Hugh B. Brown - Early Life

Early Life

Brown was born in Granger, Utah to Homer Manley Brown and Lydia Jane Brown. He later recorded the event of his birth: "It is alleged that I was born in Granger, Utah, in 1883, on the 24th of October. I was there but do not remember the event. However, my mother was an honest woman and I must take her word." His father had a small farm and orchard. When Brown was fourteen, Homer Brown left Utah with his oldest son to establish a farm in Spring Coulee, in western Canada. Hugh was the oldest son left in Salt Lake, and he and his sister Lillie, eighteen months his senior, took care of the farm and orchard until their father sent for the family.

Brown was fifteen when his family moved to Alberta, Canada. Shortly after his eighteenth birthday, he traveled to Logan, Utah, to attend Brigham Young College. Brown also attended Utah State Agricultural College which is now Utah State University. Dr. John A. Widtsoe suggested a career in agriculture for Brown. After a brief period at the college, Brown was called to England as a missionary for the LDS Church, serving under Heber J. Grant from 1904 to 1906. Upon his return, Brown established a home in Alberta for Zina Young Card, a childhood friend whom he married in 1908. The first six of the couple's eight children were born in Canada.