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Jonathan Browning

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Jonathan Browning

Birth
Sumner County, Tennessee, USA
Death
21 Jun 1879 (aged 73)
Ogden, Weber County, Utah, USA
Burial
Ogden, Weber County, Utah, USA Add to Map
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The Browning name has been synonymous with gunsmithing nearly 120 years. The family tradition of creating exceptional firearms began with Jonathan Browning, the inventor of a repeating rifle.
He set up business in Quincy, IL, just south of Nauvoo.
His position as judge brought him into contact with exiled Mormons who were daily arriving in Quincy in the winter of 1839 from Missouri. Curious about Mormonism and his Mormon neighbors who were settling 43 miles north where he met with the Prophet Joseph and soon converted. Neighbors shunned the judge and his family, who felt ostracized by those they had once called friends. Seeking happiness with friends in his new faith, Jonathan sold his gun shop and home in Quince and moved to Nauvoo. He purchased a half-lot on the east side of Main Street, this home/gunshop has been fully restored to its orginal condition by the Nauvoo Restoration Commitee. He even manufactured a unique feature of his Nauvoo guns with an engraved plate on the stock reading ``Holiness to the Lord - Our Preservation''
He arrived in the Rocky Mountains, among his fellow Saints, with six wagons, Jonathan settled with his family in Ogden, where he once again opened a gunsmith shop. Unfortunately, he never made another gun. His famous son John Moses Browning, credited with over 120 patents for firearms, worked with his father in the gunshop. John Moses once said that his father that he ``died of weariness, he had worked so hard that he finally tired out, he went to sleep and didn't wake up.''
The Browning name has been synonymous with gunsmithing nearly 120 years. The family tradition of creating exceptional firearms began with Jonathan Browning, the inventor of a repeating rifle.
He set up business in Quincy, IL, just south of Nauvoo.
His position as judge brought him into contact with exiled Mormons who were daily arriving in Quincy in the winter of 1839 from Missouri. Curious about Mormonism and his Mormon neighbors who were settling 43 miles north where he met with the Prophet Joseph and soon converted. Neighbors shunned the judge and his family, who felt ostracized by those they had once called friends. Seeking happiness with friends in his new faith, Jonathan sold his gun shop and home in Quince and moved to Nauvoo. He purchased a half-lot on the east side of Main Street, this home/gunshop has been fully restored to its orginal condition by the Nauvoo Restoration Commitee. He even manufactured a unique feature of his Nauvoo guns with an engraved plate on the stock reading ``Holiness to the Lord - Our Preservation''
He arrived in the Rocky Mountains, among his fellow Saints, with six wagons, Jonathan settled with his family in Ogden, where he once again opened a gunsmith shop. Unfortunately, he never made another gun. His famous son John Moses Browning, credited with over 120 patents for firearms, worked with his father in the gunshop. John Moses once said that his father that he ``died of weariness, he had worked so hard that he finally tired out, he went to sleep and didn't wake up.''

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  • Created by: John J
  • Added: Mar 24, 2002
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6287453/jonathan-browning: accessed ), memorial page for Jonathan Browning (22 Oct 1805–21 Jun 1879), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6287453, citing Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber County, Utah, USA; Maintained by John J (contributor 46505431).