David Brigham Brown

(1847 – 1920)

Descended from sturdy New England forbears, David Brigham Brown was born January 21, 1847 in Des Moines, Iowa. His father and mother were both faithful members of the church, having resided with the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois.   His mother, Lydia M. Lathrop, died of cholera while traveling to the great basin with the company of Saints in August, 1852.

Samuel, David’s father, continued with his family to Utah and settled in Fillmore where David grew to manhood. David early displayed a love for horses, was an expert with them, and with the pony express rider, carrying mail on the road between Fillmore and a point near Camp Floyd, northwest of Lake Utah.

The family later moved to Payson, Utah where David met and married Cynthia Selena McClellan on October 6, 1873. They moved to Gentile Valley, Idaho, where their first four children were born. Two other children were born in Grass Valley, Utah. Tragically, the last child was but a few days old when the mother sickened and died. They then married Anna Helena Rasmussen on February 11, 1885. When their first child, George Andrew, was one year old, David moved his family to San Luis Valley in Colorado. Two more children were born there.

The climate in the San Luis Valley could be severe, however. Crops were slow to mature and the hard winters took a heavy toll on livestock. David dust decided to move south. Working their way down the Rio Grande, the family finally stopped at Deming, New Mexico. There the Browns put up a livery stable and operated a kind of open house where meals were served and beds provided. This developed into “half-way” house for those living in the Mormon colonies, and was often used as a kind of headquarters for many of them. As church leaders visited the colonists, they frequently stayed at the Browns’, going and coming. Eventually, in the mid-1890s, David moved his family to Colonia Diaz. After another stay in Colonia Juarez, they settled in Chuhuichupa, farthest south of all the colonies. There David followed farming, stock raising and dairying. As his family grew, they married and settled near their parents, pursuing the same occupation.

Wherever David lived, he was active in the church, serving as a counselor in several bishoprics. He had a generous nature and, during their life together, he and Lenie made their home welcome to all who needed care and shelter. There was scarcely a time when guests were not living in the Brown home. To mention only a few, there were John and Rob Beecroft, David Fife, George and Mary Russell, and the three Elliott children, Louise, Romula and Jesse who were taken into the Brown home after the death of their mother.  The Browns took a young Mexican couple into their home, Dulce and Marie Gonzalez to work on the farm and help in the house. The Browns converted the couple to Mormonism with many of their children, in turn, continuing as active members of the Church.  Delbert and Blythe, the last of the Brown children, were both born in Chuhuichupa.  During all this time Anna Helena (known as Lenie) worked as a midwife and nurse, caring for the sick with love and kindness.

Along with others, David and his family left Chuhuichupa with most of their possessions at the time of the Exodus of the colonists in the summer of 1912.  They erected a livery stable in El Paso as a source of income.  Later yet, they rented a 500 acre farm in the Rio Grande Valley.  Nostalgia grew, however, and the Browns eventually returned to the colonies, first to Colonia Juarez and then to their beloved Chuhuichupa.  They loved the quiet little valley in the high Sierra Madre.  It was there that David died on August 9, 1920 and was buried in the little cemetery north of town.  Lenie closed her life on September 30, 1943 in Colonia Dublan.

Ruby S. Brown, daughter-in-law

Stalwarts South of the Border by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 70