John Brown (1820–1897) was a leader among the Mormons in the southern United States and in the pioneer exodus to the West. He was also a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature. Brown was born in Sumner County, Tennessee. He was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Perry County, Illinois, by George P. Dykes. Brown later served as a Mormon missionary in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Liverpool, England. He headed a group of Latter-day Saints, mainly from Mississippi, who moved west in 1846. They did not realize that the main body of the church had stopped at Winter Quarters, Nebraska, and they ended up wintering in Pueblo, Colorado. Brown himself had headed back east to meet with higher up church leaders, and was part of the pioneer company hea