring them to the Rocky Mountains. His fourth wife, Mary, and her small son, David Black, marched with him in the Battalion.

The journey to Fort Leavenworth was long and hazardous, taking them over much unsettled country, but they arrived there on August 30, 1846.

The commissioned officers in Company "C" were: James Brown, Captain; George W. Rosencrans, 1st Lieutenant; Samuel Thompson, 2nd Lieutenant; Robert Clife, 3rd Lieutenant; Orson B. Adams, 1st Sergeant; Joel T. Terrell, [2nd] Sergeant; Jabez Nowlin, 1st Corporal; Alexander Brown, 2nd Corporal; Edward Marlin, 3rd Corporal; Daniel Tyler, 4th Corporal; Richard D. Sprague, Musician; Ezra H. Allen, Musician, and ninty-five Privates.

After receiving their equipment at Fort Leavenworth the Battalion marched to Santa Fe, [New Mexico.] They had now marched 1,100 miles. While in the vicinity of the Rio Grande River the Battalion saw the Mexicans taking water from the River to irrigate their lands. They also visited the Catholic Temples, built in the early days by the Catholic Fathers. Here they found in the construction of the roof of these temples [Missions] no nails had been used, but the lumber was held together with wooden pegs and the joints were wrapped with rawhide. This information came in handy later.

At Santa Fe the army was given an examination. Many of the men were older and the members as a whole were in poor condition to complete the march to San Diego. At this time 86 of the men were considered absolutely unfit for the journey, so they, with the women and children, under Captain Brown and St. Elam Luddington of Company "B" ["D"], were ordered to Pueblo, Colorado. Other sick members joined them later. The sick detachment of the Battalion arrived in Pueblo on November 17, 1846 and spent the winter there.

Captain Brown’s two sons, Alexander and Jesse, by his first wife Martha, marched with him in the Battalion. They were young men of 20 and 18 years, respectively, while at Pueblo a company of Mississippi Saints joined them.

When spring came they made ready to march to the Valley of the Rocky Mountains. About two or three hundred men, women and children made this march. They had planned to join Brigham Young’s Company in Wyoming but were delayed so arrived in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake July 29, 1847, just five days after the first Pioneer company arrived. President Young and a number of the brethren went to meet them. They had 29 wagons, 100 horses and mules, 300 head of cattle and one carriage, which greatly added to the strength of the pioneer camp.

Two days after their arrival, at the request of President Young, Brown’s men built a bowery on Temple Block, in which to hold meetings. Posts were set in the ground and upon these rude pillars long poles were laid and fastened with wooden pets and strips of rawhide. This framework, overlaid with timbers and brush, formed a good shelter from the sun, wind and rain. The dimensions were 40 by 28 feet.

Captain Brown had planned to return to Winter Quarters to bring his family West, but there were other things to be done. So when Brigham Young and other Church authorities returned East in the Autumn of 1847, Captain Brown sent wagons and provisions for his family and the family of Stephen Abbott, whom he had promised to care for, so they might come to Utah. They joined him in Ogden, or as it was then called, Brownsville, in 1848.

On August 8, 1847, having been given Power of Attorney to collect the money from Paymaster Rich, he started for California. There were nine men in the company: Captain Brown, Sam Brannan, who had come East to persuade President Young to settle in California, as guide, Gilbert Hunt, John Fowler, Abner Blackburn, William Gribble [Criddle], Lysander Woodworth, Henry Frauls and Jesse S. Brown, [his son.] When he left the pioneer camp Brigham Young gave him a letter to take to Captain Hunt, Captain of Company "A", and the members of the Battalion who had marched on to California. Excerpts of this letter follow:

He then urged them to bring camp equipment, horses and provisions with them, as they would need it.

The Company traveled North from Salt Lake via what is now [known as] Weber County. Here Captain Brown met Miles Goodyear for the first time and talked to him about buying his property on the Weber River. They then journeyed on via way of Fort Hall, [Idaho,] the Sink of the Humboldt and Lake Donner, thence to Sutter’s Fort, which was situated six miles from where Sacramento was later built. His was the first party to view the remains of Hasting’s party, which had perished at Donner Lake the previous winter. The dead bodies of men, women and children were strewn about the [vicinity] of a few rude huts, which had been built by those who thus perished. Jesse S. Brown has written an interesting account of the scene.

They arrived in San Francisco September 10, 1847.

