Kaltenmeyer (talk | contribs) m Fix duplicate ref names – You can help! |
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}}</ref> He was described thus in the 1859 warrant for his arrest: |
}}</ref> He was described thus in the 1859 warrant for his arrest: |
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{{ |
{{blockquote|Owen Brown is thirty-three or thirty-four years of age, about six feet in height, with fair complexion, though somewhat freckled—has red hair, and very heavy whiskers of the same color. He is a spare man, with regular features, and has deep blue eyes.<ref name=Hinton>{{cite book |
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|title=John Brown and his men; with some account of the roads they traveled to reach Harper's Ferry, by Richard J. Hinton. |
|title=John Brown and his men; with some account of the roads they traveled to reach Harper's Ferry, by Richard J. Hinton. |
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|last=Hinton |
|last=Hinton |
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|location=Boston |
|location=Boston |
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|publisher=[[Roberts Brothers]] |
|publisher=[[Roberts Brothers]] |
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|url=https://archive.org/details/DKC0110/page/n1/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|202}} <!--He had in Kansas a "severe" case of "[[ague]]" ([[malaria]]).<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|242}}-->In his will, his father referred to Owen's "terrible suffering in Kansas and crippled condition from his childhood".<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|616}} He "had been badly injured after the campaign of June, and afterward very ill in Iowa, whither he had gone to regain his health.<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|315}} John referred repeatedly to "our crippled and destitute unmarried son".<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|605}} |
|url=https://archive.org/details/DKC0110/page/n1/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|202}} <!--He had in Kansas a "severe" case of "[[ague]]" ([[malaria]]).<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|242}}-->In his will, his father referred to Owen's "terrible suffering in Kansas and crippled condition from his childhood".<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|616}} He "had been badly injured after the campaign of June, and afterward very ill in Iowa, whither he had gone to regain his health.<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|315}} John referred repeatedly to "our crippled and destitute unmarried son".<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|605}} He wrote [[Lydia Maria Child]]: "I have a middle-aged son [Owen was 35], who has been in some degree a cripple from his childhood, who would have as much as he could well do to earn a living. He was a most dreadful sufferer in Kansas, and lost all he had laid up. He has not enough to clothe himself for the winter comfortably. I have no living son or son-in-law who did not suffer terribly in Kansas."<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|581}}<!--Salmon "accidently wounded after the fight [Black Jack], and liable to remain a cripple."{{rp|301}}--><!--"On the 6th or 7th of June last one of my sons was wounded by accident in camp (supposed to be mortally), and may prove a cripple for life."<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|244}}--> <!--Salmon " was dangerously wounded (if not permanently crippled) by accident near Palmyra".<ref name=Sanborn/>{{rp|242, 301}}--> |
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The nature of the injury is something Owen did not talk about. Brown biographer Richard Hinton only had vague information: "he had been physically unfortunate, when younger, in the injury of an arm or shoulder, I think, through which lie had suffered so severely as to prematurely age him, and produced a trouble of some kind by which he was subject to drowsiness. This, as well as being crippled in his arm, rendered him incapable of any very hard labor."<ref name=Hinton/>{{rp|556}}<ref>{{cite news |
The nature of the injury is something Owen did not talk about. Brown biographer Richard Hinton only had vague information: "he had been physically unfortunate, when younger, in the injury of an arm or shoulder, I think, through which lie had suffered so severely as to prematurely age him, and produced a trouble of some kind by which he was subject to drowsiness. This, as well as being crippled in his arm, rendered him incapable of any very hard labor."<ref name=Hinton/>{{rp|556}}<ref>{{cite news |
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===Psychologically=== |
===Psychologically=== |
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He was also said to most resemble his father psychologically: |
He was also said to most resemble his father psychologically: |
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{{ |
{{blockquote|There was in Owen Brown, it is said[,] much of that excess of zeal, which is called sometimes eccentricity and sometimes fanaticism, and which was the characteristic of John Brown of Ossawatomie. Like his father, he was perfectly inflexible in carrying out what he had determined upon, and his courage was absolutely dauntless. He was renowned among his acquaintances for his passion for exact justice, and was honored by them for his sterling uprightness and integrity.<ref>{{cite news |
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|title=Owen Brown |
|title=Owen Brown |
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|date=January 25, 1889 |
|date=January 25, 1889 |
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|location=Philadelphia |
|location=Philadelphia |
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|publisher=G. W. Jacobs |
|publisher=G. W. Jacobs |
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| |
|pages=259–261 |
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|url=https://archive.org/details/johnbrown00dubo/page/258/mode/2up}}</ref> |
|url=https://archive.org/details/johnbrown00dubo/page/258/mode/2up}}</ref> |
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|volume=31 |
|volume=31 |
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|number=2 |
|number=2 |
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|date=Fall 2002}}</ref> Now near the Ohio border, he reached the safety of the home of his brother [[John Brown Junior|John Jr.]], at that time in [[Dorset, Ohio|Dorset]], [[Ashtabula County, Ohio]], some {{convert|300|mile}} from Harpers Ferry.<ref name=Atlantic>{{cite |
|date=Fall 2002}}</ref> Now near the Ohio border, he reached the safety of the home of his brother [[John Brown Junior|John Jr.]], at that time in [[Dorset, Ohio|Dorset]], [[Ashtabula County, Ohio]], some {{convert|300|mile}} from Harpers Ferry.<ref name=Atlantic>{{cite magazine |
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|title=Owen Brown's Escape From Harper's Ferry. |
|title=Owen Brown's Escape From Harper's Ferry. |
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| |
|magazine=[[Atlantic Monthly]] |
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|date=March 1874 |
|date=March 1874 |
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|pages=342–365 |
|pages=342–365 |
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|last=Thomas |
|last=Thomas |
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|date=June 7, 2018 |
|date=June 7, 2018 |
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| |
|work=[[South Pasadenan]] |
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|url=https://southpasadenan.com/throwback-thursday-brown-boys-were-local-heroes/ |
|url=https://southpasadenan.com/throwback-thursday-brown-boys-were-local-heroes/ |
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|access-date=July 6, 2021 |
|access-date=July 6, 2021 |
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Pasadena was sympathetic to the memory of John Brown; it was a [[Republican Party (United States)#19th century|Republican]] city, settled by immigrants from Indiana.<ref>{{cite news |
Pasadena was sympathetic to the memory of John Brown; it was a [[Republican Party (United States)#19th century|Republican]] city, settled by immigrants from Indiana.<ref>{{cite news |
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|title=Pasadena Was Founded by |
|title=Pasadena Was Founded by "Colonists" from Indiana. They came. They saw. They planted a ton of roses |
