Ebenezer Brown and Ann Weaver

Ebenezer Brown
Treasures of Pioneer History, Vol. 4, p. 434

Ebenezer Brown was born in New York, December 6, 1802, the eighth child of William and Hannah Sweet Brown. The family moved to Crawford County, Pennsylvania where he spent much of his boyhood helping to clear heavily timbered land for farming.

On July 20, 1823 he married Ann Weaver by whom he had five children. He was baptized into the Latter-day Saints Church in 1835, and soon after, he with his family and a brother, William, came west with the Saints to Ohio and later to Missouri. Finally they settled in Quincy, Illinois where on the 20th of July, 1842 his wife died, leaving four children. Later he married a widow, Phebe Draper Palmer.

Ebenezer Brown was among the five hundred men who answered the call of the Mormon Battalion. His wife, Phebe, went along with them as laundress. His eldest daughter was married and the boys, Guernsey, Norman and John were left in her care. He was Second Sergeant in Company A.

After enduring the pangs of hunger and thirst, footsore from walking many miles without covering for their feet, making roads and building bridges as they went, they at last reached their destination. Gold having been found in California, he, with others, stayed there to work to get means to come on to Salt Lake. He arrived in Salt Lake the latter part of 1849 and found his family there to meet him.

In 1850 they came to Draper, then called South Willow Creek, where he built the first home. He was also the first postmaster and served in the first bishopric. He passed away January 26, 1878 a faithful and fearless Latter-day Saint leader. — Eunice Waibeck

There is a bit more to Ebenezer's story.  He and his wife Ann were a part of the Dryden, New York community in the early 1800's so they would have most likely known the David Foote and Irene Lane family also of Dryden and my ancestors.  Ebenezer and Ann are ancestors of my husband, Glen.  He was not only called and accepted into the Mormon Battalion but brought the Ebenezer Brown Company back to the Salt Lake Valley. Click on the previous link to see more.  I am including a history of his second wife, Phebe Draper Palmer, who also marched with the Battalion as it is also Ebenezer's history.  If you visit the revamped visitor center about the Mormon Battalion in San Diego, California, you will find that Phebe and her youngest son, Zemira, are highlighted in the presentation.

Phebe Draper Palmer Brown  from the book Ebenezer Brown and Descendants  Phebe Draper Palmer Brown, the daughter of William and Lydia Lothrap Draper, was born in Rome, Oneida County, New York on October 9, 1797. The Drapers originally came from England to America in 1645  locating near Boston. The family spread through the New England states. In 1800, Thomas Draper and wife moved to Canada. His son, William, had left New York and settled in Pennsylvania. Phebe married George Palmer in 1815 in Canada when she was eighteen years old. To them were born seven children, Lovina, Osahel, William, Eliza, Lydia, Zemira and Rhoda. They joined the Church in 1833 and gathered with the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio. George died in 1835, leaving her with these small children. In the year 1836, Joseph Smith, Sr., gave her a blessing of comfort and promise. He told her if she was faithful and wise she would be blessed with a companion who would be a man of God, and that she would be able to bring up her family right; that she would have good, happy days. She suffered the hardships of the Saints, being driven from Kirtland to Missouri, and from Missouri to Quincy, Illinois, where the one promise of her blessing was fulfilled by her marriage to Ebenezer Brown in 1842, his wife having died and left him with a family of four children. They were driven from their comfortable homes into the wilderness, where they were camping in the year 1846. The call came from the government for five hundred of their best men to fight in the war with Mexico. The men were gathered at Council Bluffs, Iowa, where they left from, and were known as the Mormon Battalion. Ebenezer Brown enlisted. His wife, Phebe, also went as a laundress. She made many of the soldiers' burdens lighter by her kindness to them. They were mustered out of service in San Diego, California, March 14, 1848. Mr. Brown's younger children were left in care of a married daughter, Harriet, wife of Oliver Stratton. They arrived in the Valley before the parents. Gold being discovered in California, the parents being without money, decided to stay and wash out gold. She helped wash gold herself to help them on their journey back to the Saints who had gathered in Utah. She rode a mule (whose name was Ginny), all the way from California. In 1849, Brother Brown settled in Draper. She moved from Salt Lake in the spring of 1850 with the rest of the children, they being the first family to settle in Draper. In 1853, her husband married Samantha Pulsipher, and in 1854, he married Mary Elizabeth Wright. In 1870, Mary died, leaving a family of small children, which Phebe took care of, making three families she raised, her own and two of her husband's. She acted as first postmistress of Draper, held a position in the Relief Society and was a faithful member. She was a well read woman and had a fair education for that time. Her husband, Ebenezer Brown, died in 1878. She lived in Draper until her death on February 28, 1879, being 82 years of age, a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now back to Ann Weaver, the first wife of Ebenezer.  A grave marker has been placed in the Draper City Cemetery in her honor.  There is a discrepancy with the headstone. It shows her born in 1805 and the history shows 1806. The headstone was placed in the Draper cemetery next to Ebenezer even though she is buried in Illinois. It gives the family a place to leave flowers and honor her.

Ann Weaver This information comes from, The Faith of Phoebe, by Beverly Thompson  Ann Weaver was born August 5, 1806 in Saratoga County, New York. Her father John Weaver is of the line of the New England Weaver Family who settled in Rhode Island in the early 1620's. The ancestry of her mother, Catherine Reasoner, has not been found. Ann was one of thirteen children, she being the seventh child and the fifth daughter. Her family had moved to the Dryden area much the same time as Ebenezer's Family. Ann Weaver married Ebenezer Brown as his first wife 23 July, 1823 when he was twenty years old and she had not yet reached her seventeenth birthday. She had five children; Joseph Gurnsey and Harriet while in New York, Norman while in Pennsylvania, and John Weaver and infant daughter Ann while in Illinois. Ann died 24 June 1842 in Quincy, Illinois, where she was buried on Honey Creek. A marker, however has been placed beside Ebenezer's in the Draper Cemetery. Ann died right after giving birth to her last baby. The baby was placed in Ebenezer's arms where the baby died.  Ebenezer told Phoebe Draper Palmer, who was the midwife and a friend of the family. " This little girl will be named Ann after her Mother." Ann was buried with her baby daughter, Ann, in her arms on Honey Creek. For a more detailed history of Ebenezer written by his son, John Weaver Brown, go here. For even more enlightenment go here for the history of his son, Norman Brown.