Quoting from Bancroft’s History of California: "In his report of October [December] 7, Gov. Mason, Military Governor of California says: ‘When on my way up to San Francisco I was overtaken by Captain Brown of the Mormon Battalion, who had arrived from Fort Hall, where he had left his detachment of the Battalion to come to California to report to me in person. He brought a Muster Roll of his detachment with Power of Attorney from all of its member to draw their pay; and as the Battalion itself had been disbanded on July 16, Paymaster Rich paid to Captain Brown up to that date according to the rank they bore upon the Muster Roll upon which the Battalion had been mustered out of service."

There seems to be no account of the exact sum of money paid to Captain Brown. Some say it was $10,000.00, [some] $5,000.00 and others $3,000.00. However, it was paid in half and whole doubloons of Spanish Gold. A doubloon was worth about $5.00.

After a short stay in California and having accomplished his mission, he prepared for the return journey [home.] He could only get four men to return with him and they had some hair-raising experiences.

Leaving Suttter’s Fort with provisions to last 23 days, they started again, expecting to make the return trip in the same length of time. However, it required 48 days and they [almost starved] to death. When they reached the Truckee River they were pursued by 25 Indians. The Indians came upon them in the early dawn. Samuel Lewis was picket guard for the night. When he saw them approaching, he called, "Captain, the Indians are upon us." They had planned to strike while the men were asleep, but by the time they arrived it was daylight. Captain Brown gave signs for them to halt. The Indians halted and gave peace signs, showing they were Shoshones, a friendly tribe, which was false. In the meantime, Captain Brown had given orders for his men to move. Ten of the Indians came to talk upon invitation from Captain Brown. Their talk was mumbling and occasionally chuckling, characteristic of such a people when they have gained a victory over an enemy.

The Indians became insolent and attempted to steal guns, ropes, spurs, provisions and etc. One young buck stole a horse. He jumped on the horse and started to ride away. Jesse Brown raised his gun to fire but the Captain stopped him and the other Indians told him to bring the horse back, which he did.

When the Company was ready Captain Brown gave orders for the Indians to clear the way and the small company filed out. The Indians followed to the crossing of the Truckee. When the Captain and his men arrived on the opposite bank of the river he gave signs for the Indians not to follow. They persisted, and when they were in the middle of the stream, Captain Brown leveled his rifle and shot. One of the Indians was carried out of the river wounded, but it was never ascertained whether or not he died. Another of the Indians followed on foot for several miles, but abandoned the pursuit.

After breakfast the little Company prepared to cross the desert of forty miles width. They had packed a large mule with flour, which was to last them of their return trip. The mule stampeded and scattered the flour through the sagebrush, so the party had to live on boiled wheat the remainder of the journey. Thirst was their next trial, as they traveled a day and a night and part of another day before finding water. They now proceeded to the "Sink of the Humboldt" and followed directions received from a survivor of the Hastings party. They left the old Fort Hall route and took what was called the "Hasting’s Cutoff", thus making the journey shorter by 200 miles, but having to cross the seventy-five mile desert. Their provisions had given out and winter was coming on, the weather was cold and snow had begun to fall, thus making travel more difficult. Their horses were jaded and they had found little game. So here we find five men in a very sorry plight.

With him Captain Brown carried the Battalion money and precious seed wheat and other seeds. He keenly felt his responsibility, so they met the situation by launching out into that vast alkali bed with a firm determination to go through. It took three days. At two o’clock on the third day they found water. For three days these men had lived on two lean geese, which Jesse Brown had killed before starting, and without any water. Two of the party gave out and had to be helped on their horses by their comrades. They arrived in Salt Lake Valley on November 15, 1847. This trip had reduced Captain Brown from 200 lbs. in weight to 150 lbs. The others had suffered similar losses in weight. Throughout this long arduous journey he had taken great comfort from Brigham Young’s words, "You will return from California safely."

Upon arriving in Utah, Captain Brown distributed the money among the men of his Company. This was the first money used in Utah. [There was a scarcity of money and coinage, the thousands of Spanish doubloons he brought back from California quickly were traded for supplies, so by late 1948 currency of any kind was hard to find. Debts that could not be negotiated by barter had to be settled by personal credit notes scribbled onto also scarce, small bits of paper. These were endorsed from person to person. It was soon after that Brigham Young proposed that scrip could be issued for local distribution with its value not to exceed the value of gold being deposited with the Church acting as trustee-in-trust.]