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|first=Glen |
|first=Glen |
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|last=Creason |
|last=Creason |
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|date=July 20, 2016 |
|date=July 20, 2016 |
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| |
|magazine=[[Los Angeles Magazine]] |
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|url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/pasadena-founded-colonists-indiana/}}</ref><ref name=Whisky/>{{rp|22}} Owen, Jason, and to a lesser extent Ruth and her husband were treated as celebrities,<ref>{{cite news |
|url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/pasadena-founded-colonists-indiana/}}</ref><ref name=Whisky/>{{rp|22}} Owen, Jason, and to a lesser extent Ruth and her husband were treated as celebrities,<ref>{{cite news |
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|title=Summer Camp: Civil War Veteran Associations |
|title=Summer Camp: Civil War Veteran Associations |
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|url-status=live |
|url-status=live |
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}}</ref> |
}}</ref> |
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{{ |
{{blockquote|During the visit of the veterans of the [[Grand Army of the Republic|Grand Army [of the Republic]]] to Los Angeles they joined in an excurson to the beautiful suburb, Pasadena.<ref>{{cite news |
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|title=Miscellaneous Notes |
|title=Miscellaneous Notes |
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|newspaper=[[Greencastle Banner]] ([[Greencastle, Indiana]]) |
|newspaper=[[Greencastle Banner]] ([[Greencastle, Indiana]]) |
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According to an obituary: |
According to an obituary: |
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{{ |
{{blockquote|About five years ago Jason and Owen Brown took a homestead on a bench of mountain land five or six miles north of Pasadena, at the settlement now called Las Casitas. This they subsequently sold and took land higher up the mountain side, built a cabin, cleared and worked a few acres, and li[v]ed there—two feeble old men, alone. ...They were much visited by tourists and citizens, some from mere curiosity and others from a warm sympathy with the historic career of the family. They had made a good wagon trail up to their mountain hermitage, and were continuing it as a donkey path to the top of the mountain known as Brown's Peak, but it is not completed yet. Owen had a desire to be buried on the top of Brown's Peak; and if Jason ever succeeds in finishing the trail he will try to have his brother's grave up there as he desired.<ref name=Chester>{{cite news |
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|title=Funeral of Owen Brown — The Last Survivor of John Brown's Historic Raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., in 1859 |
|title=Funeral of Owen Brown — The Last Survivor of John Brown's Historic Raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., in 1859 |
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|newspaper=[[Pasadena Standard]] ([[Pasadena, California]]) |
|newspaper=[[Pasadena Standard]] ([[Pasadena, California]]) |
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |
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|title=Pasadena |
|title=Pasadena |
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|newspaper=[[ |
|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |
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|date=February 5, 1898 |
|date=February 5, 1898 |
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|page=3 |
|page=3 |
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|title=Letter to the editor, with corrections to his interview in ''The Atlantic'' |
|title=Letter to the editor, with corrections to his interview in ''The Atlantic'' |
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|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.78035586&view=2up&seq=111&skin=2021&size=200&q1=Owen%20Brown |
|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.78035586&view=2up&seq=111&skin=2021&size=200&q1=Owen%20Brown |
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| |
|magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |
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|date=July 1874 |
|date=July 1874 |
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|page=101}} |
|page=101}} |
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==Further reading (most recent first)== |
==Further reading (most recent first)== |
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* {{cite |
* {{cite news |
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|title=Brown Boys Were Local Heroes |
|title=Brown Boys Were Local Heroes |
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|first=Rick |
|first=Rick |
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|last=Thomas |
|last=Thomas |
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|date=June 7, 2018 |
|date=June 7, 2018 |
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| |
|work=[[South Pasadenan]] |
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|url=https://southpasadenan.com/throwback-thursday-brown-boys-were-local-heroes/}} |
|url=https://southpasadenan.com/throwback-thursday-brown-boys-were-local-heroes/}} |
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* {{cite |
* {{cite magazine |
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|title=Dead Reckoning. In search of Owen Brown, the antislavery abolitionist buried in the hills of Altadena |
|title=Dead Reckoning. In search of Owen Brown, the antislavery abolitionist buried in the hills of Altadena |
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|first=Ben |
|first=Ben |
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|date=June 4, 2013 |
|date=June 4, 2013 |
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|url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/dead-reckoning/ |
|url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/dead-reckoning/ |
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| |
|magazine=[[Los Angeles Magazine]]}} |
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* {{cite news |
* {{cite news |
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|title='His Soul Is Marching On'. The Prologue to the Drama of the Civil War |
|title='His Soul Is Marching On'. The Prologue to the Drama of the Civil War |
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|series=3rd |
|series=3rd |
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|volume=1 [Vol. 41 of continuous numbering] |
|volume=1 [Vol. 41 of continuous numbering] |
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|pages= |
|pages= 508–540 |
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|jstor=25079950 |
|jstor=25079950 |
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|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25079950}} |
|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25079950}} |
Revision as of 23:46, 31 January 2022
Owen Brown | |
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![]() Brown in 1882 | |
Born | Hudson, Ohio, U.S. | November 4, 1824
Died | January 8, 1889 Pasadena, California, U.S. | (aged 64)
Resting place | A hilltop near Altadena, California, 34°13′3″N 118°9′37″W / 34.21750°N 118.16028°W |
Known for | John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry |
Parent(s) | John Brown, Dianthe Lusk Brown |
Relatives | Owen Brown (grandfather), brothers John Brown, Jr. and Jason, sister Annie Brown Adams; half-brother Watson, various other half-siblings |
Owen Brown (November 4, 1824 – January 8, 1889) was the third son of abolitionist John Brown. He participated more in his father's anti-slavery activities than did any of his siblings. He was the only son to participate both in the Bleeding Kansas activities — specifically the Pottawatomie massacre, during which he killed a man — and his father's raid on Harpers Ferry. He was the only son of Brown present in Tabor, Iowa, when Brown's recruits were trained and drilled.[1] He was also the son who joined his father in Chatham, Ontario, when the raid was planned; he was chosen as treasurer of the organization of which his father was made president.[2]
"The life of Owen Brown is fraught with romance."[3]
Personal information
Owen was named for his grandfather, a prosperous Connecticut tanner, strong abolitionist, and one of the first settlers in Hudson, Ohio.
