Daniel Brown (1822-1899)

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Biography

Daniel Brown was born 2 October 1822 in Saltfleet Township, Wentworth County, Ontario, Canada to Francis Brown (1801-1838) and Abigail Edmunds (1800-1823) and died 21 October 1899 Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, California, United States of unspecified causes. He married Harriet St. John (1829-1920) 29 January 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, United States.

Daniel Brown was born 2 October 1822 in Canada, one of two children. He was one year old when his mother died. His father married Mary Quade, fathering seven more children. It is uncertain when the family joined the Church but likely in Canada before traveling to Missouri by 1838 where his father signed a petition for relief from the persecutions. His stepmother stated that a body of armed men came to their home and ordered the family to leave the next morning. She stated further that her husband was sick at the time, and died in the fall of 1838 while traveling into the adjoining county to the east. Eventually arriving in Nauvoo, the family was active in temple work.

Mormon Battalion Veteran

Participant in the march of The Mormon Battalion. This unit of the US Army served in the Mexican-American War and was the only religiously based infantry unit ever created by Presidential order. It consisted of nearly 500 men recruited exclusively from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the Mormons). They undertook the longest infantry march in U.S. military history (as of 1847) and in the process marked out and creating the first continuous wagon road to California which linked the future states of New Mexico, Arizona, and California to the United States. Most members served an initial 12 month term (Jul 1846- Jul 1847) with some members re-enlisting for an additional 12 months afterwards.

Daniel married a young 16-year-old girl, Harriett St John in January 1846. Leaving Nauvoo with the exiled Saints, he and his wife volunteered for the Mormon Battalion at Mt Pisgah on July 7 and continued to Council Bluffs where he mustered at age 23 in Company E, the last company to be organized. Harriett served as an official laundress. On the Brigham Young return (church roster), he indicated he had two in his family including his wife Harriett who was “with self.” It is unclear who the extra person was, which could have been his stepmother or possibly Harriett’s mother since her father was with the Battalion. Or he counted himself, which wasn’t the normal procedure.

Daniel had several family members who had already joined the Battalion. His brother John Brown (1819-1887) was in Company A. His half-brother Francis was in Company B. His wife’s father, Stephen St. John, also joined in Company E. From his clothing allowance he received at Fort Leavenworth, he sent $10 to his mother-in-law who was located at Pt Pisgah. In November 1846, his mother-in-law received $7 and $3 in December.

In a pension application he noted he was hurt on the Rio Grande New Mexico in October by being thrown by a wild horse and was completely disabled for over ? years. He tried to continue to California with his brothers and father-in-law while his wife was sent to Pueblo. But about three weeks later on November 10, he left with the many sick men of the Willis detachment, spending the winter in Pueblo with his wife where they wrote letters to his stepmother, Mary. They traveled with the detachments to Utah, arriving 29 July 1847.

Later Years

On August 8, 1847, Daniel attended a sacrament meeting in Salt Lake City where instructions and assignments were given as they continued to build a fort for the incoming companies. His father-in-law, Stephen St John, who was discharged in California, penned a letter to Willard Richards in January 1848 noting he arrived in the valley in October and found “the Boys Brothers G [George] Allen D [Daniel] Brown, T. C. D. Howel, J. [John] Spidle together have got in eight acres of wheat.”

Soon after arriving in Salt Lake, Daniel and Harriett were divorced and Daniel never remarried. According to Newman Buckley’s autobiography, Daniel returned to Iowa in 1848 with veterans Newman, Frederick Forney and Richard Sessions. He applied for bounty land benefits in 1850.

After discharge in California, his brothers John and Francis, also made their way to Missouri by the 1850 census to help their mother, most returning to California along with other family members by 1852. Daniel was the only one of the three veterans who remained in California with his stepmother Mary along with another brother Joseph and his family. He and his stepmother Mary joined the RLDS Church in California in 1865. Mary was living with him by 1880 and died in his home in 1882. He died in 1899. They are buried in the same cemetery in Santa Cruz along with Joseph.

Siblings

Offspring of Francis Brown (1801-1838) and Abigail Edmunds (1800-1823)
Name	Birth	Death	Joined with
John Brown (1819-1887)	24 August 1819 Quebec, Canada	11 June 1887 Leeds, Washington County, Utah, United States	Eleanor Male (1828-1904)
Daniel Brown (1822-1899)	2 October 1822 Saltfleet Township, Wentworth County, Ontario, Canada	21 October 1899 Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, California, United States	Harriet St. John (1829-1920)

Offspring of Francis Brown (1801-1838) and Mary Ann Quade (1806-1882)
Name	Birth	Death	Joined with
Francis Brown (1827-1872)	2 November 1827 Ridgeway, Orleans County, New York, United States	26 December 1872 Cottonwood, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States	Magell Mancheeta (1835-1857) Elizabeth Ann Birch (1823-1899)
Mary Ann Brown (1829-)
Samuel Brown (1830-1831)
Eunice Brown (1832-1889)
Israel Brown (1833-1901)
Susan Brown (1835-)
Joseph Brown (1837-1873)

Residences

Footnotes (including sources)

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