While he was in California, his wife, Mary, gave birth to a baby girl, born November 8, 1847, in the old Fort in Salt Lake Valley. She was [one of the first] white children born in the Salt Lake Valley. They named her Mary Eilza and she later became the wife of William J. Critchlow, Sr. and the mother of 14 children.

Soon after the Saints arrived in the Rocky Mountains, Brigham Young sent scouts out to explore the surrounding territory. John Brown was one of these scouts and he accompanied Captain Brown on his journey to California. John Brown carried a report of Goodyear’s Fort on the Weber River to the Church Authorities. Before Brigham Young left for Winter Quarters on August 26, 1847, he left instruction for Goodyear to be bought out. Not until Captain Brown returned with the Battalion pay was there enough money in the Colony to pay the purchase price.

Quoting Edward Tullidge, early Utah historian, who says: "Miles Goodyear claimed a tract of land, which was a Mexican Grant to him made in 1841 [1840], commencing at the mouth of Weber Canyon and following the base of the mountain north to the Utah Hot Springs; thence west to the Salt Lake and thence along the shore of the Lake to a point opposite the Weber Canyon and thence east to the place of beginning. Goodyear had built a Fort and a few log cabins on the spot now occupied by the Union Pacific Freight Depot. This land was then Mexican Territory and was ceded to the United States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February 1848."

This property was bought from Miles Goodyear by Captain Brown in the early winter of 1847 on his return from California. With it went the cabins, seventy-five head of cattle, seventy-five goats, twelve sheep and six horses. It is variously stated that the purchase price was $3,000.00 and $1950.00 of Battalion money.

[According to Dr. Milton R. Hunter, a historian, Captain Brown entered into negotiations with Miles Goodyear on January 6, 1848 for all the land he claimed. About a week later the purchase was made, Goodyear receiving 5,000 Spanish doubloons, worth $1,150.00 in United States money for the land and improvements he owned in virtue of the Spanish grant. In addition to the farmlands, this purchase included a fort, seventy-five heads of cattle, seventy-five goats, six horses and twelve sheep.]

Captain Brown’s sons claim that he used his own money to make the purchase. [part of which he had received while in military services and part of which he made as a business gain on his trip to California.] It is certain that a good portion of the money was his own, which gave him every right to take charge of the cabins and livestock that went with the purchase.

Be that as it may, the purchase was made under the council of the authorities of the Church, as Brigham Young had a definite plan of colonization for Utah. At any rate, Captain Brown took for himself and family only two or three hundred acres of land and opened the remainder for colonization. Brigham Young had said on July 25, 1847, "No man of the community should buy any land who came here – that he had none to sell, but every man should have his land measured out to him for city and farming purposes." So Captain Brown, though he had purchased the Goodyear claim to give the colonists undisputed occupation, was living up to the strict order of the community. He had no land to sell to his brethren, it was theirs for legitimate settling without money or price.

The purchase was made during the period when the pioneers proper were making their second journey to the Rocky Mountains. This treaty having been executed, it was of supreme importance to the Mormon colonists that the only remaining Spanish title in this territory should be extinguished. The purchase of the Goodyear claim was, therefore, a great circumstance in the history of the territory."

In January [early spring of] 1848, Captain Brown prepared to locate in the Valley of the Weber River. First he sent his sons, Alexander and Jesse, to take care of the livestock at Fort Buenaventura. A little later the Captain and the rest of his family moved to the Weber region. They were accompanied by the families of Henry G. Shelton, Louis B. Myers and George W. Thurnkill.

The Mormon settlers changed the name from Buenaventura to Brown’s Fort and then to Brownsville.

They had been told that the early frosts would kill corn, but Captain Brown and his sons were not to be discouraged. With a plow made of tire irons by the blacksmith, Artemis Sprague, they did the first plowing in the county. They constructed their own harrow of the forks of a cottonwood tree, making the teeth from the spokes of an old wagon wheel. They and their father planted five acres of wheat, a patch of corn, turnips, cabbage, potatoes and a few watermelons from seed Captain Brown had brought from California. Jesse and Alexander made a dam in the Canfield’s Creek, turned the water on the land and irrigated the crops.

These were busy days for Captain Brown and his family and the other Saints who had settled on the Weber River. Building a new community in a harsh climate and barren desert really proved to be a strenuous task for the most faithful and bravest hearts.