He described himself as "an engineer on the Underground Railroad" and a "woodsman almost all my life". By this he meant not that he was a lumberjack, but that he was could hike through woody terrain—a skill that later saved his life, escaping from the Harper's Ferry debacle.[4]: 346 ("[S]o strong is the woodsman in him, that he gave me not only the direction and probable extent of every mountain and valley he passed, night or day, but the nature and quality of the timber almost everywhere in his way."[4]: 344 ) He never married, and referred to his one-room cabin in Ohio as "bachelor hall".[5] When asked later in life if he had been too busy to marry, his reply was: "Hardly; there are men who fix their affections on one, and losing that one remain single ever after."[6] According to a writer who felt that Owen "seems to have been a bachelor from principle", he "went so far as to divulge the fact that there was one maiden near Springdale [Iowa] whom he would marry, if he ever married at all, but to whom, out of abundant caution, he had resolved never even to speak."[7]
He was much affected by the death of his mother, along with his newborn brother Frederick, when he was eight.
His burial site, atop a hill near Pasadena, California, is becoming (2021) a minor tourist destination.
Resemblance to his father
Physically
Of John Brown's six sons, he was said to be the one that most resembled his father physically;[8][6] he was "exactly like the portraits of his father",[9] "he bore the likeness of his father more perfectly than either of his brothers [Jason and John Jr.], and in many characteristics was like him."[10] He was described thus in the 1859 warrant for his arrest:
Owen Brown is thirty-three or thirty-four years of age, about six feet in height, with fair complexion, though somewhat freckled—has red hair, and very heavy whiskers of the same color. He is a spare man, with regular features, and has deep blue eyes.[11]: 549
Owen's arm injury
According to his father, "Owen [was] to some extent a cripple from childhood by an injury of the right arm".[12]: 202 In his will, his father referred to Owen's "terrible suffering in Kansas and crippled condition from his childhood".[12]: 616 He "had been badly injured after the campaign of June, and afterward very ill in Iowa, whither he had gone to regain his health.[12]: 315 John referred repeatedly to "our crippled and destitute unmarried son".[12]: 605 He wrote Lydia Maria Child: "I have a middle-aged son [Owen was 35], who has been in some degree a cripple from his childhood, who would have as much as he could well do to earn a living. He was a most dreadful sufferer in Kansas, and lost all he had laid up. He has not enough to clothe himself for the winter comfortably. I have no living son or son-in-law who did not suffer terribly in Kansas."[12]: 581
The nature of the injury is something Owen did not talk about. Brown biographer Richard Hinton only had vague information: "he had been physically unfortunate, when younger, in the injury of an arm or shoulder, I think, through which lie had suffered so severely as to prematurely age him, and produced a trouble of some kind by which he was subject to drowsiness. This, as well as being crippled in his arm, rendered him incapable of any very hard labor."[11]: 556 [13][4]: 344 One source says the injury was the result of "throwing a stone when a boy";[4] another, that Owen was "seriously crippled in his Kansas campaigns, and unfit for service in the Union army in consequence".[14][15]
Psychologically
He was also said to most resemble his father psychologically:
There was in Owen Brown, it is said[,] much of that excess of zeal, which is called sometimes eccentricity and sometimes fanaticism, and which was the characteristic of John Brown of Ossawatomie. Like his father, he was perfectly inflexible in carrying out what he had determined upon, and his courage was absolutely dauntless. He was renowned among his acquaintances for his passion for exact justice, and was honored by them for his sterling uprightness and integrity.[16]
Another reporter said that Owen, of John Brown's sons, "is perhaps the greatest character of them all. Noticeably eccentric, with a strange mingling of gentleness and roughness, sentiment and course practicability [sic], 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."[17]
Comments on his personality
- He was "a man of eccentrlc character, humorous and kindly, and endowed with one of those wonderful memories in which every past scene and event seems preserved exactly as it befell, no matter how long the intervening time. His narration of his adventures was minute to the least point. ...The friendliest of men."[14]
- "There was a gentle courtesy in the talk and manner of these two men [Owen and John Jr.] that I cannot write down for you; and I surely never met so thorough, genuine modesty."[4]: 342
- "Like his brother Jason, who survives him, Owen was strong in stature, noble, brave, manly, yet kind and gentle as a woman, as sweet in disposition as a child; his character pure, almost Christ-like. I might add that no race of men, perhaps, in the present century better exemplified the true Christian character than this same family of Browns, from the rugged, brave old martyr, John Brown, to the gray-haired, patient Jason, who returns alone to his mountain home."[3]
- Owen's hermit life in California provoked much comment. "Very eccentric, kind-hearted, but improvident."[18]
- He was compared with Thoreau, though "without his learning and genius."[14] He had been "mentally astray for some time."[19]: 3
- "It is said that in stature and general features, Owen much resembled his father, but in mental characteristics, particularly during ihis last days, he was decidedly different, there being in his composition a conspicuous absence of that energy, push and spirit for which the elder Brown was noted. ...Retired in manners, he was a man of peace, gentle as a child, holding no ill feelings toward anyone, exhibiting no hatred, even to those who brought about his father's execution. ...Though industrious, neither he nor Jason had the knack of accumulating property, any surplus money or means they had being given to the poor. In fact, it was said by those who knew them best that the Browns could get nothing nor keep the little they had."[5]
- "He bore the likeness of his father more perfectly than either of his brothers, and in many characteristics was like him. He possesses a strong constitution, iron nerve, capable of great physical endurance, loving most forgiveness and mercy, and still possessing that true courage which from conviction of right knows no fear.
