James Stephens Brown (Mormon)


James Stephens Brown was a notable participant in the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California. He was also a member of the Mormon Battalion, a missionary, notable writer and speaker, and a prolific husband and father

Life and career

James Stephens Brown was born July 4, 1828 in Davidson County, North Carolina to Daniel Brown and Elizabeth Stephens.
In 1844 he was converted to "Mormonism" along with the rest of his family, and joined the rest of his coreligionists when they were driven from Illinois. After arriving in Winter Quarters on the Missouri river, he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion as a private. As a member of the Battalion he marched from the Missouri river to California, and was discharged in 1847.
To earn money to get to Salt Lake City, he and other members of the Battalion, including his uncle Captain James Brown and his son Jesse Sowell Brown, found employment with John Sutter who owned a mill. It was while working at this mill that James W. Marshall found the first pieces of gold, and Brown, after conducting some rudimentary tests, pronounced "gold, boys, gold!" This was the pronouncement that began the California Gold Rush of 1849.
Upon getting to Utah, he was a prominent speaker, and traveled speaking of his adventures with the Battalion and in California. He also served LDS missions in Tahiti, England, the US Territories, the United States, the Navajo Indians, and again to Tahiti.
In 1898 he was invited to be a guest of honor at the 50th anniversary of the discovery of gold in California celebrations.

Marriage and children

Brown married four wives.
Life of a Pioneer: Being the Autobiography of James S. Brown.
California Gold: an authentic history of the first find