The condition of the Saints in the spring of 1848 was very precarious. Long before spring arrived, the supply of provisions brought from Winter Quarters was nearly gone. They were nearly a thousand miles from the nearest settlement and it was impossible for them to replenish their supplies. Even after the small harvest of 1847, the destitution of the colony in Salt Lake Valley was most distressing. Until crops could be harvested, Captain Brown sent his son, Alexander, to Fort Hall, 160 miles from Brownsville, to purchase flour for his family. He was accompanied by Thomas Williams and Ebenezer Haules. Among them they brought back 600 lbs. of flour, [200] lbs. each. Captain Brown kept 200 lbs. for the settlement on the Weber River and sent 400 lbs. to the destitute colonists in Salt Lake Valley.

In February 1848, the Bishops took an inventory of breadstuffs and allotted each individual three-fourths of a pound per day. It was during this destitution of the parent colony that Brownsville on the Weber River was as a land of Goshen. Captain Brown and families in Brownsville milked 25 cows and from this supply of milk his wife, Mary, made cheese and butter, much of which was sent to the Saints in Salt Lake Valley. He also slaughtered a good portion of his fat cattle to provide them with beef. The crops of Weber County were not destroyed to the extent by the crickets that they were in Salt Lake Valley. The old settlers in Weber County, to this day, speak with grateful appreciation of this public benevolence of Captain Brown to the community at large at the outset of our colonies, when their little settlement grew up as a worthy helpmate of the parent settlement of Salt Lake Valley. In bringing the people through that second winter in the Great Basin without a large casualty list, the sociologist and historian will attribute much of the good results to the presiding care of Brigham Young and the semi-communistic example set by Captain James Brown, who, with unstinted hand, fed the people his breadstuff and his beef, butter and cheese from his bountiful dairy.

These and many acts of kindness made the old settlers of Weber County speak of his benevolence and gained for him the name of the "Poorman’s Friend." It is no wonder that B.H. Roberts said he was next in importance to Brigham Young as a builder and colonizer in this western wilderness.

The writer remembers Charles F. Middleton of Ogden, telling how his mother on a bitterly cold winter day went into Captain Brown’s store. He noticed at once the absence of sufficient warm clothing she was wearing and immediately took a warm shawl from a peg on the wall and gave to her. Brother Middleton said that she and her family would never forget that act of kindness.

The Captain and his family, for the other members of his large polygamous family joined him in Ogden in 1848, led a busy life. Their daily life was a struggle to find enough to eat and wear; to build houses for their comfort and protection during the coming winter; to fortify themselves against the Indians; find and adequate water supply, grub sagebrush and willows for fuel, build bridges and roads; found a school for their children’s education and a place to hold their meetings. In the fall of 1849 Captain Brown made a special trip to Salt Lake Valley to invite friends and acquaintances to come to the Weber region and help build up the colony. Charilla Abbott, a daughter of his wife Abigail, was asked to open a school in Brownsville, which she did. This was the first school in Weber County.

On February 14, 1849, the Saints in Brownsville organized a Latter-day Saints Ward and Captain Brown was made the first Bishop. [At the meeting of the Twelve Apostles held February 14, 1849 at Goodyear’s Fort, it was decided to form the Saints at Brown’s settlement into a ward. Five weeks later, March 25, Captain Brown was ordained a bishop by Elders Charles C. Rich and Erastus Snow and set apart to preside over the Weber River Ward.]

So the foundations of a new community were laid with Captain Brown as leader and the name Brownsville was chosen. By March 26, 1851, with Isaac Clark as Postmaster, the first Post Office was established under the name of Brownsville.

In 1850, Captain Brown and the settlers in his district erected a new Fort, as the Goodyear Fort had been inundated by the waters of Weber River. It was located near 29th St. and east of the present Union Pacific Line. He moved the Goodyear cabins and arranged their houses in fort style, enclosing about a hundred yard square. The houses were constructed of cottonwood logs with roofs and poles, rushes and dirt. Only few of the houses had puncheon floors, the rest had dirt floors. The furniture and cooking utensils were homemade.

[In 1850, two church buildings were erected in Weber County; one at Brown’s Fort and the other at Bingham’s Fort. They were one room log buildings put together with wooden pegs and dirt floor and roof. They served as school, church gatherings and all public meetings.]

