Jesse was born 26 March 1829 [1824] by Flat Swamp Creek, (across the river from Salisbury), Rowan County, North Carolina.
His father was Captain James Brown [Jr.] of Company "C" of the Mormon Battalion. His mother, Martha Stephens Brown was the first wife of Captain James Brown. [For a list of Jesse's siblings see Menu on right.] When Jesse was 11 years old his mother died September 28, 1840.
Jesse was baptized a member of the LDS church March of 1840 in Kingston, Adams County, Illinois, a few months before the death of his mother. His mother and father had been baptized June 1839.
In the spring of 1840 Jesse moved with his father, 7 brothers and one sister to Nauvoo.
In June of 1841 Jesse's father married Susan Foutz, daughter of Jacob Foutz, who was the missionary that taught their family the gospel. Jesse's father also married other wives under polygamy.
Jesse's father and family were in Augusta, Iowa at the time the Saints were driven from Nauvoo and they went to Winter Quarters. It was here at the age of 17 years in July of 1846 that Jesse [, his brother Alexander, his step-mother Mary McRee Black Brown and her son George David Black, and his father, James Brown,] joined the Mormon Battalion.
Jesse was with his father when they took the sick of the Battalion to Pueblo, Colorado for the winter. They left Pueblo the following spring and went to Fort Laramie, Colorado and followed the Oregon Trail to Fort Bridger and then followed the Donner route into Salt Lake and arrived there on July 29, 1847 five days after Brigham Young. That day "Captain Brown led twenty-nine wagons filled with soldiers, their families, and the Mississippi Saint to a campsite about one half mile north of the temple lot." (5)
All of those Battalion men were re-baptized on August 8, 1847. "The battalion men whose families were still in Winter Quarters left to go to their familes. Captain James Brown made one final trip to obtain severance pay due to men who had been on detached duty in Pueblo. He took several ex-battalion members and started for California. Accompanying him were Abner Blackburn, Lysander Woodworth, Jesse S. Brown, John S. Fowler (not a Mormon Battalion solder), Gilbert Hung, William Squires, and William Gribble."(5)
To quote from the history of Captain Brown written by his grandson Moroni F. Brown: "On the 10th day of August 1847 in company with nine others, Sam Brannan being the guide, he left Salt Lake City bound for San Francisco, California, for the purpose of obtaining from the government paymaster... the money due the volunteers of Company "C"... They 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." (2)
It is stated that Jesse gave an account of seeing the remains of the Hastings company who perished at Lake Donner the previous winter, "and how the awe-stricken travelers gazed upon the horrid scene."(2)
They reached San Franciso about the 10th of September. Twenty-three days later the small group returning to Salt Lake City reached Sutter's Fort with a twenty-three days supply but the journey back to Salt Lake took 48 days "hence Captain Brown and his company came near starving to death on the way back."(2)
"They left the old Fort Hall route and took what was called Hastings Cutoff. They had been informed that by taking this course they would reach Salt Lake City with at least two hundred miles less travel. This course led them southward across what is known as the Seventy-five Mile Desert."
"Three days were consumed in accomplishing the journey across the desert. They found water the third day about 2:00 p.m. Some of the animals had given out, and had been left on the desert. For three days these five men had subsisted on three very lean geese which Jesse had killed the day before the company arrived at the desert; and during that length of time they had no water. One or two members of the party gave out, and were so weak that they had to be assisted on their horses by their emaciated comrades. They arrived in Salt Lake City about the 1st of December 1847"(2)
"Only three of the men who went to California with Captain Brown returned with him -- his son Jesse, Abner Blackburn, and Lysander Woodworth. They were joined by Samuel Lewis, who had been discharged from the battalion earlier in Los Angeles and had been working for Sutter."(5)
It is impressive to note that his son Jesse was one of the few brave men to make the return trip from California.
Caroline Stewart Brown and Jesse Sowell Brown
Jesse [now 29] was married July 16, 1857 in [Yankee Jim's], Placer County, California, by C. P. Dykes, to Caroline Stewart O'Laughlin, who had two children from a previous marriage [to John H. O'Laughlin in 1851, separated 1856; he died 11 Oct.1856 in Carlin, Elko Nevada], named William Henry O"Laughlin and Delpha Jane O'Laughlin [b. 20 March 1855 at Healdsburg, Placer, California; md. Lucien "W" Horr; d. 23 Oct 1917 Ogden City Cemetery, Weber, Utah]..
