MY FATHER
by Cecillia Etta Brown Cowles

Charles David Brown was born on the 23rd day of January, 1856, in the large family residence across the street eact from the Ogden Tabernacle. He was the thirtyfourth child of his father, Captain James Brown, and the third child of his mother, Cecelia Henrietta Cornue Robellez.

Captain James Brown was born September 27, 1801, on an old Southern plantation in Rowan County, North Carolina. His father was James Brown of Portugese (Basque) descent, and his mother, Polly Williams Brown, was an American. He was brought up on a southern plantation. He was fairly well educated and became a school teacher and a Baptist Preacher,

In June 1823, he was married to Martha Stephens. There were nine children from this union. In 1835 he moved his family to Illinois. In 1838 he joined the L. D, S, Church, and was a very energetic worker. He went on a mission to the eastern states in 1839. In 1840 his wife died and left him a large group of motherless children. In the year 1842, he married Susan Foutz, During the years following he traveled with the church members and lived through their early struggles. He was inspired to take his numerous family and accompany the other members of the L. D. S, church and seek a new home in the West. In 1846 he was made a Captain of the Mormon Battalion for the government of the United States. He left his family of many wives, little children and a number of grown sons, all of whom followed the covered wagons to t he West.

Captain Brown went south with the army to fight in the war with Mexico The war did not last long, only a few months. His headquarters were at Santa Fe, New Mexico. The troops of the Battallion followed along the border to the Pacific and up the coast to San Francisco Bay, and then east to Great Salt Lake. He arrived in the valley on July 26, 1847. There was a salute given when the company of pion eers was seen. President Young sent the few members of a band to meet the soldiers and bring them in with martial music, It was a grand reunion, a regular frontier celebration. Captain Brown was sent by President Young to go to California and settle the account due the Battalion. The climate and country were so much better than the dry sage-covered valleys in the mountains.

The next day after the arrival was Saturday and Captain Brown and his soldiers built a bowery on temple block for worship on the following day. This was the first pretence of a building in the Salt Lake Valley. This bowery was forty feet by 28 feet. The next week he helped to build an adobe stockade for protection from the Indians. On August 5, 1847, Captain Brown left with two of his boys for California to get the pay from the government for the soldiers. He was blue and discouraged. All of his pleading and argments with President Young on the moving of the pioneers to California was in vain, President Young repeated, "This is the Place." He also stated that "California is financially right, but spiritually wrong."

Captain Brown and party went north on the way to California and met Miles Goodyear in his camp on the Weber River.

His trip to California was successful and in December 1847, he trailed back over the Sierras and into the valley of the Saints in the Rocky Mountains, bringing $10,000 for the Mormon Battalion soldiers in Zion,

President Young publicly thanked the Battalion and said that the Saints were actually saved by them. Captain Brown then bought the Goodyear claim, which included the greater part of what is now Weber County for $8,000.

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Captain Brown with his :wives and children settled on the Ogden river. He was a poor farmer, but an energetic organizer and administrator. He vas quick-tempered, full of life and a tireless worker, He had the old Southern plantation in mind and saved 300 acres for his private home on land now included in the heart of Ogden City,

His older sons soon made homes and the rest of the Goodyear claim was g iven to the new settlers who followed. These families were the Canfields, the Shurthiffs, the Farrs, Peerys, and Brownings. These people and their descendants later became the prominent citizens in Ogden City,

In 1851, Captain Brown became a member of the first legislature hold in Utah. In 1853 he went to South America on a mission. He stayed only a few months for South America was not ready for the gospel as preached by the L. D. S. Misionaries. He came back to Utah in 1854, bringing another group of Mormon immigrants. Among these converts were many widows, orphans, from the European countries. One widow, Cecile Robellez, who had lost her husband and a baby with cholera on the plains, was taken to his home. Later in the year she became his thirteenth [8th]wife. She remained in his home and taught school for his children and his neighbors children.

