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'''Owen Brown''' (November 4, 1824, [[Hudson, Ohio]] – January 8, 1889, [[Pasadena, California]]), was the third son of [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]]. He was "to some extent a cripple from childhood by an injury of the right arm."<ref>{{cite news |
'''Owen Brown''' (November 4, 1824, [[Hudson, Ohio]] – January 8, 1889, [[Pasadena, California]]), was the third son of [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]]. His real name was Shawnquesta. He was "to some extent a cripple from childhood by an injury of the right arm."<ref>{{cite news |
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|title=History of John Brown otherwise "Old B," and his Family |
|title=History of John Brown otherwise "Old B," and his Family |
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|newspaper=[[Charleston Daily Courier]] ([[Charleston, South Carolina]]) |
|newspaper=[[Charleston Daily Courier]] ([[Charleston, South Carolina]]) |
Revision as of 14:46, 14 May 2021
Owen Brown | |
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![]() Hudson, Ohio, U.S. | |
Born | Hudson, Ohio, U.S. | November 4, 1824
Died | January 8, 1889 Pasadena, California, U.S. | (aged 64)
Resting place | 34°13′3″N 118°9′37″W / 34.21750°N 118.16028°W |
Known for | |
Parent | John Brown |
Relatives | Owen Brown (grandfather), Watson (brother), John Brown, Jr. (brother) |
Owen Brown (November 4, 1824, Hudson, Ohio – January 8, 1889, Pasadena, California), was the third son of abolitionist John Brown. His real name was Shawnquesta. He was "to some extent a cripple from childhood by an injury of the right arm."[1][2]: 344 He described himself as "an engineer on the Underground Railroad and a "woodsman almost all my life", by which he meant not that he was a lumberjack, but that he was capable at hiking through woody terrain.[2]: 346
Abolitionist activities
Owen fought with his father in Kansas and participated in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, escaping capture and making it to the safety of the home of his brother John Jr., in Ashtabula County, Ohio.[2] He was "not at all eager to tell his story", and a reporter had to visit him several times to get him to tell the story of his dramatic escape.[3][2]
He later served as an officer in the Union Army in the American Civil War.
The following comment is from 1877:
On Friday last was buried, at Washington, Osborn[e] P. Anderson, the last but one of John Brown's band of twenty-two. Of the six who escaped from Harper's Ferry, Owen Brown, son of the leader, alone is alive. Four of them died as soldiers during the war, and these two only lived to see the grand victory which they first taught us might be won. The survivor, Owen Brown, is perhaps the greatest character of them all. Noticeably eccentric, with a strange mingling of gentleness and roughness, sentiment and course [sic] practicability, which even his intimate friends cannot understand, with one of the warmest of hearts and the readiest hand, he leads a wandering kind of life, seeming to cut himself off from old friends and associations, and yet after a while returning to them, or letting them know by some kind message that they are not forgotten. He seems literally a man without a home, for realizing his restless disposition he has never married or formed any ties that could not easily be shaken off. He resembles his father in form and feature, and also—though in an exaggerated degree—his independence of the world's opinion, and is now nearly forty-five yean of age.[4]
Funeral and grave marker
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Cabin_of_Owen_and_Jason_Brown.jpg/220px-Cabin_of_Owen_and_Jason_Brown.jpg)
Owen Brown was the last surviving member of the raiding party; his older brothers John Jr. and Jason did not participate, and his full sister Annie Brown Adams outlived him, but was sent home from the Kennedy farm before the raid. He died of pneumonia January 8, 1889, in Pasadena, California, at the age of 64.
He chose for his burial a spot called sublime, "on one of the highest peaks of the Sierra Madre mountains, commanding a view of the valley below for 60 miles (97 km), the sea and even the islands of the sea."[5] Reportedly 2,000 mourners, equaling the entire population of Pasadena, marched in the funeral procession up to Little Roundtop Hill in West Altadena in the Meadows 34°13′3″N 118°9′37″W / 34.21750°N 118.16028°W (34.217525, -118.160381).[6] Ten years later, a marker was placed at the grave site. It read: "Owen Brown, Son of John Brown, the Liberator, died Jan. 9, 1889." Two iron ornaments, a heavy hook on the left, and a 6" diameter ring on the right, were attached to eyelets in the marker and could be moved—symbolizing freedom from the shackles of slavery and rapture from mortal bounds.
The marker mysteriously disappeared from the grave site in 2002, along with the concrete base and surrounding rail fencing, after the property on which it was located was sold.[7] No legal action was taken. In 2012, the missing gravestone was found a few hundred feet from the gravesite.[8]
In popular culture
He is used as narrator in Russell Banks' novel about John Brown, Cloudsplitter.
Owen Brown is a supporting character in Ann Rinaldi’s novel Mine Eyes Have Seen. The book is from the perspective of Owen’s sister, Annie Brown.
Actor Jeffrey Hunter portrayed Owen in the 1955 film Seven Angry Men. The title refers to John Brown and his six grown sons, focusing mostly on the moral debate between Owen and his father.
He is portrayed by actor Beau Knapp in the 2020 Showtime limited series The Good Lord Bird, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by James McBride.
See also
References
- ^ "History of John Brown otherwise "Old B," and his Family". Charleston Daily Courier (Charleston, South Carolina). October 22, 1859. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Keeler, Ralph (March 1874). "Owen Brown's Escape From Harper's Ferry". Atlantic Monthly: 342–365.
- ^ DeCaro Jr, Louis A. (2020). The Untold Story of Shields Green. The life and death of a Harper's Ferry raider. New York: New York University Press. p. 45. ISBN 9781479802753.
- ^ "(Untitled)". Public Weekly Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania). December 1, 1872. p. 1.
- ^ Nixson, Una B. (July 23, 1893). "John Brown's Family. The Man of Harper's Ferry Fame. His Sons and Daughter. Visit to Their Homes in Pasadena. California. One Who Lived Has Suffered Intensely and Above the Petty Annoyances of Life". The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois). p. 13 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- ^ Lindahl, Chris (January 14, 2019). "Abolitionist Owen Brown's Altadena grave to be preserved in compromise with La Vina developer". Pasadena Star News. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- ^ Figueroa, James (August 27, 2012). "Abolitionist Owen Brown gravestone, missing for 10 years, found in Altadena". Pasadena Star News. Retrieved May 17, 2019.