"In 1855, with his brothers he settled in Kansas, near Osawatomie. As a pioneer on tbe plains of Kansas, he first encountered the iron heel of American slavery. He grappled with the monster, and the first blood of that great struggle was shed; not at Sumter, but on the plains of Kansas. He was the last living representative of the 23 men who so severely wounded the monster Slavery at Harpers Ferry; was one of the five who escaped. His connection with the anti-slavery cause until its overthrow has become a matter of history. Like his father, he never undertook a service which he did not fully believe merited the blessing of God. Stern and just when occasion demanded, but no man ever saw mankind more tender or forgiving, or happier in time of peace when he was able to add something to the measure of human happiness. An earnest advocate of temperance always, self-sacnhcing, even at great personal loss, he found more happiness in defending a principle, in helping the poor or rescuing the untortunaie, than in an earthly gain. Thus his life has been spent in doing good always, reverencing the Great Master whom he faithfully served, believing that the golden rule applied to all mankind should be the rule of life."[20]
Abolitionist activities
Kansas
Owen fought with his father in Kansas and was present at the sack of Lawrence. Border ruffians from Missouri burned his house and stole his cattle. He participated, along with brother-in-law Henry Thompson, in the Pottawatomie massacre.[3][21]: 18 "He was imprisoned, ill-treated, and finally driven from the State, for the sole reason that he was an abolitionist."[22] In 1888 and 1889 he recalled some of his Kansas activities.[23][24]
Harpers Ferry
Owen was the only child of Brown to participate in the Chatham, Ontario, meeting in which the raid was planned. He was chosen as treasurer or the organization, of which John Brown was president.[2]
Owen, as he told it later, before the raid "spent many months in the mountains of the South, searching out suitable places for the rendezvous and concealment of liberty-seeking slaves". During the three months becore the raid, his father, under cover of prospecting for minerals, examined and approved of a number of them.[25]
Owen participated in his father's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. He was guarding weapons at the Kennedy Farm, in Maryland, and did not enter Harpers Ferry itself. When the raid failed he escaped capture and underwent what has been called "the most difficult and tedious flight that ever occurred in this country".[25] After nearly three months of hiding and travelling at night, living on uncooked corn taken from fields and nearly starving,[26] his shoes having given out,[25] he arrived at Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where he had lived as a child (see John Brown (abolitionist)#Time in Pennsylvania). There he was fed and helped recuperate by a Quaker who remembered his father.[25][27] Now near the Ohio border, he reached the safety of the home of his brother John Jr., at that time in Dorset, Ashtabula County, Ohio, some 300 miles (480 km) from Harpers Ferry.[4]
In early February Owen was indicted by a Virginia grand jury for "conspiring with slaves to create an insurrection".[28] On March 8, 1860, the new governor of Virginia, John Letcher, announced a $500 reward (equivalent to $16,956 in 2023) for his apprehension and delivery to Virginia. The Attorney General of Ohio, Republican Christopher Wolcott, refused to honor Virginia's request for Owen's arrest.[29][11]: 554–555 Owen remained in Ohio for many years.
Owen was the last surviving member of the raiding party; his older brothers John Jr. and Jason did not participate, and his half sister Annie Brown Adams outlived him, but was sent home from the Kennedy farm before the raid.