For the next two years he was a customs officer between St. Louis aid New Orleans for the imminigrants coming to America by way of the Gulf of Mexico.

After returning to Utah Captain Brown lived quietly for a few years on his great farm home, surrounded by his wives and children and pursuing the industries of a pioneer life. He died in 1863, at the age of 62 from an accident in a molasses mill on his own farm.

Cecile Henrietta Curnue Robellez, mother of Charles Brown, was born March 17, 1827, at Corcelle, Switzerland. Her mother, Henriette Egalite Baulard, was born April 18, 1794, at La Chaiex de Fonds. These families were cultivators of the soil as is told by the old histories in the Archives in the city of Corcelle in the year 1927, They were the founders of Corcelle and Neuchatel.

Cecile Cornue was an only child. Her father and mother were only children also, They lived in the beautiful city of Corcelle on the sloping shore overlooking Lake Nerchatel. In the distance the snow capped Alps added beauty to their home. Of all the beauty spots in the world, this is one of the most charming, The green rolling hills, the blue, blue lake, and the majestic Alps are a background for quiet, dignified, cultural plane of living. She was educated by private tutors, and in the University of Neuchatel, Her favorite studies were mathematics and languages. It is reported that she could speak several languages and that she was an instructor at the University for two years,

In 1849 at the age of twenty-two years, she married the sweetheart of her youth, also an instructor at the University, Charles Robellez. They were very happy and had two children, a boy named George and a daughter, Henrietta. The boy was a crippled due to a disease in infancy. In 1850, the Mormon missionaries opened the Swiss mission and many people were converted. Among these were Charles Robellez and his wife Cecile Henrietta, They were baptised in 1852, Their parents were very bitter and made life quite unbearable. In the spring of 1854 they set out for America. They said farewell to her parents, who were broken-hearted at the loss of their only child and their lovely grandchildren, and to the beautiful city of Corcelle, the lake, and the beloved Alps. Where were they going? America, with its long hard journey, poor conveniences on the ocean, and covered wagon across the plains, to a hot dry, ugly sagebrush valley, and heartaches. They did not know all of this, but with inspiration of youth, their lovely children and the faith of their gospel, they were going to Zion in the tops of the Rocky Mountains.

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Sickness on the ocean, customs officers in New Orleans, a slow freight train to St. Louis, sick children, no comforts, no beauty of landscape, only pioneer towns, and then a covered wagon across the dusty hot plains---this was their lot.

Sickness broke out in the long immigrant train. Cholera, the terror of the pioneer attacked the camp and before they started on their slow western march again, many of the band were buried in the hard, dry, earth. The train, consisting of wagons, cattle, horses, and marching men, drove over the new graves to deceive the Indians and the wild animals. Among the dead was Charles Robellez and his little daughter Henrietta Robellez. The poor mother was now going on to Zion with her crippled son. All of her dreams were over She was never really happy again. A sad, sad little woman of twenty-seven years entered Utah with Captain Brown's relief train. She went to his home and was cared for by his family. In December 26, 1854, she married him as his thirteenth [8th] wife. She thought she could live her now religion in polygamy. She was very small with auburn hair, blue eyes, and was very well educated. Captain Brown was fifty-three, shrrt, very dark, and a rough pioneer, weighing over two hundred pounds. In the spring he went back to St. Louis to be customs officer for the U. S. Government. Madame Robellez, as she was called even after she was married to Captain Brown, lived at one of the family houses with this enormous family. There were no comforts, no privacy, little beauty, just strange people, primitive standards, a now religion and living in polygamy.

On January 25, 1856, my father was born, a fair, curly-headed boy. His mother named him Charles David Brown for her sweetheart that she left on the plains and her father in far away Switzerland. In the spring of 1857 Captain Brown came home. In the summer her beloved mother died, away in Switzerland. Her father wrote for her to come home. What could she do? He sent her money to come back so he could see her once more; he was ill and alone. The beautiful Switzerland also was calling. Captain Brown did not sympathize with her desire to go. He was hardened to pioneer life. He would not let her take little Charles David to Corcelle for fear she would never come back.

