Browning Brothers, 1878
John Moses and Matthew Sandefur Browning were born in Ogden’s earliest days and became world leaders in gun manufacturing. Their father, Jonathan Browning opened a gunsmith shop in Ogden in 1852, and the two brothers worked in the shop all through their childhoods.
They made their first gun when John was ten and Matthew was six. With their father gone for the day, they secretly set to work. When the gun was complete, they walked up into the hills to test fire it. After two attempts, they fired the gun and brought home a bird for dinner. When the boys confessed their secret project, Jonathan responded: “Let me see that gun....John Mose, you’re going on eleven, can’t you make a better gun than that?”
In 1878 the brothers took over their father’s gun shop and founded Browning Bros. Matthew was the salesman and handled their business concerns while John invented and manufactured the guns. Frank Rushton, a gunsmith from England, joined the company and helped them set up their new factory in 1880.
Representatives from Winchester came to Ogden in 1883 to meet with the brothers. Winchester purchased one of John’s designs for $8,000, beginning a long working relationship between the two companies. Later the Browning brothers licensed their designs to Fabrique Nationale de Herstal in Belgium. Browning’s designs continue to be some of the most popular firearms and have been manufactured by hundreds of factories around the world.
John died in Belgium in 1926 while working on a design for a new self-loading pistol. Matthew had died in 1923 after serving on the boards of several companies in Ogden and becoming one of the most important financiers in the western United States. He also served as mayor of Ogden for two years. The two brothers had worked closely together throughout their lives, and their legacy continues to this day.
Matthew S. Browning
John M. Browning
