BROWNELL NOTES

 

JULIA ANN BROWNELL MYLER

Mormon Pioneer of 1849

by her granddaughter

MARY JULIA MYLER ROBINSON

Center Los Angeles, CA

Julia Ann Brownell Myler was born on the 21st of February, 1826, in Dayton, Ohio. She was the daughter of Gideon Brownell and Elizabeth Wheeler Brownell who were thrifty, industrious citizens of Dayton, Ohio. Her father was a prosperous farmer who taught his children to be honest and industrious. Her grandfathers, Randall Wheeler and Benjamin Brownell, fought in the Revolutionary War. They helped our great nation to gain its independence. Thus, Julia Ann was taught by precept and example to love our great country and its founders.

She was a beautiful girl with brown eyes and black hair and a lovely complexion. She grew up in Dayton or near there.

Gideon Brownell was baptized in May, 1841. Julia Ann Brownell was baptized by her father at this time. They joined the Church while in Ohio and came to Nauvoo. She met my grandfather James Myler in Ohio. His parents moved to South Bend, Indiana when Grandfather was a young man, and he joined the Church and was the only member of his family to do so. We think he and Grandmother joined the Church in Ohio as they moved to Nauvoo with her parents and lived there during the mobbing of the Saints and the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo.

Julia Ann Brownell married James Myler on the 5th of October 1843. They were living in Nauvoo at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet. Both her father and her husband worked on the Nauvoo Temple. They received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple on the 28th of January, 1846. They were among the Saints driven from Nauvoo at the time of the expulsion. They had two small children at the time they were driven out and crossed the Mississippi River on the ice and camped on its banks in a covered wagon.

Her parents also were among those who were driven from their homes in Nauvoo. Grandfather Myler obeyed the call of Brigham Young and joined the Mormon Battalion as it was later called. He left Grandmother camped in a covered wagon with the wagon box upon the ground. It required brave women to see their husbands march away to an unknown destination not knowing if they would ever see their husbands again.

There was much sickness among the Saints due to exposure and cold. Her brother, Russell Gideon, also joined the Mormon Battalion. After Grandfather and her brother, Russell Gideon, were released in 1848, they made preparations to move to the Valley, and in the spring of 1849, they made the trip across the plains, Grandmother walking and carrying her baby, but never complaining. They arrived in the Valley and settled in North Cottonwood, which was afterwards called Farmington. Her father was made the Presiding Elder over this community of Saints. It was here my father was born on the 14th of September 1856. They remained there two years and then moved to Logan.

The Indians were very bothersome and Grandfather was an Indian Scout, and often left Grandmother alone with the children. Often the Indians would come push on the door to open it and frighten them. They were always taught by Brigham Young to feed the Indians when they came begging. The winters were cold and they had late frosts in the spring making their meager crops hard to grow, expecially vegetable which were needed for their health.

Three children were born in Logan to them. Grandmother had eleven children. After the children were grown and married, they made another last move to the Snake River in Idaho, in 1883. Here they settled on a farm and enjoyed seeing their grandchildren grow up. She was a fine cook and had to cook over a fireplace up to this time. She made delicious cookies and donuts for her grandchildren. She helped her children to nurse their children back to health. Father was very ill with typhoid at one time and she helped nurse him back to health. She was a real pioneer mother devoted to her husband and family and always had a lot of faith. Grandfather died in 1894 and she died in 1896.