James Stephens Brown

Born in Davidson County, North Carolina; baptized in 1846; left North Carolina in 1846 to join the exodus of Latter-day Saints to the West; served in Mormon Battalion, 1846–47; remained in California following discharge; present at Sutter’s Mill in January 1848 when gold was discovered; called as missionary to Society Islands in 1849; traveled partway from Salt Lake City to California in company with GQC; returned to Utah in 1852 when Society Islands Mission was closed; served as missionary to the Indians of southern Utah prior to fulfilling mission to Great Britain in 1860; called on mission to eastern U.S. in 1872; served as missionary in French Polynesia, 1892–93; died in Salt Lake City. (See Jenson, BE, 3:30–31; Brown, Life of a Pioneer; Landon, To California in ’49, 181; Ellsworth and Perrin, Seasons of Faith and Courage, 19–30; Ellsworth, Journals of Addison Pratt, 585; Ricketts, Mormon Battalion, 359; Owens, Gold Rush Saints, 386; GQC journal, Dec. 15, 1850.)