John Henry Brown

This is an excerpt from "A Brief Biography of my mother, Eliza W. Brown" [daughter of John Brown and Sarah Munday] written by Nephi Brown ...Her father, John Brown, was born at West Lavington December 13 1816, and grew up there as a plain, industrious, farm laborer, working for 25 years on the same farm at a wage of eight shillings a week, or about $2.00 in USA money. (at the time this history was written). In this quiet village at about the age of twenty one, he married Sarah Munday, a girl about his own age. To them three daughters were born, Harriet, Sarah, and Eliza. Three other children were born to them, but died in infancy. The mother died of sudden illness when only about 30 years old. [Eliza then, went to live with her grandparents. They were kind to her ... however, were not in a position to keep her very long]. About a year later her father [John Brown] married Jane Wilkins. Mother {Eliza}, went home to live with them and when she was about five years old she began to go to school in a little thatched roof school house where the morning was spent in reading, writing and spelling. In the afternoon she was taught sewing. My mother {Eliza} and her father {John Brown} and her brother, George Brown, all took a very keen interest in the teachings of these missionaries. She was very anxious to emigrate to Zion. [Jane Wilkins Brown, Johns' second wife also died before the age of 30 due to poor health] [Eliza kept house for her father and brother after her step mother, Jane passed away] "A little more than two years slipped by and at the age of sixteen, the long looked for day arrived. On May 20, 1863, she with her father and brother, George, left England for Zion. Her sister Sarah remained in West Lavington. ...It took about two weeks to get to London and to make preparations for the great journey. their ship, the "Amazon" was anchored in the Thames, and a company of eight hundred and eighty two saints went on board that sailing vessel. The interest and curiosity of that great English novelist, Charles Dickens, was aroused and he went aboard the ship before it sailed; he wanted to know just why and where such a large group of emigrants were going and to find out what impelled them to go. Mr. Dickens directly interviewed quite a number of Saints, and among those were, my mother, Eliza Brown and her father, John Brown and brother George, and his impressions of what he saw and heard that day on the "Amazon" appeared in considerable length in his book "Commercial Traveler". On June 4, 1863, the ship set sail for the "Promised Land" under the direction of Elder William Bramwell. Information from alsope