[At a general election held in the bowery in Salt Lake on March 12, 1849, when the people voted for officers for the proposed Stake of Deseret, Captain James Brown was elected Magistrate of the Weber River Precinct. He was the first man elected to any civil office in that part of Utah, now included in Weber County.]

Brigham Young directed a great portion of the immigration of 1850-1851 to Weber Valley and so considerable had the population grown that it was deemed necessary to survey the townsite and incorporate the city. At this time the name was changed from Brownsville to Ogden, by Brigham Young, in honor of Peter Skene Ogden, a trapper.

In 1851 he was elected a member of the first Territorial Legislature. He was also elected a member of the City Council April 7, 1851. The City Government consisted of a Mayor, four Aldermen and twelve Councilmen. James Brown was elected a member of the first City Council.

In the Fall of 1849 Brigham Young, as Governor of the Territory of Deseret, granted Captain Brown the right to erect bridges over the Ogden and Weber Rivers with the privilege of collecting toll from all parties who should cross these bridges. Five months later the State of Deseret sustained his action and added that anyone else who should build a bridge without permission from that body would be fined not less than $5,000.00. Captain Brown’s bridges were to be built 13 feet wide; $1,000.00 was appropriated from the public treasury to help build the bridges. To defray the cost of keeping roads and the bridges in repair and the roads leading to them in good condition, Captain Brown was to use the toll collected, the rates of which were as follows: each vehicle drawn by two horses, $2.00, two additional animals to said vehicle 50 cents, a man and a horse 50 cents, pack animals 50 cents, loose hog, calf, colt, goat or sheep 5 cents, and footman 10 cents. Residents who paid by the year were not to be charged more than half that much.

In 1849, Captain Howard Stansbury came to Utah with plans to survey Salt Lake Valley. On his way he passed through Brownsville. Word had come to Captain Brown that General Wilson had authority from the President of the United States to drive the Mormons from their lands. Consequently, Captain Brown did not receive Captain Stansbury with open arms. This fact was well known to Captain Stansbury and should have made it clear to him, although it does not seem to have done so, why he received an ungracious and unhospitable reception at Brownsville, which he complains of. Orson F. Whitney, in his History of Utah, states; "Captain Brown’s record for generosity, save perhaps where he dealt with those whom he deemed his people’s enemies, was second to none in the community. His liberality to the poor around him during the famine – a proverb to this day in Weber County, sufficiently attests this fact."

On October 17, 1850, he was married to Phoebe Abbott, [his seventh wife,] a daughter of Stephen and Abigail Smith Abbott. Of this union three children were born: [Stephen Abbott,] Phoebe Adelaide, and Orson Pratt Brown. This marriage brought disunion between him and his wife Abigail. She could not reconcile herself to being married to the same man as her daughter, so she separated from him.

In 1852 he was again called to leave his family and go on a mission. He and Elijah Thomas shipped from San Diego, California, to Panama, thence to Charges and Aspanivall. From the latter port, unable to ship for British Guiana, they embarked for Jamaica. They had been called to labor as missionaries in British Guiana. After paying their passage they were not allowed to proceed to British Guiana because the prejudice was so great against the Elders that the harbor agent and naval officers would not allow them to be shipped to any English Island. As the only alternative, they proceeded to New York with the West Indies missionaries, where they all landed in 1853.

His experiences while in Panama, were both trying and varied. He contacted yellow fever, from which he recovered and according to a promise from Heber C. Kimball, who set him apart, he lived to perform a great work to his fellow men. While in Panama he and his companions were robbed of their trunks. Being a man of great faith, he prayed earnestly that he might find his trunk. He saw in a vision his trunk under a tree and the next day he recovered it. He also rode horseback on the Isthmus of Panama and heard the monkeys chattering in the trees.

As we have seen, he was called to complete his mission in the eastern States and from there he was called to be Emigration Agent for the Church. It was while he was on this mission that he had cholera. He was so ill that his friends gave him up for dead. Through his faithfulness he was healed [and able to carry on with his duties.]

He tells about his appointment as Emigration Agent in a letter to his son, James. [part of which is given below:]

While he was in St. Louis preparing for his Company of saints to leave, he worked as "Caller" for a large hotel.

Much of the travel in 1854 was by boat and the Mississippi River was a busy waterway. It was his duty to go down to the wharf and advertise his company’s hotel. So successful was he in bringing patrons to the hotel that the manager expressed a desire to do something for him. Accordingly, when he and his company of Saints left St. Louis for the long trek across the plains the owner of the hotel outfitted him with two wagons loaded with dry goods. From this stock he started on of the first stores in Ogden.

