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Jonathan Browning House and Gunshop |
Jonathan Browning House and Gunshop
Nauvoo, Illinois |
The name of Browning has become synonymous with fine guns. Jonathan invented one of the first repeating rifles and his descendants revolutionized the art of gunsmithing by inventing automatic shotguns, rifles and machine guns. Gunsmithing became a family tradition. | |
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Biography |
Jonathan Browning was born October 22, 1805 at Bushy Fork, Summer County, Tennessee. He married Elizabeth Stalcup on November 9, 1826. Jonathan was baptized on August 10, 1840 in Adams County, Illinois.Browning sold his gunshop in Quincy, Illinois and moved his family to Nauvoo in 1843. He immediately purchased the half-lot where his home and shop are located today. Browning was a member of the Nauvoo Library and Lierary Institute. | | |
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Jonathan Browning was trained as a blacksmith, and apprenticed as a gunsmith at the age of nineteen. He was offered a partnership by his teacher, Samuel Porter, but returned instead to his hometown of Brushy Fork, Tennessee, where he started his own business and married Elizabeth Stalcup. In 1834, he and his family joined his brother in Quincy, Illinois. Here, they learned of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the city he was building. They traveled up the Mississippi River to meet this man and learn of the new religion. They were converted and baptized in 1840, and moved to Nauvoo in 1842. Jonathan purchased his home from James Freeman Bird and set up his gunsmithing business. When the Saints left Nauvoo in 1846, the Brownings traveled as far as Winter Quarters, where they remained until 1852, assisting thousands of Saints on their journey west. | | |
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| Ray Hollenbeck hollenbeck49@earthlink.net 521 North 5th Street Burlington Iowa 52601-5126 United States of America Phone: (319) 752-0106 |
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