Where does this Daniel Brown fit? Mormon Battalion only?
Daniel L. Brown
Born: 2 Oct 1822 at Salt Fleet, Wentworth,Ontario
Died: October 21, 1899 at Watsonville,Santa Cruz, California
Father: Francis A. Brown
Mother: Mary Ann McQuade
Daniel L. Brown was a Private in Company "E", Mormon Battalion, Iowa Volunteers which was formed July 1, 1846, in Council Bluffs, Iowa under the command of Captain J. Allen, 1st Dragoons, acting under the command of Col. Steven F. Kearney. Purpose of this Company was to serve for a period of 12 months, march from Iowa and unite with the Army of the West at Santa Fe under Col. Kearney.
From Santa Fe they were to march to California where they would be discharged. During the Mexican-American War, they saw action in Southern California. This action had the blessings of Mormon leader, Brigham Young who hoped this would help bring some settlement of Mormons in California.
Ultimately, Daniel Brown was discharged and it appears he returned to either New York or Iowa and must have brought members of his family from Niagara County, New York and Iowa and in 1850 are found living in Washington Township, Buchannan County, MO. ... now a part of St. Joseph, MO.
I believe that Daniel L. Brown was the half bother of my great grandmother, Eunice Brown-Hushbeck who lived in Watsonville, CA. The Hushbeck family
came from St. Joseph, MO by wagon train (1853) and originally settled in the area of Cloverdale, OR but did not like the weather and shortly moved to near Stockton, CA and then by 1856 were living in Watsonville, Santa Cruz Co., CA. My Hushbeck family were not Mormons but it appears that some of the Brown family were.
It isn't known just when Daniel Brown came to CA after the Mexican-American War but I suspect, based on Hushbeck oral family history, that he may have settled in the Sacramento/Stockton area before moving to the Pajaro Valley (Watsonville, CA). He was in the Pajaro Valley at the time of his stepmother's death (Mary Quade Brown) who died in October of 1882.
"Uncle Dan and Aunt Mary" are mentioned frequently in the diary of Lewis Samuel Hushbeck which dates about 1869 to 1872. I believe this "Uncle Dan" is our subject, Daniel Brown and Mary is his wife. Based on this I believe that Daniel Brown and his wife came to the Pajaro Valley about the same time as the Hushbeck family circa 1856.
Daniel Brown died on October 21, 1899, and is buried in Watsonville Pioneer Cemetery. There is a special headstone commemorating his service in the Mormon Battalion.
Daniel's niece, Mary Ann Brown was a longtime school teacher in Watsonville and her brother, Walter Stephen Brown was associated with Ford's Department Store in Watsonville. Their sister, Elizabeth "Libby" Brown married Pajaro King, the first white child born in the Pajaro Valley.
Sincerely,
Norman H. Atkins
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