The company of German and Scandinavian Saints were outfitted in Missouri and made ready to cross the plains the first part of June. Among these converts were Charles Francois Robellez and his wife, Cecilia [Henrietta] Cornue Robellez and their two children. [George Constant Robellez and Eliza Robellez.] They were [from Neuchatel, Switzerland and] of Swiss-French descent. [* See Edna Brown Allen’s note at the end of the document] During the second days journey on the plains, cholera, that dread disease of the pioneers broke out among them. Charles [Francois Robellez] and [their baby] his crippled daughter, Eliza, were victims of this disease and were buried in one grave on the plains. Only the bravest hearts stood the trials and heart breaks of pioneer life. Cecelia bore her sorrow and journeyed on with the company. After a long arduous journey of four months, this company of Saints reached Ogden, October 3, 1854.

These European Saints were unused to the hardships of this new life and depended much on the leadership of their Captain, James Brown, who was used to pioneer life and a natural born leader of men. When he undertook a task he accomplished it.

[Captain James Brown] took Cecelia and her little son to his home and took care of them. Pioneer life was very difficult for widows and their families, so with mutual consent of his family James Brown took Cecelia Robellez as his [eighth] wife. [On December 26, 1854, Captain James Brown took Cecelia Henrietta Cornue Robellez as his eighth plural wife.] On March 27, 1857, he stood proxy for Charles [Francois] Robellez and had Cecelia sealed to her first husband. Two sons were born to Captain Brown and Cecelia Henrietta. They were Charles David and James Fredrick Brown.

After his arrival home Captain Brown took up his duties again the community and church. He served another term on the Territorial Legislature.

Before leaving for his mission he had planned and begun a new twelve-room house. He first planned to build it on [what is now] the Ogden Tabernacle square but Brigham Young asked him to build it elsewhere, as that is where he planned to have the Tabernacle square. Accordingly, he built it on the corner of Twenty-second Street and Washington Avenue, directly [east] across from the Ogden Tabernacle. This house was a two-story adobe house with a long veranda running across the front. Here his wives and family lived.

On February 7, 1855, he married his ninth wife, Mary Wollerton. She was born in Stockport, Cheshire, England. She had no children of her own, but raised the two sons of Cecelia Robellez Brown, who had returned to Switzerland when Fredrick was a small baby to care for her parents who had taken ill. She was his sixth polygamous wife and ninth wife. She was much loved by all of Captain Brown’s family. She was known to all of them as Aunt Mary.

On February 17, 1856, he married his tenth wife, Darthula Catherine Shupe. She was born in Virginia in 1838, the daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Shupe and pioneers of 1848. [No children were born to this union.]

On September 7, 1856, he married Lavinia Mitchell. She was his eleventh wife. She was the daughter of Hezekiah and Sarah Mitchell and was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, July 22, 1837. She came to Utah in 1849 as a young child with her parents, who were Mormon converts. She and James Brown were the parents of two children, Lavinia Sarah, who married Samuel Drysdale, and Augustus.

The year of 1855 was a hard year for the colonists in Ogden. Swarms of crickets destroyed their crops. The summer was followed by a bitterly cold winter and thousands of cattle died of starvation. The year of 1858 marked the coming of Johnston’s Army to Utah and all the people of Ogden and Weber County moved south to a location west of Provo near Utah Lake. Here many of them stayed during the summer and when it was found there was no danger they returned to their homes. This was the first part of July. Captain Brown and his family lived through these trying circumstances.

Having always been a preacher, we find him taking part in public celebrations and church affairs.

He married his twelfth wife, Harriet Wood Yancey in September of 1859. She was the daughter of Daniel and Mary Wood and was born December 22, 1834 near Kirtland, Ohio. She had no children.

On September 22, 1861, he was married to Maria Mitchell. She was his thirteenth and last wife. Maria [was the daughter of Hezekiah and Sarah Mallinson Mitchell and] was born April 14, 1843 in Liverpool, England. She was a sister of Lavinia Mitchell. Maria was gifted in needlework and millinery. After Captain Brown’s death she and her sister set up a little store between 22nd and 23rd Streets on the land she inherited from her husband. She had not children by Captain Brown. [Her parents were early converts to the Mormon Church and came to America in 1849, landing in New Orleans. They lived in St. Louis for two years and later moved to Illinois. In 1854, her father made the wagon they used to cross the plains. They joined Captain Brown’s company in Missouri and came west, experiencing many hardships.]