Put-in-Bay, Ohio
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Cooke_Castle_1.jpg/220px-Cooke_Castle_1.jpg)
Owen was "not at all eager" to tell the story of his participation in his father's raid. A reporter had to make many visits to get him to tell the story of his difficult escape, which he said he had never told in 12 years.[4]: 344 Mark Twain's comment on this report was: "Three different times I tried to read it but was frightened off each time before I could finish."[30]
At that time Owen and his older brother John Jr. were farming at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, Owen in a "one-roomed shanty", full of mementos, near his brother's house.[4][31] "Everything in the room was neat and tidy, but very cheap and rude. He had a cot for a bed, and heat was supplied by a little stove fed with dry cuttings from the grapevines."[32] Ruth Brown, their sister, and her husband lived there as well, having moved in 1882 from Wisconsin to another "very small, unpainted" house.[33] Owen spent the winter months, and sometimes the summer months as well, alone, except for a dog, as a hermit on neighboring Gibraltar Island, caretaker for the home of Ohio financier Jay Cooke.[25][6][34] He spent much of his time fishing.[35] He learned shorthand from books and copied the Bible in shorthand twice.[25] He remained there until 1885, when the Cooke property was sold.[25][36]
Pasadena, California
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Cabin_of_Jason_and_Owen_Brown%2C_1886.jpg/220px-Cabin_of_Jason_and_Owen_Brown%2C_1886.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Bird%27s-eye_view%2C_Owen_and_Jason_Brown%27s_first_cabin.jpg/220px-Bird%27s-eye_view%2C_Owen_and_Jason_Brown%27s_first_cabin.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Cabin_of_Owen_and_Jason_Brown%2C_John_Jr._visiting.jpg/220px-Cabin_of_Owen_and_Jason_Brown%2C_John_Jr._visiting.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Jason%2C_John_Jr.%2C_and_Owen_Brown.jpg/220px-Jason%2C_John_Jr.%2C_and_Owen_Brown.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Jason_and_Owen_Brown%27s_rancho.jpg/220px-Jason_and_Owen_Brown%27s_rancho.jpg)
In 1885, his health failing,[14] Owen moved to Pasadena, California, joining his brother Jason, who emigrated in 1881 after his Akron, Ohio, home was destroyed by fire,[32] and sister Ruth, a teacher, and her husband Henry Thompson, who moved there with their family in 1884;[38][39][40] Henry had bought 15 acres (6.1 ha) of land.[41] They were seeking to escape "the increasingly negative broad popular memory of Brown."[21]: 17 John Jr. came to visit subsequently, to see if he should move there too, but he decided not to.[14]
Pasadena was sympathetic to the memory of John Brown; it was a Republican city, settled by immigrants from Indiana.[42][21]: 22 Owen, Jason, and to a lesser extent Ruth and her husband were treated as celebrities,[43] the men "eccentric and charming".[21]: 25 However, Owen "suffered from the ceiebrity which his adventures and his father's fame gave him; and this was one reason why be retired with his brother to a remote cabin, where, nevertheless, sight-seers and importunate friends followed him, and left him very little of that solitary leisure which he so much valued."[14] A different source says the brothers "delighted in having callers";[5] yet another, that they were guides for tourists.[44] "They were much visited by tourists and citizens, some from mere curiosity and other[s] from a warm sympathy with the heroic career of the family."[45] They were "often" visited by the naturalist Charles Frederick Holder, who talked with them about their experiences and the Underground Railroad.[46] According to one report, "it was difficult to get Owen to speak of the tragic events of his life",[5] but another says that "to listen to his recital of their escape was as thrilling and much more interesting than stories of the most daring of fictitious heroes."[44] "Owen Brown had related to his sister Ruth all the particulars of the expedition to the South with a colored man named Green, and she will publish this with many valuable memorandas of her father not yet printed";[32] this publication never took place.
An obituary reveals that besides raising poultry and cows, Jason and Owen, through "selling their photographs", "received enough barely to survive".[5] At the time (1886–1889), to print a picture using ink onto paper or card stock was expensive, as it required a human engraver, but making photographic copies was much easier. There was then no amateur photography, the equipment and the processing were too expensive and cumbersome, but well-to-do travelers bought as souvenirs photographs of sights they saw, made available by local photographers. The Brown boys' cabins, with them and sometimes visitors outside, were photographed several times for this purpose, for souvenir pictures which the men sold. Their mountain cabins were only a mile from the house of Ruth Brown Thompson, his sister, and her husband, in Pasadena.[47]
During the visit of the veterans of the Grand Army [of the Republic] to Los Angeles they joined in an excurson to the beautiful suburb, Pasadena.[48] The fact that Jason and Owen Brown, together with their sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, are living near Pasadena, and were in town, did not seem to become known to the visiting soldiers until late in the afternoon. When it was known, the children of the old hero of Ossawattomie were put into a carriage, the horses unhitched, and with a long rope the Kansas, lowa, and California boys formed in procession and hauled the family through the streets, the band at the head of the line playing “John Brown’s Body,” and the whole enthusiastic crowd singing the stirring battle hymn and cheering. The demonstration visibly affected the occupants of the carriage. When the procession reached the depot Owen Brown made a pithy and characteristic speech.[49]
Owen and Jason Brown won the respect of their neighbors, "but their ideas of law and justice were as peculiar as their lather's. They kept to themselves their charities, and they were always quick to help anyone who was persecuted. When the boycott was placed upon the Chinese in Los Angeles county, three years ago [1886, see Chinese Exclusion Act] Owen and Jason went down into Pasadena and hired each a Chinaman to work on his place for the sake of the principle, although they had no need of the Celestials' labor, and would be troubled to find money to pay for it. They refused to take interest on money when they had any to loan. When some friends raised a contribution for them, they asked that the money be sent instead to the colored sufferers of the 1886 Charleston earthquake."[32]
According to an obituary:
About five years ago Jason and Owen Brown took a homestead on a bench of mountain land five or six miles north of Pasadena, at the settlement now called Las Casitas. This they subsequently sold and took land higher up the mountain side, built a cabin, cleared and worked a few acres, and li[v]ed there—two feeble old men, alone. ...They were much visited by tourists and citizens, some from mere curiosity and others from a warm sympathy with the historic career of the family. They had made a good wagon trail up to their mountain hermitage, and were continuing it as a donkey path to the top of the mountain known as Brown's Peak, but it is not completed yet. Owen had a desire to be buried on the top of Brown's Peak; and if Jason ever succeeds in finishing the trail he will try to have his brother's grave up there as he desired.[50]
Jason wrote, in an 1886 letter, "The people of Pasadena are eastern, mostly, and are very kind to us; they raised over $100, a short time ago without our knowing it, and gave it to us to buy a cow."[51] When John Jr. visited them (see picture at right), and decided not to stay, they had to sell the cow to get money for John Jr.'s return east.[3]
There, they were celebrated and supported, not for helping their father end slavery, but for a more contemporary movement, temperance.[21] Owen became "one of the best known of Pasadena's early residents."[38] The two "feeble old men", as an obituaey described them, were "much visited by tourists and the curious".[19]: 4 An as-yet unidentified photographer carried his equipment up the mountain on several occasions, and left us good pictures of both cabins, including the second one seen from above.
