8th Wife of Captain James Brown

Cecelia Henrietta Cornue Robellez Brown

Born: May 17, 1825 at Corcellas Nechatel, Switzerland
Died: September 14, 1882 at Nechatel, Switzerland

Compiled by Lucy Brown Archer

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Cecelia Henrietta Cornu was born 17 May 1825, at Corcellas Nechatel, Switzerland. She was a daughter of David Francois Cornue [born on 13 July 1794 at Corcelles, Neuchatel, Switzerland] and Henrietta Egalite Baulard [born on 18 April 1794 at La Chaux-De-Fond, Neuchatel, Switzerland]. 

In 1849 Cecelia married (1) Charles Francois Robellez [Robelles or Robellaz or Robellas] [born16 February 1822 in Orbe, Vaud, Switzerland]. Charles and Cecelia and little son George and daughter Eliza, left Switzerland as converts and came to the United States by sailing vessel.

Charles Francois Robellaz and his wife Cecilia Henrietta Cornue and two children sailed from Liverpool, England on the 12th of March 1854. They were with the 74th Company of Saints. They sailed on the ship "John M.Wood." Captain Hartley was in command. The sailing vessel encountered severe winds in the Irish channel, but it arrived safely. There were four children and two adults who died on board. Two children (twins) were born, one couple married and one person baptized. After many weeks on the water they landed near New Orleans on the 2nd of May 1854.

Captain James Brown was emigration agent for the Church there and made aarrangments for the company of emigrants to sail to St. Louis by steamboat, the "Josiah Lawrence", then on to Kansas.

Captain Brown was appointed as captain of a company of these converts while crossing the plains. Charles Robellaz and his family were in this company. The second day out on the plains cholera broke out among them and Charles and his little daughter Eliza Henrietta Robellaz died on the 27th of June, and the 28th of June 1854 respectively, and were buried in one grave on the plains.

The heart-broken widow had to go on with her young son, George Constant Robellez, with the company and arrived in Ogden on the last of September 1854. Captain James Brown took the widow and her little son to his family and on the 26th of December 1854 made her his wife for time, ceremony performed by Brigham Young. On the 27th of March 1857 he stood as proxy for Charles Robellez and had Cecelia sealed to the husband of her youth in the Salt Lake Endowment House. 

After the death of James Brown in 1863 and the death of her son George Constant Robellez in 1865, Cecelia left her two children, Charles [b. 1856] and Fredrick [b. 1859], to one of James' other wives, Mary Wollerton Brown, and returned to Switzerland to care for her ailing parents now 71 years old each.

Cornelia never returned to America.. She died nineteen years later on 14 September 1882, at Neuchatel, Switzerland. Upon her death her two sons received $1,000.00 each from her.

Fred took for his middle name "Wollerton" because of his love for Aunt Mary Wollerton, the woman who raised him and his brother, Charles.

--A few corrections have been made and notes concerning my grandmother, Cecelia Henrietta Cornue, have been added. Edna Brown Allen, Granddaughter of Captain James Brown]

Of Cecelia Henrietta Cornu (Cornue) Robellaz Brown

1 Eliza Henrietta Robellez Born: 27 January 1853 born at Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland Died: 8 June 1854, sixteen months after her birth Buried on the plains with her father, David Robellez, during the Mormon trek to Salt Lake Valley, Utah

2 George Constant Robellez Born: 3 May 1851 at Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland Died: 1865 at age of 14 years in Ogden, Weber, Utah

3 Charles David Brown Born: 23 January 1856 Ogden, Weber, Utah Married Sarah Ellen Dixon. on June 26, 1879. Died: 23 Aug 1926 Ogden, Weber, Utah

4 James Fredrick "Wollerton" Brown, Sr. Born: 2 Jul 1859 Ogden, Weber, Utah Married Esther Amelia Marriott on 27 March 1884 Died: 19 April 1923 Fairview, Lincoln, Wyoming

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 Charles Robellez

"On February 13, 1823, Charles Robellez, only child of James and Mary Ann Robellez, was born in the college town of Neuchatel, Switzerland.