On February 10, 1858 another boy was born, a dark strong baby. On March 1, 1858 she left these two babies, with a childless wife [Mary Wollerton] of Captain Brown, Mary Wallerton, and took her crippled boy, George, back to Switzerland. She went in the covered wagon back to the train and then to the ocean, discouraged, ill, add sick at heart. After she arrived in Corcelle, she couldn't leave her father, for he was slowly dying of tuberculosis. She nursed him for eleven long years end he then died in 1871 at the age of 77. In the meantime, her son George died, leaving her still more heartbroken. In her loving care for her father she contracted the same disease, tuberculosis, and never came back to America. She wrote continually to her growing son in Utah, and even sent whole books of mathematics for them to study, written and composed by herself. They wrote to her and tried to cheer their unknown mother.

She lived all alone, in an upstairs apartment overlooking Lake Neuchatel and the Alps. Her favorite recreation was taking little short walks in a beautiful rose garden near by. Her friends were few, but she had plenty of home comforts.

She endured much physical. pain and mental anguish. She lived like this for eleven lonely years. She died at the age of 55, and was buried among her roses.

Charles David Brown and his baby brother, James Fredrick Brown, were taken care of by Mary Wollerton. She took good care of then until Charles was eight years of age; they loved her. She died in 1877, leaving the little orphans [Charles was 21 and James was 18] to just grow up. Their father, Captain. Brown, had died [1863] the year before. Their childhood from now on was neglected. They ate whenever they were at meal time, among the different homes of the many wives and older brothers. They took baths only in summer at the old swimming hole, and had their curly heads combed whenever they could get an older brother to comb out their hair. They did not know what a clean bed was. They went to

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school and Sunday School when they wanted to and were whipped and scolded whenever their pranks called for it, or they got in anyone's way. There was no pleasant home life, no discipline, no kind teachings and no love. Charles was very sad at times and used to sit on the ditch bank and cry for his far away mother. His half brothers and playmates jeered him and taunted him for having been deserted by his own mother. He was not even worth raising. He prayed and always dreamed that some day his mother would either come back or send for him to come to her in Switzerland.

Charles did very well in the Central School at Ogden City. Mathematics was his favorite study. He settled down and worked hard whenever his inclination went that way. His older brothers were hard masters and he worked on. the farms of the family. He received his clothes and very little money. His amusements were riding, swimming and dancing, As he grew up, he became one of the best dressed young men of the town..He was, for the rest of his life, very particular in his personl appearance, exacting in the cut of his clothes and the cut of his hair.

When he was twenty he had completed all the mathematics eourses taught by Prof. L. F. Moench and Prof. T. B. Lewis at the highest school in Ogden . He went to the Brigham Young Academy at Provo and studied higher mathematics and surveying. The figures in his books were examples of exactness and neatness. He became very proficient in this line of work for the rest of his life.

In 1877 he was called by the L. D. S. church to go on a settling mission to Arizona. He was fitted out by his brothers with a wagon and mules. The household goods left him by his mother were loaded in the wagon. Many books were taken along for he always was a great reader.

Charles Brown was not a farmer, and his settling in Arizona near Phoenix was a failure. He lost all of his belongings by living in the United Order. This was an institution by the L. D. S. Church, but was unsuccessul.

In the latter part of 1878 Charles returned to Ogden and went to work in a sawmill in Ogden Canyon. He lost a part of his left hand in an accident here and consequently lost the remainder of the year`s work.

