David & Charilla Browning

David Elias Browning (1829-1901), son of Jonathan Browning and Elizabeth Stalcup, was a Tennessee native, an early Mormon pioneer, and a farmer in Ogden, Utah. In January of 1853 he married Charilla Abbott, whom he affectionately called "Rily," and together they had eight children. Around 1874, David built a cedar clad farmhouse with handmade nails and local brick on his large farm at Old Post Road near Burch Creek in South Ogden. He was a half-brother to the famous gun inventor John Moses Browning and served as a sealer of weights and measures, a sergeant-major in the first Utah territorial militia, an accomplished violinist, and a detailed journal writer. His journal includes an entry dated January 10, 1870, about the first railroad ride for him and his wife at the opening of the Utah Central Railroad, noting, "We had quite a celebration---". David and Charilla also had a brick home on 29th Street in Ogden, and David Elias was dubbed "Browning's Papoose" by the Shoshone chieftain "Little Soldier" because of his kindness to the tribe. Charilla Abbott Browning (1829-1914), daughter of Stephen Abbott and Abigail Smith, was a New York native, an early Mormon pioneer, and arrived in Utah in 1849. For some time she lived in Brown's Fort, now known as Fort Buenaventura. Charilla was the first school teacher in Weber County and recalled teaching in a small log house plastered with mud, with two small windows, a ground floor, slab benches, few books, chicken-quill pens, alphabet letters pasted on paddles for the A,B,C class, and winter paths made for pupils by dragging logs through the snow with oxen. The farmhouse also served for a time as an early post office in the area, and the house was moved to this site in 2007 to preserve it and its history.

Ogden, Utah · United States