Jonathan Browning was born on October 22, 1805, on his father's farm 3.4 miles west on Mt. Vernon Road. He apprenticed with Nashville gunsmith Samuel Porter. Six years after rebuilding his first rifle at age 14, Browning built a gun shop on the farm. In the 1830s, he opened a second gun shop in Davidson County. He moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, about 1840, where his restored gunsmith shop is located. In 1852, he migrated with Mormon Pioneers to Ogden, Utah, where son John M. Browning and his brothers founded the Browning Arms Company.