Samuel Brown was born February 1, 1801 in Alstead,
Cheshire County, New Hampshire to John Brown (AFN: 1P3J-76) and Betsy
Webster (AFN: 1P3J-8C).
He was married twice. The first wife listed in the
Ancestral File is Lydia Maria Lathrop by whom he fathered ten children.
He was also married to Harriet or Harriett Cooper of London, England by
whom he fathered one son. Grampa Bill does not know whether these two marriages were
sequential or plural.
Samuel Brown was an early convert to the Church.
Using a mathematical calculation from known, events, it seems he was baptized
in 1833. The following year he participated in the Zion's Camp expedition
to Missouri to relieve the suffering of the persecuted saints in Zion.
Shortly after the return from Zion's Camp, Brown
became involved in matters which shortly resulted in a High Council hearing.
The History of the Church recounts thusly: "Elder Nathan West preferred
charges against Samuel Brown, High Priest, for teaching contrary
to counsel, namely, encouraging the brethren in practicing gifts (speaking
in tongues,) in ordaining Sylvester Hulet a High Priest (without counsel)
in a clandestine manner; asserting that he had obtained a witness of the
Lord, which was a command to perform the same on receiving the gift of
tongues, which gift he had never before received, but afterwards said that
he had been in possession of that gift for the space of a year; and in
undervaluing the authority and righteousness of the High Council by charging
Elder West not to say anything that would tend to prejudice their minds,
lest they might not judge righteously.
The charges were sustained by the testimony of Leonard
Rich, Charles English, Brother Bruce, Edward Partridge,
Hiram Page, Roxa Slade, Caleb Baldwin, and Sylvester Hulet. President David
Whitmer gave the following decision, which was sanctioned by the council:
"According to testimony and the voice of the Holy
Spirit, which is in us, we say unto you, that God, in His infinite mercy,
doth yet grant you a space for repentance; therefore, if you confess all
the charges which have been alleged against you to be just, and in a spirit
that we can receive it, then you [Samuel Brown] can stand as a private
member in this Church, otherwise we have no fellowship for you; and also,
that the ordination of Sylvester Hulet, by Samuel Brown, is illegal
and not acknowledged by us to be of God, and therefore it is void.
Brother Brown confessed the charges, and gave up
his license {that is his licence to preach or the priesthood], but retained
his membership."
By the following year, he seems to have been fully
restored in the mind of the Lord and the Church leadership for in 1835,
perhaps because of his faithfulness in Zion's Camp and the Mission he filled
to Washington County, Illinois, he was called to the First Quorum of Seventy, thus entering the ranks of the General Authorities.
In December 1835 he wrote a report of his missionary
efforts:
Dear brother:
Almost three years have passed away since I embraced
the fulness of the gospel of Christ. During the above mentioned time, I
have travelled probably not less than eight thousand miles, and can say
of a truth, that I have been receiving additional evidences continually,
that the work in which I have been engaged, is of the Lord. Since the first
of December, I have seen the addition of about 130, to the church. Within
a few months past I have baptized six, and in company with other elders
fifteen more.
The churches in which I have labored, generally
are increasing in numbers, faith, and righteousness.
Yours in the bond of the new covenant.
Samuel Brown.
Elder Brown suffered in the Missouri Persecutions.
We read, "An election was to be held August 6, 1838, and members of the
Church intended to exercise their franchise. Their enemies vowed that they
should not vote. The mob bully, Richard Welding, full of liquor, made an
attack on Samuel Brown saying: "The Mormons were not allowed to
vote in Clay County no more than the negroes," and that they should not
vote now. Perry Durphy sought to suppress the difficulty and defend Brother
Brown. This aroused other members of the opposition who began to cry 'Kill
him, kill him,' and this may have happened if Riley Stewart had not struck
Welding on the head and brought him to the ground."
Elder Brown also endured the persecutions of the
Nauvoo era and went west with the saints after Joseph's Martyrdom. He died
September 13, 1882 in Payson, Utah.
The further particulars of his death are the following: While returning from a trip north to his home in Fillmore, in company with Bro. Josiah Call, he was waylaid by Tom Moke, Topoba, Topanawich and Panawich, of Peteetneet's band of Utah Indians, who shot him through the left breast, near the heart, cut his throat and scalped him, stripped him of his clothes and robbed him of all he had. He was in company with Josiah Call, who also fell a victim to their savage cruelties, and was shockingly mangled. They were both found thirteen days after they were killed. Bro. Brown's body was found covered up in the cedars by Reuben A. Mc Bride who brought it to Fillmore. Although the weather was warm and he had laid so long after he was killed, there was no smell or appearance of decay, till [sic] the next day after the body was brought and laid out.
We find that Elder Brown was somewhat of a poet and
copy here one of his writings.
INSPIRED WRITINGS.
Revelations now coming forth,
Are sublime and eternal truth;
In them Jehovah's voice proclaims,
This is my church, enrol your names.
The word of wisdom's a sure guide
To all who do the same abide;
Its promises are very great.
Though I the same need not relate.
Enbalmed records, plates of gold,
Glorious things to us unfold:
Though sealed up they long have been,
To give us light they now begin.
Long since to Daniel God did say,
"Seal up the book and go thy way:
For many shall be purified,
By sacrifice they shall be tried."
A noble man of ancient birth
Beheld the same spring from the earth:
And many more in visions saw
The books which now contain the law.
Judah's writing and Joseph's too,
Each testifies the other's true:
They teach the same when searched thro'
Believe them both, we're bound to do.
The Lord hath said "I'll make them one,
As I command let it be done:
For a short work I now will make,
And Israel from the heathen take."
"To their own lands on mountains high,
I'll bring them with a watchful eye;
To them the kingdom I'll restore
And be their king forever more.
The book of Jasher has been found,
And many more hid in the ground:
All these, with Enoch's book, unfold
And spread true light from pole to pole.
Those things are true we testify,
And all who do with them comply,
Will in eternity rejoice,
That they have made so wise a choice.
