Jonathan Browning (inventor)
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Bethpage, Tennessee, U.S.
(Present-day, Ogden, Utah, U.S.)
41°13′59″N 111°57′43″W / 41.233°N 111.962°W
(Present-day, Ogden, Utah, U.S.)
| Jonathan Browning | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 22, 1805 Bethpage, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | June 21, 1879 (aged 73) Ogden, Utah Territory, U.S. (Present-day, Ogden, Utah, U.S.) |
| Resting place | Ogden City Cemetery 41°13′59″N 111°57′43″W / 41.233°N 111.962°W |
| Home town | Ogden, Utah Territory, U.S. (Present-day, Ogden, Utah, U.S.) |
| Known For | Harmonica gun |
| Occupation | Blacksmith and Gunsmith |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Stalcup m. 1826, Elizabeth C. Clark m. 1854, Ann Emmett m. 1858 |
| Children | 22, including: John M Browning Matthew S. Browning |
| Parents | Edmund Browning Sarah B. Allen |
| Relatives | Including: Val A. Browning (grandson) |
Jonathan Browning (October 22, 1805 – June 21, 1879) was an American inventor and gunsmith.
Jonathan Browning was born October 22, 1805, in Sumner County, Tennessee. 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, between 1834 and 1842 while living in Quincy, Illinois. Each Harmonica gun 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, in 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.
In 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, who was an overnight guest in his home on at least two occasions.[citation needed]
Missouri period
In October 1838, Governor Lilburn Boggs issued the Extermination Order that caused the followers of Joseph Smith to flee Missouri. Browning came into contact with many of the Latter-day Saint exiles. Curious about the new settlement in the swampy lands of Nauvoo, Illinois, Browning paid a visit, meeting with the Latter Day Saints president Joseph Smith, which influenced Browning to convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.[1][2]
Nauvoo period
Browning moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, and joined the community in 1842, buying the Bird home and adding a connecting gunshop. In 1844, the Mormons’ leader, Joseph Smith, 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 Ensign Peak Foundation -- formerly The Mormon Historic Sites Foundation -- the museum is open to the public at no charge.[3]