Temperance
"He was a zealous advocate of temperance, to advance which was the great aim of his later life."[5] Owen believed that what he called "the rum power" was a bigger evil than slavery, "and he gave himself to its destruction with the same devotion, and the same love that he gave to liberty".[52] Celebrating the contemporary temperance campaign was a means to avoid dealing with their father's radical egalitarianism and recourse to violence.[21]: 30 Owen and Jason were honorary members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.[53]
An obituary noted that he sent "fruit and sympathy" to the anarchists on trial in the Haymarket affair.[54][18] At the time of his death Owen was living with his sister Ruth in addition to brother Jason.[55]: 53
Funeral and grave marker
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Owen_Brown%27s_funeral.jpg/220px-Owen_Brown%27s_funeral.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Funeral_of_Owen_Brown.jpg/220px-Funeral_of_Owen_Brown.jpg)
Owen died of pneumonia January 8, 1889, at the home of his sister Ruth Brown Townsend, in Pasadena, California, at the age of 64. His death was reported across the country.[21]: 16
January 10 was called by a newspaper "a historic day for Pasadena".[50] His funeral, led by a Quaker, was the largest ever held in Pasadena; at least 1,800 people attended.[22][52][56] Four ministers spoke—Methodist Episcopal, Quaker, Congregational, and Universalist—followed by "a temperance speaker".[57] The city trustees attended as a body, as did students from the Pasadena Academy.[50] Six pallbearers had known John Brown in Massachusetts, Iowa, or Kansas;[50][22] among then were John Hunt Painter and James Townsend, who had known him from Springdale, Iowa.[58]: 53 There were four stations set up along the route for photographers.[5] "John Brown's Body" was sung.[19]: 4
A marching band escorted the 2,000 mourners, nearly the entire population of Pasadena, in the funeral procession up to Little Roundtop Hill in West Altadena in the Meadows (34°12′58″N 118°09′41″W / 34.216199°N 118.161381°W).[59] Owen had asked to be buried on the hilltop near his cabin,[38] in 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."[60] It was subsequently called Brown Mountain.[61]
In May 1889, a newspaper remarked that "the tomb ot Owen Brown receives as much attention from visitors as any other point of interest in the Sierra Madre range. It is not uncommon to see fresh flowers laid upon the mound, which appears as barren for want of grass as when first made."[62]
Grave marker
Nine years later, a gravestone, paid for by pallbearer Major H. N. Rust,[63] was placed at the grave site.[64][65] 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. 200 people attended the dedication.[66]
The marker 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.[67] No legal action was taken, as the person or persons responsible have never been identified. In 2012, the missing gravestone was found a few hundred feet from the gravesite.[68][69] In 2021, it was announced that the gravestone would be reinstalled.[70]
In popular culture
He is the narrator, an old man living in California in 1909 (50 years later), in Russell Banks' novel about John Brown, Cloudsplitter. In this novel he accompanies his father on his trip to England of 1848, and a pregnant unmarried woman, who commits suicide by jumping overboard, is the mysterious lady he loved. This is fiction.
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.
Writings by Owen Brown
- Letter to his mother, August 27, 1856.[12]: 315-–317
- "Letter to the editor, with corrections to his interview in The Atlantic", The Atlantic, p. 101, July 1874
- Statement about Harpers Ferry, May 5, 1885.[12]: 541–542
Media
- SoCal Outdoor Explorer (June 27, 2020), Hike to Owen Brown's grave, located in Altadena California, archived from the original on 2021-12-20
- Ayers, Paul (January 4, 2021) [July 22, 2017], Owen Brown—Altadena's first celebrity, archived from the original on 2021-12-20
- Burton, John (August 29, 2021), Restoration of Owen Brown gravesite, July-August, 2021, PowerPoint presentation, Save the Altadena Trails; Owen Brown Gravesite Committee, County of Los Angeles, archived from the original on 2021-12-20
- Conversations with Ralph Walker, Ralph Walker talks to historian Michele Zack, and public space advocate Marietta Kruells, about the efforts to restore Owen Brown's gravestone, KGEM-TV, September 10, 2021, archived from the original on 2021-12-20
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: CS1 maint: others (link)
Archival material
Some letters of Brown are held at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Portland, Oregon.
See also
References
- ^ Richman, Irving B. (1894). "John Brown among the Quakers". John Brown among the Quakers, and other sketches. Des Moines, Iowa: Historical Department of Iowa. pp. 11–59, at p. 53.
- ^ a b Du Bois, W. E. B. (1909). John Brown. Philadelphia: G. W. Jacobs. pp. 259–261.