On June 26, 1879, he married Sarah Ellen Dixon from Harrisville. They were married in the old endowment house in Salt Lake City. They lived in the same part of a family home that his mother had lived in so long before. He worked at various occupations around town, when he was not surveying. Two daughters were born here. During the year 1882 his mother died in far away Switzerland.. Some of her personal belongings, and $1500 in cash were sent to each of her sons in Utah. They spent this money for the building of a neat little brick house on building lots inherited from the Brown estate.

In 1884 Charles Brown was called on another settling mission to Arizona. He sold his comfortable new home and bought a wagon and four mules and drove to Arizona. This time he went farther south on the Gila River. At Tucson he met his wife and two babies, who had journeyed on the train. They went directly to an adobe fort at Sulphur Springs, Arizona. The Apache Indians were on the warpath. The white people were being protected by government officers, and were living in fortified forts,

In January, 1885 another baby girl, Phoebe Pearl Brown, was born. In the spring they moved to a farm home at a new town site called Thatcher. {Charlie was accompanied on some of his travels and adventures in Arizona by his youngest half-brother Orson Pratt Brown. His "Aunt" Phoebe Brown Fife had recently moved to Thatcher with her family and her second husband Colonel William Nicol Fife and his first wife Diana Davis Fife.] Here another attempt at farming was a failure. An only son, William Riley Brown was born on this farm in November 5, 1888. Here much sickmess was endured, malaria fever and scurvey. In 1869 the farm was traded for a share in a large cattle ranch near Tuscon, Arizona. His partner was a drinking man and the whole ranch was lost.

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In 1890 the whole family came back to Utah and lived in a part of grandfather Dixon's house at Harrisville. Early in the spring a one room shack was built on the west side of this Harrisville farm. For thirteen years my father and family lived at this place. The house was enlarged, but was never large enough, He worked when he could get employment, which was irregular. For ten summers he went to work in Oregon and California for surveying parties. Many construction projects were surveyed and supervised by my father. He was away from home eight to ten months a year, but did not take much money. His expenses were so high that he did not have much to send home to his family. It was a great celebration, when he did come home in the fall. All of the family had new clothing. T'here were new blankets for the beds, and a feast of good things to eat.

At Christmas a happy time was enjoyed. He made a great fuss when each toy or gift was unwrapped. We shall always remember his cheery shout of "Lovely Moses." A scramble was always enjoyed until the girls were grown and then the grandch:t1dren were entertained the same way.

Hs was very strict as to discipline and never played or romped with us children„ except on Christmas. He could have enjoyed his children more, and they would have confided in him more if he had forgotten his old-fashioned discipline. He thought children should obey to the letter and not be governed by love. His own. unhappy childhood helped to implant such severe notions. He was afraid to let himself go. He had his family up to breakfast at 6 a.m. winter or summer. he taught them early rising, thrift in putting savings in the bank, honesty and doing all work well.

In 1903 the family moved to Ogden, the girls had attended the Weber Academy and later secured employment teaching school, and working in stores. They were self supporting and remaned so until they married. He now obtained steady work in Ogden , City as surveyor and supervisor of construction for the Street car Company. He remained at this work until he died in 1926 at the age of seventy years. His only son, William Riley was educated as a medical doctor and. became a great comfort and an adviser for his father, in his last years.

He was deeply religious and payed an exact tithing and donations for his church. He was very timid and reserved in meeting new people and did not make friends easily. His devotion and care of his invalid wife was beautiful to see. Every comfort that money could but was gladly given. After she died, he was very lonely and. soon followed her. His children might have made it more pleasant for him throughout his life if they could have understood his cravings for love, but he did not let them know his heartaches until it was too late.

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Sources:

PAF - Archer File = Captain James Brown + (8) Cecelia Henrietta Cornue > Charles David Brown.

Histories of James Fredrick Brown come from the Museum at Afton, Uinta County, Wyoming.

This history was contributed to this site by Erold Clark Wiscombe.

Cecilia Etta Brown Cowles transcript was typed into html format by Lucy Brown Archer.

Copyright June 2004 www.OrsonPrattBrown.org