Percussion Harmonica Rifle crafted by Johnathon Browning, father of John Browning, and also carried

Percussion Harmonica Rifle crafted by Johnathon Browning, father of John Browning, and also carried by him during the Mormon Exodus.from Rock Island Auctions;According to renowned firearms expert and author Norm Flayderman very few of these unusual rifles are known to exist, and they are “rarely seen or traded on the open market place.” This example is one-of-a-kind and was manufactured in the 1840s in Illinois in either Quincy or Nauvoo. Its history can be traced back to members of the Browning family who stated that it was passed down from father to son for generations directly from Jonathan Browning who carried the rifle with him while walking with the wagon train from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Utah due to the violent persecution of the Latter Day Saints sanctioned by state governments in the East. Browning was trained in gunsmithing and blacksmithing in Tennessee. He opened his own shop in Quincy, Illinois, and designed his “slide action” rifle in 1834. He was Quincy’s justice of the peace and personally knew Abraham Lincoln when he was still a young lawyer on the Illinois court circuit. He converted to Mormonism after personally meeting Joseph Smith and his followers in nearby Nauvoo. Hostility towards Mormons in Quincy caused him to sell his property and join his fellow Latter Day Saints in Nauvoo in 1842. There he continued to build firearms that helped the Mormons protect themselves from violent persecution. Soon though, the violence escalated and Smith himself was gunned down. The remaining Mormons were driven from Illinois. Browning temporarily settled in Council Bluffs, Iowa, before joining the Mormon migration to Utah in 1852. During that migration this rifle no doubt provided a sense of security during the dangerous journey of 1,000+ miles on foot. Once settled in Ogden, he and his sons repaired the firearms of other settlers until he died in 1879. He was the father of the famed American firearms innovator John Moses Browning famous for his numerous designs that led to the creation of many iconic firearms including multiple Winchester lever actions, the Browning Auto-5, Colt Model 1911, Browning Auto Rifle, Browning .50 caliber machine gun, and the Browning Hi-Power. -- source link

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