Charles was educated by private tutors at the University of Neuchatel. His favorite studies were mathematics and languages. He became an instructor at the University, and in 1849 at the age of twenty-six years, he married his boyhood sweetheart, Cecelia Henrietta Cornue. She was also an oly child and was an instructor at the University. They moved to the beautiful city of Lousanne on the shores of Lake Geneva. In this ideal home two children were born to them, George and Eliza Henrietta.

In 1850 Mormon Missionaries came to Switzerland and opened up the Swiss Mission. Many people were converted, among whom were Charles and Cecelia Robellez. Their parents were very bitter and made life quite unbearable; so in the spring of 1854, Charles and Cecelia and their two children set out for America. They said farewell to their parents, who were heartbroken at the thought of their children and grandchildren going so far away. Little George was two and a half, husky and with curly hair; Henrietta, a rolypoly baby of less than a year. They knew nothing of pioneer life and rough living; of the long hard voyage over the treacherous sea; of the journey in covered wagons across unknown plains to a hot, dry, ugly sage-brush valley. They knew nothing of the heartaches which they would be called on to endure. They had the inspiration of youth, as they were yet under thirty; they had their two lovely children and their faith in the Gospel, and they were going to Zion in the tops of the mountains.

On March 12, 1854, they left England on the "S.S. John M. Wood" and arrived in New Orleans on May 2nd. The voyage had been almost unbearable, as the ocean had been rough, the boat crowded and many people had become ill and some died. The two children had been ill much of the way over. From New Orleans, they traveled on a river-boat to Kansas City, Missouri. Custom officer James Brown was in charge. Cholera broke out and many people died on the boat. Little George became so ill that as a result he was left a cripple for the rest of his life. Camp was made in Kansas City.

On July 14, 1854, they left for Utah in a covered wagon. They were all totally unfit for the trip. Charles did not know how to drive oxen, or to make camp. In fact pioneering was all entirely new to him. They were all weakened from the long trip across the ocean and the sickness on the river boat. Little George and Henrietta were still ill. They were all homesick for the quiet life of Switzerland. Robert Campbell was in charge of the group [of 400 souls] and strict rules were enforced. All had to rise at four a.m. and start at five and all men between the ages of sixteen and sixty-six took turns standing guard during the night. They encountered a praire fire which took some of their cattle, Indians took some more cattle and killed members of the party. There was a stampede of horses and cattle and many more were lost. Hot winds, rains, heat, little water, and poor food caused general weakness of the people and many were taken ill.  Cholera broke out again and many people died every day. Little Henrietta gave up her fight for life and was buried by the road. The train consisting of wagons, cattle, horses, and marching men drove over the new graves to deceive the Indians and wild animals. Charles Robellez could not stand the hardships of pioneer life and on July 27 he was tenderly laid in his last resting place somewhere on the Kansas plains. The poor little widow and mother, of but twenty-seven years, had to travel on to Zion, with her little crippled son George.  She stoically traveled on, over the long trail to her destination in the heart of the mountains [on Oct. 28th]." --Etta Brown Cowles --Heart Throbs of the West", Vol. 2, 1940, Pages 191-192.

Sources:

PAF - Archer files = Captain James Brown + (8) Cecelia Henrietta Cornue.

http://ldsliving.ldsroots.com/ancestry/ROBELLAZ.html

 http://66.87.226.5/capt_j_brown/wife.php?wife=8

 Cecilia H. R. Cornue contacts:

 Photo of Cecelia H. Cornue contributed by James Brown Allen, JBAllen@aol.com

 Kristine A. Card, Greensboro, NC, kacard@aol.com

 http://www.brownhistory.org/CJB%20Wives_Children.htm#Moyle's%20CJB%20Wives

Brown Book of Remembrance written by Hattie Critchlow Jensen and Loella Brown Tanner

Copyright 2001 www.OrsonPrattBrown.org