After Captain Brown’s death most of his widows married again. Some married in polygamy and some otherwise. Phoebe Abbott Brown married William N. Fife. Lavinia Mitchell Brown married John Horrocks. Harriet Wood Yancey Brown married David Lewis. Darthula Catherine Shupe Brown married Otha Stephens. Maria Mitchell Brown married Edward G. Horrocks.

During 1856-1857 a "Reformation" took place among the Saints in Utah. Missionaries were sent out and many were re-baptized. This movement of reformation led many of the devout Saints to consecrate their property to the Church. This property was deeded to Brigham Young as trustee-in-trust. On August 24, 1857, Captain Brown deeded over to the Church twelve Ogden City lots, valued at $9,500.00, livestock, interest in a mill and personal property valued at $5,095.00. The entire property was valued at $14,595.00.

In July, 1857, the people of Utah celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Mormons coming to Utah. Captain Brown was one of the speakers on this occasion and also, with other leading men of Ogden, attended a similar celebration held in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Life for Captain Brown during the years of 1858 to 1863 were busy, productive years. He was busy building his house, plying his business, working in the Church and caring for his wives and children.

While preaching in the Ogden Tabernacle on a Sunday in 1863, he said, "Within a week I am going on a mission. I do not know whether it will be in the states, to England or up here in the City Cemetery, but I am going." Within the week he was dead.

On September 25, 1863, while operating a molasses mill near the Weber River, his sleeve caught in the cogs of the mill and drew his arm in. As soon as he could recover his balance he made a tremendous surge and pulled his arm, in a terribly lacerated condition, the muscles being literally torn off, out of the mill. Gangrene set in and he suffered intensely from the pain. When some of his friends came in to sympathize with him, he said, "Why this suffering doesn’t compare with that of our Master. Why should I complain? I go with the knowledge and understanding that I will continue in this great work of the Master, whom I have learned to know and love, our Savior, Jesus Christ." On September 28th, while conversing with his oldest son, he said, "Johnny, if I live until day after tomorrow I will be sixty-two years old, and I guess I will about make it." He died on his sixty-second birthday, September 30, 1863, at Ogden, Utah.

As had been said of his father may also be said of him: "If ever a good man lived upon the earth, Grandfather Brown was one of them." [James Brown was fearless and had a strong faith in God. He entertained only contempt for men who would stoop to acts of lawlessness and probably few men despised a liar more than he did.

Being a man of exceedingly strong constitution and great executive ability, Captain Brown was eminently fitted for the work of pioneering and building up a new country, such as Utah was one hundred years ago, and his labors in that direction have erected a more durable monument than it is possible for a pen to do.

David H. Peery, one-time Mayor of Ogden, told Captain Brown’s son, Orson Pratt Brown, "Young man, this is the most liberal city, founded by the most liberal man that ever came to the State of Utah, your father, Captain James Brown."

Captain Brown’s descendants have ever kept his life and good deeds in honorable memory. As early as 1873 they organized a Family Group and held a reunion in the city, which he founded. As the years have gone by, many reunions have been held. The one held in 1896 was notable. A number of his wives and many of his children, all of who have now passed on, were in attendance. In 1926 a new Family Organization was effected. Under the leadership of these officers and contributions from his descendants, a granite monument was placed over his grave in the Ogden City cemetery on Memorial Day 1928.

The unveiling of the monument on the City Hall Square in Ogden on July 29, 1947 marked one hundred years since he first marched into the Salt Lake Valley at the head of his Battalion.

Sources:

PAF - Archer files = Captain James Brown + (7) Phebe Abigail Abbott > Orson Pratt Brown.

The Biography above was compiled for the Dedication of the Captain James Brown Monument by Verna Gladys Brown White, daughter of James Martin Brown II and Sariah Holmes Brown, for the program at City Hall Park in Ogden, Utah, on the 100th Anniversary since Captain Brown had marched into the Salt Lake Valley, July 29, 1947.  See original text by Edward W. Tullidge at "Tullidge's Histories..."

The above text was used as the program text given at Lorin Farr Park on July 29, 1947, the day of the unveiling of the monument of Captain James Brown in Ogden City Municipal Park. The play program was written by Belva Rawson Moyle and the participants are listed.