- ^ a b c d "The late Owen Brown. His thrilling escape from Harper's Ferry—A good man gone". Abilene Weekly Reflector (Abilene, Kansas). 14 Feb 1889. p. 6. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Keeler, Ralph (March 1874). "Owen Brown's Escape From Harper's Ferry". Atlantic Monthly. (This article was reprinted in several newspapers). pp. 342–365. Archived from the original on 2020-11-07. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Owen Brown". New York Daily Tribune. January 27, 1889. p. 8. Archived from the original on 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2021-09-18 – via Chronicling America (Library of Congress).
- ^ a b c "Notes and excerpts". Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California). July 25, 1877. p. 2. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Richman, Irving B. (1928). "John Brown's Band". The Palimpsest. 9 (7): 249–255, at p. 254. Archived from the original on 2021-08-08. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
- ^ "John Brown's Raiders". Saline County Journal (Salina, Kansas). January 16, 1873. Archived from the original on 2021-08-06. Retrieved 2021-05-27 – via Chronicling America.
- ^ "John Brown's Sons. Leading the Quiet Life of Ohio Farmers on an Island of Lake Erie". Daily Alta California (San Francisco, California). 23 Oct 1882. p. 4. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Owen Brown.—An Historic Character Who Recently Died in Pasadena, California". Davenport Lancet (Davenport, Nebraska). 15 Mar 1889. p. 4. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Hinton, Richard J. (1894). John Brown and his men; with some account of the roads they traveled to reach Harper's Ferry, by Richard J. Hinton. Boston: Funk & Wagnalls. Archived from the original on May 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sanborn, Franklin B; Brown, John (1885). The Life and Letters of John Brown, Liberator of Kansas, and Martyr of Virginia. Boston: Roberts Brothers.
- ^ "History of John Brown otherwise "Old B," and his Family". Charleston Daily Courier (Charleston, South Carolina). October 22, 1859. p. 1. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f "Owen Brown Dead. A Sketch of Old Ossawattomie's Bachelor Son". St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri). 19 Jan 1889. p. 7. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Personal". The New York Times. September 28, 1862. p. 5. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
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- ^ "(Untitled)". Public Weekly Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania). December 1, 1872. p. 1. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved April 9, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "John Brown's Son.—Death of the Last Survivor of the Harper's Ferry Raid". San Francisco Chronicle. 11 Jan 1889. p. 6. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Deverell, William (Spring 2008). "Convalescence and California: The Civil War Comes West". Southern California Quarterly. 90 (1): 1–26. doi:10.2307/41172404. JSTOR 41172404. Archived from the original on 2021-09-11. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
- ^ "Owen Brown.—Some Facts About the Son of the Great Liberator". Los Angeles Times. 16 Jan 1889. p. 1. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g Laughlin-Schultz, Bonnie (Fall 2015). "'How John Brown Smashed the Whisky Barrel': John Brown's Children in Southern California and Memory of the American Civil War". California History. 92 (3): 16–36. JSTOR 10.1525/ch.2015.92.3.16. Archived from the original on 2021-07-18. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
- ^ a b c "Old John Brown's son. Death of Owen, last of the Harper's Ferry Band. Will M. Clemens's sketch of his life—His thrilling escape—Funeral honors at Pasadena, Cal". Summit County Beacon (Akron, Ohio). February 6, 1889. p. 6. Archived from the original on August 6, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Brown, Owen (April 26, 1888). "Owen Brown's Account of Leaving Kansas in 1856". West Virginia Archives and History, Charleston, West Virginia, Boyd B. Stutler Collection, Ms 78-1. Archived from the original on April 27, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "Owen Brown's Account of the Fight at Black Jack, Kan. A Striking Episode of Border History in 1856, Now First Printed as Owen Brown Told It". Springfield Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts). January 14, 1889. Archived from the original on September 11, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sperry, L. B. (9 Feb 1889). "At Las Cacitas [sic].—Recollections of a Visit to the Late Owen Brown, in California.—Climbing to the Summit of the Sierra Madre to Stake a Claim.—The Brown Brothers in their Mountain Cabin.–Their Stories of Troublous Times". The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois). p. 13. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Fisher, Frank I. (12 Jun 1886). "John Brown. The Pottawattomie Martyr a[nd] His Sons.—A Very Interesting Interview— With Owen Brown and Jason Brown, Who Live Among the Foothills of the Sierra Madre". Los Angeles Times. p. 4. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Stewart, Anne W. (Fall 2002). "John Brown: From the Record. The Crawford County Years:1827–1835. The Young Family Man". Journal of Erie Studies. 31 (2): 44–78, at p. 67.
- ^ "From Charlestown". Cleveland Daily Leader (Cleveland, Ohio). 9 Feb 1860. p. 3. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Letcher, John; Dennison, William (March 14, 1860). Doc. No. LIX. Communication from the governor of Virginia enclosing letters from the governor of Ohio relative to requisitions for fugitives from justice. [Richmond, Virginia].
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Myers, Kirk (January 10, 2018), Owen Brown in Pasadena, Pasadena Museum of History
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d "The late Owen Brown. —The Peculiar Life of the Son of the Abolitionist Ends in California. —". Indianapolis Journal. January 13, 1889. p. 8. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2021 – via Hoosier State Chronicles.
- ^ "Old John Brown". St. Johnsbury Caledonian (St. Johnsbury, Vermont). 25 Aug 1882. p. 1. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Notes and Excerpts". Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California). June 17, 1878. p. 2. Archived from the original on August 26, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Notes of the day". The Mail (Stockton, California). 18 Aug 1880. p. 2. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Death of Owen Brown". National Tribune. January 17, 1889. p. 4 – via Chronicling America.
