Life of a Pioneer: Being the Autobiography of James S. Brown

by James S. Brown

THE month of October was occupied in traveling and preaching in the district where I was assigned to labor as a missionary. In fulfilling this calling I visited, besides the town of Nottingham, which was headquarters, Derby, Leicester, Burton-on-Trent, Radcliffe, Arnold, Hucknall, Mansfield, Pixton, Ilkiston, Woodhouse, Wirksworth, Mount St. Bernard, Tutbury and other places, preaching in some of them several times. On October 23, I visited the Mount Saint Bernard monastery, and a reformatory for incorrigible boys. The first named was a Catholic institution.

November was occupied similarly to October, and in addition to most of the places visited in the last named month, I was at Belper, Carlton, Coalville and other small towns. On the 11th I baptized three young women, Annie Simpson, Harriet Cadman and Eliza Bates. The weather turning cold and stormy, my health was not very good. Apostle C. C. Rich came on the 24th and on the 28th we went to Sutton, where I had to stop for several days, I was so ill.

The month of December had some very cold and stormy weather, but my health was somewhat improved. I continued in my missionary district, going to several new places. I was invited by Sisters Underwood and Burrows to take dinner on Christmas. Mr. Burrows was a policeman, and was not a member of the Church. I stayed with him at his home on Christmas night. The next evening we had a meeting in Radcliffe, at which an unpleasant spirit was displayed by some. I advised the Saints to fast and pray to get the Spirit of the Lord. Brother John was offended with this advice, and remonstrated, and when the meeting was dismissed there was a feeling of dissatisfaction among the people. On the 30th of December I was appointed to the presidency of the Nottingham pastorate, embracing the Nottingham, Derby and Leicester conferences of the Church. I was quite ill at this time, with the mumps. My appointment came from Apostles A. M. Lyman, C. C. Rich and George Q. Cannon, the presidency of the European mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The opening of the year 1861 found me quite ill, and for the first few days of January I was confined to my bed most of the time. On the 6th we held conference in Nottingham, and on the evening before, Elders A. M. Lyman, C. C. Rich, G. Gates, J. Gleason, C. Welsh, A. Orme and H. Druce came to meet with us. We had a good time at the conference. Elders A. M. Lyman and C. C. Rich stayed with us till the 11th, and I visited part of the time with them, going to various villages in the neighborhood, where they preached. During the remainder of the month I traveled and preached and attended to the conference books and business generally. Brother David John came to me on the 28th, being very sorry for the unpleasant remarks he had made, and we settled matters satisfactorily to both, parting with the best of feelings. The next day he and his family moved to South Wales. My health continued to be quite poor. On the 30th I took a shock from an electric battery, hoping it would do me some good.

My health was not much improved during the month of February; but I continued my missionary visits and other duties, writing to my father and family, and endeavoring to carry the Gospel message wherever I could. On the 13th, at the urgent request of Sister Mary Wilson, I visited her parents and sick sister at Newark, being kindly received and invited to call again. From the 19th to the 23rd, Elder C. C. Rich paid a visit to the conference and preached to the people.

On March 2nd I attended a meeting called at Pinxton to settle a difficulty among some of the members of the Church. It had continued about three years, but after a long meeting we succeeded in arranging matters, and three of the parties concerned agreed to repent and be baptized. My visits to the various branches continued. On the 6th I baptized Wm. Burton, Miss Cadman and Miss Betts. On the 12th I was associated in the confirmation of twelve persons who had been baptized by Elder J. C. Rich the evening before. On the 25th of this month I attended one of the Fowler and Wells lectures on phrenology, and was so interested that on the 28th I obtained a phrenological chart of myself.

I attended a tea party on April 1st, about two hundred persons being present. The evening was spent pleasantly, in singing, reciting and speech-making and partaking of lunch. The next day I baptized seven persons at Nottingham. In the course of my missionary duties, I called a meeting of the Mansfield branch on April 9, to settle a difficulty of long standing. I released from performing any Church official duties all who held the Priesthood, because of continual jarring and contention among them. On the 18th I went with some emigrating Saints to Liverpool, to assist them, settling their business and getting their tickets.

At Liverpool, on the 19th, I accompanied Apostle C. C. Rich on a search among the docks for a ship that could be chartered, but we were not successful in finding one. The next day the Saints went on board the ship Underwriter, which had been chartered previously for this company, and I assisted those who had come with me to get settled on the vessel. The next day, Sunday, the presidency of the mission went on the ship, where the company was organized with Elder Milo Andrus as president, Elders H. Duncan and C. W. Penrose as counselors, and John Cook as steward. The migrating Saints were also given appropriate instructions by Apostles Lyman, Rich and Cannon. Next day the vessel sailed, and on the following day, Tuesday, I returned to my missionary duties at Nottingham and vicinity. On the 29th, the day after holding a conference at Nottingham, I baptized six persons.

In the early part of May—the 5th—conference was held in Leicester, Apostle C. C. Rich being in attendance. He remained till the 9th, preaching to the people in different places. On the 17th I received a letter from Apostle George Q. Cannon, informing me that my district had been enlarged, the Lincolnshire conference being detached from Elder Joseph F. Smith's district and added to mine, so there were four conferences in my pastorate. On the 20th I baptized one man and two women who had been cut off the Church, but desired to return. Next day I was a spectator, with about forty thousand other people, at a review of the Nottingham Rifles, before the Duke of Newcastle, at Nottingham Forest. On the 25th Apostle G. Q. Cannon came from Liverpool, held meetings, and attended to business in conference.

On June 2nd I attended to three more baptisms, and on the 6th was at the Sheffield conference, which was in charge of Elder Joseph F. Smith. During my stay there I visited a large manufactory of steel and iron ware, and called on the Norfolk giant, but he was too ill to be seen. On the 13th I returned to Nottingham, traveling as far as Grantham with Apostles Lyman and Rich, who went on to London. The remainder of the month was occupied in my general duties. It was in this month that I wrote to the Millennial Star, explaining how my name was James Brown, and then because of others of the same name I became known as James Brown 2nd, then James Brown 3rd, and had concluded to take my mother's maiden name, Stephens, so that thereafter I would have an initial to distinguish me, and be known as James S. Brown.