Jonathan Browning (October 22, 1805 – June 21, 1879) was an American inventor and gunsmith.

Early life

Jonathan Browning was born October 22, 1805, in

Sumner County, Tennessee Sumner County is a county located on the central northern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee, in what is called Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 196,281. Its county seat is Gallatin, and its largest city is Hen ...

. He began his career as a blacksmith, but by 1824 switched to become a gunsmith after an apprenticeship with Samuel Porter in Nashville. He began producing firearms independently by 1831 and shortly thereafter invented a "sliding breech" repeating rifle also called a

Harmonica gun A harmonica gun or slide gun is a form of firearm which was breech loaded with a steel slide, containing a number of chambers bored in it and which were filled with projectiles. Most harmonica guns are percussion cap guns, although some design ...

between 1834 and 1842 while living in

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

. Each

took two weeks to manufacture by hand and were available to purchase for $24.00. Browning moved his family to White's Creek, near Nashville, about 1827 and resided there until the spring of 1833. Jonathan, moved with his extended family and spent a season in Fairfield, Illinois, visiting with his sister Clarissa Neel. About 1834, Jonathan and his brother James Green Browning bought farms thirty miles northeast of Quincy in La Prairie, Illinois. A family story has been passed down that he came to know a young lawyer by the name of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

who was an overnight guest in his home on at least two occasions.

Missouri period

In October 1838, Governor

Lilburn Boggs Lilburn Williams Boggs (December 14, 1796March 14, 1860) was the sixth Governor of Missouri from 1836 to 1840. He is now most widely remembered for his interactions with Joseph Smith and Porter Rockwell, and Missouri Executive Order 44, known ...

issued the Extermination Order that caused the followers of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, h ...

to flee

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Browning came into contact with many of the

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into sever ...

exiles. Curious about the new settlement in the swampy lands of

Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its historic importance and its ...

, Browning paid a visit, meeting with the Latter Day Saints president

, which influenced Browning to convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.''Manuscript History of the Church'', LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). ''The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) 1:302–03. H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters (1994). ''Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 160.

Nauvoo period

Jonathan Browning Home and Gunsmith Shop

Browning moved to

and joined the community in 1842, buying the Bird home and adding a connecting gunshop. In 1844, the Prophet

was assassinated, and Browning was among the group which later fled Nauvoo in 1846. Guns that Browning produced as a Mormon gunsmith were labeled "Holiness to the Lord - Our Preservation". The Jonathan Browning Home and Gunshop built in 1842 was restored during the 1960s. Registered with The Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, the museum is open to the public at no charge.Mormon Historical Sites
"Jonathan Browning Home and Gunshop, Nauvoo, Illinois", Retrieved July 26, 2018.

Utah period

Browning fled Illinois with

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...

in late 1846 to escape religious persecution. He settled in the community of Mosquito Creek near

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is loc ...

and repaired guns for the local settlers who were migrating to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, while awaiting

to invite him to join the main body of settlers in

. When the

Mormon Battalion The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July ...

was formed during the War with Mexico, Browning wanted to join them, but was told by Young that his skills would not be needed by the soldiers as much as by the main body of pioneers in Kanesville. Browning received word from Brigham Young to join the main party of settlers in 1852. He left Mosquito Creek, Iowa, July 8, 1852, and migrated across the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

as the captain of ten wagons in the Henry W. Miller Company. He arrived October 2, 1852, with six wagons and $600 to the

Salt Lake Valley Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total p ...

. Browning moved to

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

, where he established a gun shop. As was common in the community at that time, Jonathan Browning was a

polygamist Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

, having taken three wives. He fathered 22 children and had two stepdaughters; prominent among them was the gun designer John Moses Browning, who became one of the most important figures in the development of modern automatic and semi-automatic firearms; and Matthew Sandefur Browning (1859 – 1923), co-founder of Browning Brothers. Jonathan ran his gun shop and invested in real estate in Ogden. He was a member of the Utah Territorial Assembly (1853-1854), and also served as Justice of the Peace and Probate Judge for Weber County, Utah Territory. His primary focus though, was on his gun shop located along present-day Washington Avenue in Ogden. His son John Moses later recalled, "We ridiculed some of the guns we fixed, and I damned some of them when Pappy wasn't near, but it never occurred to us to make better ones. He was too old, and I was too young." Jonathan died June 21, 1879 in Ogden.

References

*John Browning & Curt Gentry.'' John M. Browning, American Gunmaker.'' New York: Doubleday, 1964.

External links

Jonathan Browning Home and Gun Shop

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Jonathan 1805 births 1879 deaths Latter Day Saints from Tennessee 19th-century American inventors Converts to Mormonism Firearm designers Mormon pioneers Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from Illinois People from Sumner County, Tennessee