Jesse and Caroline had the following children, all born in Ogden, Utah:
Jesse Franklin Brown b. 26 June 1858 Fillmore, Willard, Utah, ; md.Hannah Sutcliffe Holroyd 24 Oct 1878 in SLC; d. 23 Aug 1929 Ogden City Cemetery, Utah.
Martha Brown b. 14 Aug 1861 Ogden, Weber, Utah; d. 26 Jan 1872 at 10 1/2 yrs old.
Caroline Brown b. 1 Jan 1863; d. 21 Mar 1863 at nearly 3 months old.
Randolph Hockaday Brown b. 20 May 1864; md. Elsie Gisford in May 1900; d.13 May 1942
Mindia Alvereen Brown b. 6 Aug 1866; md. Denton Huntsman c. 1879; d 5 Jul 1938
James Moroni Brown b. 14 Nov 1869; md.(1) Sarah Ellen Stone 16 Dec 1891; md.(2) Mary Elizabeth Burch 6 July 1904; d. 19 Mar 1935;
Rose Letitia Brown b. 15 Nov 1871; md. Samuel Walker 8 June 1892 at Logan, Cache, Utah; d. 12 Jan 1964 Roy, Weber, Utah
Ice Vindia Agazine Brown b. 2 Dec 1874; md. Charles Stone 23 Dec 1895; d.17 Aug 1939
Caroline Stewart O'Laughlin Brown was the second daughter of William Stewart and Delpha Jones Stewart, she was born 28 August 1832 in [Alafoma], Cumberland County, North Carolina.. They were descendants of early English immigrants under Captain John Smith. The family moved to a large plantation where she Caroline was born. Her father with his brothers George, James and John moved from Carolina to Alabama in 1838 where they bought a larger cotton plantation and had many negro slaves. Her family were all baptized and received the L.D.S. Gospel May 5, 1842. She decided to join the Saints and crossed the plains with them. They came to Salt Lake City after suffering many hardships on the journey.
She met Jesse S. Brown and they married in [Placer County, California on July 16, 1857] and they went to live on a ranch 25 miles north of Sacramento, living there one year. They then returned to Utah where they settled in Promontory and lived there 12 years then moved to their farm on West Second Street.
[After the death of her husband Jesse, Caroline went to live with her daughter Rose Walker, where she lived until she was nearly 88 years old. Caroline was a conscientious, true Latter-day Saint. Hospitable and loyal to her family and friends. She was a beautiful woman and her character matched her physical charms. Her disposition was kind and gentle always, no matter what her trials were. Caroline Stewart Brown died March 21, 1920].
Jesse and his brothers, Alexander, James Morehead [Moorhead], and Moroni did a great deal of temple work on their line in the Logan Temple 23rd of June 1891.
Jesse Sowell Brown died the 29 January 1905 in Ogden, Weber County, Utah and is buried in the Ogden City Cemetery.
Bibliography:
1. Family group sheet for Captain James Brown and Marths Stephens submitted by Delpha B. Culley, a great granddaughter of James and Martha.
2. "Captain James Brown the Pioneer of Ogden", written by his grandson, Moroni F. Brown and published in "141 Years of Mormon Heritage" .
3. Ancestral File on the computer under Family Search (Family Group Sheet for Jesse Sowell Brown and Caroline Stewart).
4. Ordinance Index - This is the source for the name of William Henry O'Laughlin Brown.
5. "The Mormon Battalion" by Norma Baldwin Ricketts, Chapter 12 Detached Service.
6. Logan Temple Records, 23 June 1891.
Sources:
PAF - Archer files = Captain James Brown + Martha Stephens > Jesse Sowell Brown
Captain James Brown + Phoebe Abigail Abbott > Orson Pratt Brown
"History of Jesse Sowell Brown" written by Arlene L Miller for the dedication of a Mormon Battalion Marker on his grave, June 10, 2000.
Brown Book of Remembrance written by Hattie Critchlow Jensen and Loella Brown Tanner prior to 1948.
[Bracketed], bold, corrections, and photos added by Lucy Brown Archer
Jessie S. Brown and Caroline Stewart O'Laughlin marriage record was located by Erold Clark Wiscombe from Placer County, California, Film 1,295,539, ceremony performed July 16, 1857.
Copyright 2001 www.orsonprattbrown.com
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