Obedience Brown Boss (5th Great Grandmother)

Obedience "Aunt Biddie" Brown Boss

Born: February 28, 1799 at Lick Creek, Yadkin River, Rowan, North Carolina 

Died: October 9, 1850 at Ogden, Weber, Utah

Obedience Brown was born 28 February 1799, in Rowan County, North Carolina. She married 1818, in Rowan County, North Carolina, Philip Boss II, [born 22 January 1801?], in Rowan County, North Carolina, a son of Peter Boss and Mary Elizabeth Garner. His father was the son of Philip Boss I and Ann Speidel. Philip Boss II, the husband of Obedience Brown, died in Davidson County, North Carolina about the year 1835. Obedience then moved to Brown County, Illinois to be near her brothers. Philip and Obedience were the parents of 10 or 11 children. 1. Miss Boss, born 1819, at Rowan County, North Carolina. 2. William Boss, born 1820, at Rowan County, North Carolina. He married C. Frank. 3. Solomon Boss, born c.1832 4. Andrew Boss, born 1822, in Davidson County, North Carolina. 5. Philip Boss III, born 1824, in Davidson County, North Carolina. He married (1) Louise ________; he married (2) Elizabeth Allison. In 1870, he was still living in Brown County, Illinois. 6. Sally Boss, born 19 September 1825, in Davidson County, N.C. 7. Willis Boss, born 15 June 1827, in Davidson County, N.C. He married (1) Dorothy Hall, a daughter of Benjamin Kimball Hall. He married (2) Marinda Moffett. 8. Nancy Boss, born 26 March 1829, at Lexington, Davidson County, North Carolina. She married 26 November 1849, Daniel Berry Rawson. She died 20 August 1888, at Far West, Weber County, Utah, buried at Ogden, Utah. 9. Mary (Polly) Boss, born 13 January 1831, at Davidson County, N.C. She married 22 February 1848, Joseph Lazarus Matthews. 10. Henry Boss, born 1832, at Davidson County, North Carolina. He married J.A. _________ and remained in Illinois. In 1860, he was living in Brown County, Illinois. 11. John Boss, born 1 December 1835, at Davidson County, N.C. He married Elizabeth Hancock. In the 1860 Census there were five of Obedience’s husband’s brothers living in Brown County, Illinois, namely: Peter Boss, Andrew Boss, Henry Boss, John Boss, andWilliam Boss. After her brother James Brown was baptized he lost no time in carrying the 'glad tidings of great joy', as he expressed it, to his younger brother Daniel, and his sisters Mary Polly Brown, Nancy Brown, Martha Patsy Brown, and Obedience. Obedience was living in Brown County, Illinois when she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1842, she moved to a home near Nauvoo, Illinois in Hancock County. She was loved by all of her neighbors who knew her. Some of them called her "Aunt Biddie." During the year of 1844, the harassment of the Mormons by their "Christian" neighbors became very intense. One neighbor came to warn her that she had better get her family out of the house, as the mob was planning on burning the place. That night Obedience and her little ones took what they could carry and slept down near the swamps, thinking they would be safe there, but the mosquitoes nearly ate them up. The next morning she found that her home and all of its contents was burned to the ground. Some of the children went back to Brown County, Illinois where five of their uncles were living. Her sons Philip and Henry were still living there in 1860. Obedience tried to find employment for her other children to keep them from starving. Her 15-year-old daughter, Nancy Boss secured a position working in the household ofColonel Levi Williams. He was the leader of the mob that assassinated the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum Smith. Knowing that she was a Mormon girl, Col. Williams refused to let her out of the house. She cooked dinner for him and some of the mob before they started for Carthage jail. The Colonel had threatened her life if she tried to make an escape. She said the members of the mob carried on like so many demons as they planned the assassination. The night before they carried out the deed, they drank whiskey and then painted their faces black, and acted as though they had gone mad. She heard them boasting how they would kill the Mormon Prophet. Nancy’s room was upstairs and as she was sitting onthe stair steps, she overheard Col. Williams say; "Nits make lice, let’s kill her too!" She was so frightened she sat by her window and watched, not knowing if they were coming up to kill her also. After they murdered the Prophet and his brother, they came back to Colonel William’s home and seemed much frightened. They knew they had committed a terrible crime and they didn’t know what the citizens of Nauvoo might do to them in return. She said they acted like crazy men. Nancy was able to get a message to her Uncle, Captain James Brown, and he informed her that he would meet her in the woods nearby and wait for her to escape. The Colonel had taken most of her clothing away from her, but she put a few things in a bundle and threw them out of the window. She then took the empty water bucket to go out after some water. Once outside, she dropped the bucket, picked up her bundle, and ran for the woods as quickly as she could go, all the while fearing that she would be shot. She found her Uncle James Brown, mounted on his horse, waiting for her, and through him, she made her escape. This account was written down years later by Nancy’s youngest daughter, Samantha Dalene Rawson Rose. Obedience moved west with the Saints, bringing part of her family with her. She settled in Ogden, Weber County, Utah, near her brother, Captain James Brown, and her two sisters,Mary (Polly) Brown and Nancy Brown. Obedience died 9 October 1850, and was buried in the "old burial ground" in Ogden, Utah. A number of years later, in 1926, when the brickyard was under construction, her body was exhumed [Obedience may have been identified by a ring she was wearing when she was buried] and was on display in the County building, until a member of the family claimed the bones and had them buried in the Daniel Berry Rawson lot in the Ogden City Cemetery. Daniel B. Rawson was the husband of Nancy Boss, who escaped from Col. Williams in Illinois. Obedience’s remains were buried in the same grave lot with her infant granddaughter, Helen Obedience Boss, daughter of Willis and Dorothy Hall Boss, who died in 1857. Obedience is buried in the second grave north of her daughter, Nancy Boss Rawson, on 7th Avenue, near the road. Many of Obedience’s descendants still live in Ogden, Utah area. Donald D. Miller, who has offered much valuable help in the proofreading and other suggestions for this publication is one of her descendants. OGDEN STANDARD EXAMINER: Obedience Brown Boss is Captain James Brown's older sister. Sources: PAF - Archer files = James Brown + Mary Polly Williams Emmerson > Captain James Brown and sister Obedience Brown, among others. "The Brown Family" by Erold Clark Wiscombe, 1986. Pages 691. Pages 4, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 29. Copyright 2004 www.orsonprattbrown.com