- ^ Thomas, Rick (June 7, 2018). "Brown Boys Were Local Heroes". South Pasadenan. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Memory of John Brown is Honored. Members of Writers Club Visit Home of Unionist's Descendant Here". The Pasadena Post (Pasadena, California). 30 Mar 1926. p. 16. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Scraps". Indianapolis News. 5 December 1885. p. 2. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ "Local news notes". Los Angeles Times. December 10, 1885. p. 6. Archived from the original on September 21, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "John Brown's Family.—The Daughter and Carpenter Son-in-Law of Harper's Ferry Hero". Los Angeles Evening Express. 20 Feb 1890. p. 1. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Creason, Glen (July 20, 2016). "Pasadena Was Founded by "Colonists" from Indiana. They came. They saw. They planted a ton of roses". Los Angeles Magazine.
- ^ Smith, Nick (August 18, 2015). "Summer Camp: Civil War Veteran Associations". Pasadena Museum of History. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
- ^ a b Wright, Mary E. (21 Jun 1896). "The Grave of Old John Brown's Son.—It Lies Above the San Gabriel Valley and Overlooks Pasadena.—Owen and Jason Brown Lived in the Mountains and Were Guides to Tourists.—Uncle James Townsend, a Venerable Quaker, Knew Them Both Well and Their Father". San Francisco Call. p. 24 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Funeral of Owen Brown.—The Last Survivor of John Brown's Historic Raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1859". Bennington Banner. February 7, 1889. p. 1 – via Chronicling America.
- ^ Apostol, Jane (Summer 2014). "Life in the Open with Charles Frederick Holder". Southern California Quarterly. 96 (2): 206–221. Archived from the original on 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
- ^ "(Untitled obituary)". Bloomington Progress (Bloomington, Indiana). Vol. 22, no. 48. 23 January 1889. p. 2. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021 – via Hoosier State Chronicles.
- ^ "Miscellaneous Notes". Greencastle Banner (Greencastle, Indiana). 16 September 1886. p. 7. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ "About people and things". Indianapolis Journal. 4 September 1886. p. 4. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Funeral of Owen Brown — The Last Survivor of John Brown's Historic Raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., in 1859". Pasadena Standard (Pasadena, California). 12 Jan 1889. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ Brown, Jason (August 18, 1886), Letter to Franklin Benjamin Sanford, Northwestern College (Iowa), archived from the original on September 1, 2016, retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ a b "One of the Browns. Funeral of Owen Brown, Son of John Brown, and the Last of the Harper's Ferry Band". Leavenworth Times (Leavenworth, Kansas). January 20, 1889. p. 2. Archived from the original on July 18, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Funeral of Owen Brown.—The Last Survivor of John Brown's Historic Raid on Harper's Ferry, Va., in 1859". Bennington Banner (Bennington, Vermont). February 7, 1889. p. 1. Archived from the original on July 18, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2021 – via newspaperarchive.com.
- ^ "Owen Brown's Funeral—The Last Harper's Ferry Survivor Laid Quietly To Rest". Daily Alta California (San Francisco, California). 11 Jan 1889. p. 8. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ Richman, Irving B. (1897). John Brown among the Quakers, and other sketches. Des Moines, Iowa: Historical Department of Iowa.
- ^ Osment, Noel (May 21, 1979). "The descendants. John Brown's kin carry on". The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, California). p. A13. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
- ^ Conover, Addie (20 Jan 1889) [10 Jan 1889]. "One of the Browns.—Funeral of Owen Brown, Son of John Brown and the last of the Harper's Ferry Band". Leavenworth Times (Leavenworth, Kansas). p. 2. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Richman, Irving B. (1894). "John Brown among the Quakers". John Brown among the Quakers, and other sketches. Des Moines, Iowa: Historical Department of Iowa. pp. 11–59, at pp. 14–16.
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Archived from the original on 2006-07-20. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on May 25, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Planting pine forests. Government men at work at Brown Mountain, California". New-York Tribune. 28 Dec 1902. p. 6 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (Library of Congress).
- ^ "In the mountains.—Attractions of the Sierra—The Tomb of John Brown's son". Los Angeles Times. 27 May 1889. p. 4. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brevities". Los Angeles Herald. January 14, 1898. p. 7. Archived from the original on September 12, 2021. Retrieved September 12, 2021 – via newspaperarchive.com.
- ^ "Brevities". Los Angeles Herald. January 16, 1898. p. 7. Archived from the original on July 19, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Pasadena". Los Angeles Times. February 5, 1898. p. 3. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Los Angeles County—Pasadena". Los Angeles Herald. 30 Jan 1898. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ^ Figueroa, James (August 29, 2017) [August 27, 2012]. "Abolitionist Owen Brown gravestone, missing for 10 years, found in Altadena". Pasadena Star-News (Pasadena, California). Archived from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ Geshleider, Annakai (July 11, 2021). "Gravestone of Altadena abolitionist Owen Brown to be reinstalled soon". Pasadena Star-News (Pasadena, California). Archived from the original on July 21, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
Further reading (most recent first)
- Thomas, Rick (June 7, 2018). "Brown Boys Were Local Heroes". South Pasadenan.
- Ehrenreich, Ben (June 4, 2013). "Dead Reckoning. In search of Owen Brown, the antislavery abolitionist buried in the hills of Altadena". Los Angeles Magazine.
- Chapin, Lou V. (July 18, 1897). "'His Soul Is Marching On'. The Prologue to the Drama of the Civil War". Los Angeles Times. p. 17 – via newspapers.com.
- "Owen Brown — Some Facts about the Son of the Great Liberator [obituary]". Los Angeles Times. 16 Jan 1889. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
- Virginia 13th Judicial Circuit (1907–1908) [October 1859]. "Indictment of Owen Brown". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 3rd. 1 [Vol. 41 of continuous numbering]: 508–540. JSTOR 25079950. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
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