Browning Home & Gun Shop – Nauvoo, IL

History: Browning Home & Gun Shop

After Jonathan Browning joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints he moved his family from nearby Quincy, Illinois and settled in Nauvoo in 1843 alongside other church members. In Quincy he had owned a successful gun-repair business and intended to do the same at his new home. In Nauvoo Browning built his gun shop attached to his new home on Main Street and was met with success. 

Both Jonathon Browning and his son John Moses Browning (later born in Utah) have quite an impressive record of inventions listed under their names. For example, Browning invented the repeating rifle and six-shot shooter and John Moses Browning would go on to invent the automatic machine gun. Even one of Browning’s grandsons would go down in history with a list of patents under his name and awarded Knighthood in the Order of Léopold by King Baudouin of Belgium for an “outstanding contribution to the Gun Making Art” like his father, John Moses Browning, 40 years before him.

During his time in Nauvoo, Jonathon Browning famously plated his guns with the phrase “Holiness to the Lord — Our Preservation.”¹ The settlement of Nauvoo by church members was preceded by a mass exodus out of Missouri as many saints were forcefully driven from their homes and fled for their lives following the Mormon extermination order set by Governor Boggs. The saints had good reason to highly value the ability to defend themselves. As one could imagine, Browning was highly valued for his skill, creativity, and contribution to society.