Brown, along with other missionaries, including O T Cutter — a printer and publisher with technical expertise — had arrived in Assam’s Sadiya in 1836, supposedly on their way to China, but decided to not move forward and in 1841 reached Sivasagar.
A monthly news magazine called Orunodoi — a first for Assam — was published from Sivasagar in January 1846, with an American Baptist missionary, Nathan Brown, as its first editor. The publication ushered in a new era in Assamese journalism and literature.