Event

1801

Sept 30

Captain James Brown is born to James Brown and Mary Williams at Rowan County, N.C. of Scot-Irish descent. He had seven older siblings, Susan, Jane, Mary, Nancy, Obedience, Patsy, William, and a younger brother, Daniel. His father was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War 1775-1783.

1819

Starts teaching school in Rowan County, NC at age 18

1823

March 2

1^st wife - Married Martha Stephens age 17

Served as constable and sheriff for several terms in Rowan County, NC

1831
1833
1835

CJB is clerk, and sometime preacher, of the Toms Creek Baptist Church.
CJB moved to Brown County, Illinois near his brother Daniel Brown.
CJB as sheriff and Justice of the Peace in Adams County, Illinois. Sells produce in Quincey, Illinois.

May 18

Phebe Abigail Abbott born at Hornellsville, Steuben County, NY to Stephen Joseph Abbott and Abigail Smith

1838

1839

Spring

Capt. James Brown and Martha Stephens Brown baptized in the Mormon Church by local missionaries Jacob Foutz, Tarlton Lewis and David Evans.

Mormons were being driven out of Missouri at the time. James was ordained an Elder.

CJB built in a saw mill and a grist mill on the Skunk River near Augusta, Iowa

1840

Sept 28

Martha Stephens dies in Illinois while giving birth to ninth child, Moroni Brown.

CJB on Nauvoo Temple Fundraising Mission throughout Illinois.

1841

Jan 25

2^nd wife - Married Susan Foutz age 18 in Adams County, Ill by Ezekiel Roberts

1842

Summer

Moved to Nauvoo from which place he was sent on a mission to the Southern States.
Almost shot by brother-in-law Siren Jackson.

August 18

2^nd wife Susan Foutz dies at age of 19 from consumption; new son, Alma Brown, died 3 weeks later.

Nov 20

3^rd wife - Married the widow Ester Jones Roper age 31 in Nauvoo, Ill. by Stephen Abbott. Met while on one of his missions in the South.

1843

Oct 19

CJB best friend, Stephen Abbott catches pneumonia while on a mission in Wisconsin, He had been floating logs to earn money to send to his family in Nauvoo, he died on this date. Stephen left wife Abigail Smith Abbott and eight children.

1844

CJB on mission in North Carolina

June 27

Joseph and Hyrum Smith are martyred. CJB and his brother Daniel, take their rifles and headed to Missouri to kill Gov. Boggs. Rode all night then prayed, answer: "Vengeance is mine and I will repay. Return to your homes in peace." [Years later Boggs moved to California and became sympathetic to Mormon plight.]

1845

1845

 Jan. 10

4^th wife - Married first polygamous wife, divorcee, Sarah Steadwell (Wood) age 31 in Nauvoo, Ill.

The United States annexed Texas.

1846

1846

Feb 8

Apr 24
May 12

5^th wife - Married his second polygamous wife, the widow Abigail Smith Abbott age 40 (had eight children by Stephen Abbott).

U.S.A. & Mexico troops have first skirmish.
Congress declared war on Mexico

Spring
Summer

CJB and families are in Winter Quarters, Nebraska.
In Council Bluffs, Iowa.

July 16

6^th wife - Married widow Mary McRee Black age 27 (had five children by Charles Black) and on the same day CJB enlisted into the U.S. Army. President Polk had declared war on Mexico. (New bride Mary Black Brown, her surviving child 5 year old George David Black, and three of CJB's children by Martha Stephens, Alexander Brown (20), and Jesse Sowell Brown (18), and daughter Nancy (17) (along with new her husband Eleazer Davis), marched with James during his command in Mormon Battalion)

October

By the time the Battalion arrived at Santa Fe, New Mexico, many of them were sick. The sick ones were unable to continue on to California. They were discharged and Captain James Brown was put in charge of this Sick Detachment, they wintered in Pueblo, Colorado.

1847

July 29

By way of Fort Laramie [Wyoming] and the South Pass, CJB, Mary McRee, his three sons, and the Mormon Battalion Sick Detachment travel and reach the Great Salt Lake Valley five days after Brigham Young declares, "This is the right place." CJB's daughter Nancy and husband, Eleazer Davis, continue with the Mormon Battalion Company "D" to California. Nancy has a daughter, Martha LouElla Davis, born in San Bernardino, California.

1847

August 8

Aug 16

Brigham Young gives CJB Power of Attorney from the Mormon Church to go to Sacramento to collect the money owed to the Battalion Sick Detachment members from Paymaster Rich. When the Battalion was enlisted the privates were to receive what amounted to seven dollars a month during their one year of service [$84; some of which they had received at Santa Fe while camped at Pueblo, CO.]. The Battalion members that made the march to California had received their pay in California from their commanding officers. CJB traveled with Gilbert Hunt, John Fowler, Abner Blackburn, William Criddle, Lysander Woodworth, Henry Fauls, Sam Brannan and two of his sons, Cpl. Alexander Brown and Sgt. Jesse Sowell Brown.

As CJB and his group traveled northward around the Great Salt Lake, by way of Fort Hall (Idaho), they met Miles Morris Goodyear. The journey thither was via Fort Hall, the "sink of the Humboldt," and Lake Donner, thence to San Francisco via Sutter's Fort which was situated six miles from where Sacramento was afterwards built.

Sept 12

CJB buys horses in Monterey - New Helvetica Diary California newspaper

5 Oct-

Nov 17

Winter set in before the CJB and his group return to Utah. The 23 day trip from Salt Lake Valley to California became a 43 day trip when the Hastings Cutoff they had been persuaded to use on their return to Utah was in truth a trial through the desert; they suffered terribly and nearly starved to death. The last few days they subsisted upon soup made by boiling the buckskin and leather from their saddles. The men would not eat the wheat, grain and corn they had with them as they knew the Mormons needed it as seed for the coming summer crops. Otherwise the Salt Lake Valley pioneers would hardly have survived.

