Jonathan Browning

Jonathan Browning was an inventor and gun maker. He was born on October 22, 1805, in Sumner County, Tennessee. He started earning his living as a blacksmith and later switched to become a lock and gunsmith. He invented a 'sliding breech' repeating rifle also called a Harmonica gun between 1834 and 1842.

He lived in Quincy, Illinois where he had lived since 1834 and ran a successful gun-repair business. He was also the justice of the peace and traveled to nearby Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1840 where he met Joseph Smith. He was so impressed with him, he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His conversion led to him being ostracized in Quincy, so he sold his business and in 1843, he moved with his family to Nauvoo and reestablished his business on Main Street. The guns he produced in Nauvoo possessed a unique engraved plate on the stock reading “Holiness to the Lord – Our Preservation.”[1]

Browning fled Illinois with the Saints in late 1846 to escape religious persecution. He settled in the temporary community of Kanesville, Iowa (now Council Bluffs), and repaired guns for the settlers who were migrating to Utah. He was awaiting Brigham Young to invite him to join the main body of settlers in Utah. Browning wanted to join the Mormon Battalion but was told by Brigham Young that his skills would not be needed by the soldiers as much as they would be by the main body of pioneers in Kanesville.[2]

In 1852, Browning received word from Young that he should join the main body of the Saints in Utah Territory, so he left his gun shop in Iowa and captained a group of pioneers to the Rocky Mountains. He settled in Ogden and established a gun shop there. 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. He died on June 21, 1879.

As an acknowledgment of his great contribution to society, his descendants helped fund an authentic restoration of the Browning Home and Gunshop in Nauvoo in the 1960s, one of the first buildings in Nauvoo to be restored.

The Jonathan Browning home and gun shop in Nauvoo is owned and maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is open for tours during select hours seven days a week.

His son John M. Browning surpassed his father's work as a gunsmith and inventor.