Nov

When CJB returned from California Brigham Young commenced helping CJB to purchase the cabins, land, and livestock from Miles Goodyear. CJB used his own funds, [which some say were augmented by Church authorized battalion funds]. The deed was said to cover all the land from the mouth of Weber Canyon, following the base of the mountain north to the Utah Hot Springs, then it went west to the Salt Lake along the shore to the point opposite Weber Canyon, then back east to the canyon. It included all the cabins, 75 goats, 75 cattle, 12 sheep, and 6 horses. Purchase price $1950.00 (doubloons $3,000), and was named Brownsville (later renamed Ogden) after CJB. The land was open to colonization without cost to the settlers. CJB retained only 200 acres for himself and his family. He moved into a hut formerly occupied by Jim Bridger then Miles Morris Goodyear, on the Weber River.

1849

Feb 14

Brownsville Ward formed, CJB named Bishop.
CJB stood as proxy for his widow wives, to have them sealed to their first husbands who were now deceased.

CJB built two toll bridges, one over the Weber River, another over the Ogden River. He acted as assessor and collector of Weber Co.

1850

March

October 17

Lorin Farr moved to Brownsville and purchased a mill from partner Charles Hubbard

7^th wife - Married Phebe Abigail Abbott age 19, daughter of Stephen and Abigail Abbott, at Ogden, UT. CJB is thirty years senior to her.
5^th wife Abigail and CJB separate due to CJB marriage to her daughter Phebe.

1851

August 22

CJB and Phebe's first child is born, Stephen Abbott Brown at Ogden, Weber, UT

CJB Elected member of first Territorial Legislature

April 7

CJB Elected member of City Council

1852

CJB called on a mission to British Guinea but due to extreme prejudice were not allowed to go, spent first part of mission in Panama. Later he went to New Orleans, then on to New York where he served as Emigration Agent for saints moving west to join Zion. Some accounts state he was on a mission to England during this year.

1853

Dec 22

CJB and Phebe's son Stephen Abbott Brown died at age of 1 1/2 years

Dec 26

8^th wife - Married widow Cecelia Henrietta Cornu (Robellez or Robellaz) age 29 (Charles Francois Robellez). Two sons born to this union.

1855

Feb 7

9^th wife - Married Mary Wollerton age 41. No children from this union.

CJB returned from mission in New York and into another term in the Territorial Legislature. Served for eight years.

October

CJB and Phebe's second child is born, Phoebe Adelaide Brown at Ogden, Weber, UT

1856

Feb 17

10^th wife - Married Darthula Catherine Shupe between 18 and 22. No children from this union.

Sept 7

11^th wife - Married Lavinia Mitchell age 19. No children from this union.

1857

August 24

CJB deeded over to the church 12 Ogden lots

1859

September

12^th wife - Married widow Harriet Wood (Yancey) age 25. No children from this union.

1860

August 16

CJB arrived in Salt Lake City leading a company of Saints.--Heart Throbs, Vol. 5, Page 54.

1861

Sept 22

13^th wife - Married Maria Mitchell age 18. No children from this union.

May 22

Orson Pratt Brown is born in Ogden, Utah to CJB and Phebe Abigail Abbott Brown.

Sept - mid

At the pulpit of the Ogden Tabernacle, CJB stated, "Within a week I 'm going on a mission. I do not know whether it will be in the states, to England, or up here in the city cemetery, I am going."

Sept 25

CJB's shirtsleeve became caught in the gears of his molasses mill, then the huge cogs pulled in his arm. After regaining his balance he pulled his arm free with most of the muscles ripped from it. Gangrene quickly set in and he suffered in extreme pain till his death five days later. He told visiting friends, "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."

Sept 30

CJB died on his sixty second birthday. Orson was only four months old.

1866

October 9

Phebe Abbott Brown married Colonel William Nicol Fife in Ogden, UT. The following year on the November 2, 1867 her younger sister Cynthia also married Fife.

1877

Jan 16

9^th wife Mary Woolerton Brown died.

1882

Sept 14

8^th wife Cecelia Henrietta Cornu Robellez Brown died in Switzerland.

1889

July 23

5^th wife Abigail Smith Abbott died. Buried in Willard Cemetery, UT.

1893

March 18

4^th wife Sarah Steadwell Woods Brown Sprague LaBaron died.

1906

Nov 2

6^th wife Mary McRee Black Brown died. Mary is buried on the lot with her husband, Capt. James Brown in the Ogden City Cemetery.

1914

January 9

Phebe Abigail Abbott Brown died and is buried at Thatcher, Graham County, Arizona

1923

Feb. 19

13^th wife Maria Mitchell died.

1947

July 29

At the 100-year anniversary since CJB brought a band of emigrants to the present site of Ogden, Utah, a monument was erected to the memory of CJB in Mayor Lorin Farr City Park in Ogden, Utah. The monument was created from polished granite with two bronze plaques containing a brief history of this great Mormon leader. As part of the celebration it was planned to have the Miles Goodyear cabin removed from Tabernacle Park to City Hall Square. In 1848 CJB purchased the cabin, the first Ogden dwelling. At the dedication of the monument, Mayor of Ogden, David S. Romney, stated," We are here to honor and salute a great American…one of whom the county is going to hold you responsible if you don't preserve the memory of those who made it possible to live in peace and prosperity under the stars and stripes."