History of Torrington, (Litchfield County) Connecticut United States of America

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John Brown, abolitionist, was born at Torrington, Conn., May 9, 1800; son of Owen and Ruth (Mills) Brown; grandson of John and Hannah (Owen) Brown, and lineally descended through John and Mary (Eggleston) Brown, John and Elizabeth (Loomis) Brown, and Peter and Mary (Gillett) Brown, from Peter Brown, who came to Plymouth in the Mayflower in 1620. In 1805 the parents of John Brown removed to Hudson, Ohio, where he learned the trade of tanning from his father. His father belonged to the early school of abolitionists, and his own opportunities of observing the cruelties practised upon the unfortunate colored race, imbued him with a strong purpose to do what he might to effect the redress of their wrongs. His adventurous spirit was developed by a childhood spent upon the borders of the wilderness. Before his twelfth year he was frequently sent in charge of cattle, sometimes a hundred miles through an unsettled country. When sixteen years of age he was sent to Plainfield, Mass., in order that he might attend an academy, and in 1819, shortly after his return to Ohio, he set up in business for himself as a tanner. In 1820 he married his first wife, Mrs. Diantha Lusk, was made postmaster of Richmond, Pa., in 1826, and held that office during the administrations of Presidents John Q. Adams and Andrew Jackson. In 1835 he removed to Franklin, Ohio, where he made trouble in the church by his habit of admitting negroes into his own family pew. Four years later he made his family covenant against the national sin, and gradually grew to believe the extirpation of slavery a mission committed to him personally. In 1840 he returned to Hudson, Ohio, and in 1846, in partnership with a Mr. Perkins, engaged in the wool commission business at Springfield, Mass.; this venture not being successful, he went to England, hoping to better it, and there met the leading English abolitionists, who listened rather coldly to his plans for emancipation. In all his varied enterprises, the purpose he had laid out for himself was never absent from his mind, and it was in furtherance of his plans for the amelioration of the condition of the negro race that, in 1849 he bought a farm in North Elba, N. Y., near a tract of land given by Mr. Gerrit Smith for the occupation of a colony of colored persons, emancipated slaves and others. Mr. Brown thought that he and his family might be of assistance to the colored colony, but the project was unsuccessful; meanwhile he lent every help in his power to fugitive slaves. In 1851 he returned to his farm, where he continued to raise wool, specimens of which he sent to the London exhibition in that year. In 1855-'56 occurred the struggle in Kansas between the slaveholders and the friends of abolition. The possession of the territories, and the introduction into them of the system of slavery, meant for the slave-holding states an assured majority in Congress; while, on the other hand, the possession of the territories by the north meant the diminution of power of the south. Many of the so-called southern "settlers" in Kansas were in reality employed in a military foray, and went there armed and void of intention to settle. On the other hand, the free-state men were not all bona-fide settlers who wished only for a peaceable possession of the lands which they took up. Among these were five of the sons of John Brown, and, as the trouble thickened, he determined to join them. March, 1855, occurred the first election for a territorial constitution; numbers of armed Missourians entered the state and cast their illegal votes by force of arms, and the Browns were mustered in as Kansas militia to defend the town of Lawrence. On May 25 the so-called "Pottawatomie Massacre" took place, when five pro-slavery men were called from their houses by night and shot, in avowed reprisal for the death of certain free-state men. This is the one most criticised event of John Brown's career; for to him, though he repeatedly asserted that he was not present at the assassination, was attributed this blow which struck at the arrogant force of the slaveholders. The property of the Browns was destroyed, two of the sons were subjected to imprisonment, and one of them was murdered by a pro-slavery parson. In October, 1856, John Brown left Kansas with his sons, and during the year 1857 was employed in procuring arms and collecting stores and men to aid him in his cherished plan. In 1858 he went to Canada and there fomulated his famous "provisional constitution." He then returned to Kansas, where he entrenched himself in a fortified camp, from whence he made a raid over the Missouri border, captured a number of slaves and conducted them to Canada. This exploit made his name widely known, and with reasonable caution he became more guarded in his movements. In June, 1859, he hired a farm near Hagerstown, Md., where he collected his stores. He was known to the country people as Mr. Smith and for three months he quietly perfected his arrangements. He had been furnished with money and arms by sympathizers in the north who had faith in his motives, and did not question his judgment or seek to learn the details of his movements, the projected attack upon the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va., was fixed for October 24, but owing to the attempts of one of his adherents to betray him, he became anxious lest his design should be frustrated, and on Sunday, Oct. 16, 1859, marched his company of twenty-one men to the armory; on the next morning took a number of citizens prisoners, and seized the railroad bridge. He might even then have retraced his steps and retired to his fortified camp, but his hopes were sanguine. He believed that the slaves would rise en masse, and that thus their freedom would be effected. Virginia and Maryland militia arrived and escape was impossible; desultory fighting was kept up during the day, and two of Brown's party were killed; the survivors took refuge in an engine-house, where they defended themselves to the death. John Brown's conduct was heroic in the extreme, but the United States troops arriving, under Col. Robert E. Lee, he was overpowered, wounded and imprisoned at the jail at Charlestown. His trial was short; on the 26th he was indicted, his trial commenced on the following day, and on the 31st he was found guilty of treason and murder and sentenced to death. Before his trial, and during that time, he received many letters of warm and cordial sympathy from friends at the north. Mrs. Lydia Maria Child addressed a petition to Governor Wise that she should be allowed to go to Virginia to nurse him. A rescue was spoken of, but he strongly Condemned the idea of such a movement, and after a wearisome imprisonment of forty-two days he met his fate on the scaffold with amazing fortitude. His body was delivered to his widow, and in-terred at North Elba, N.Y., with those of his sons, Wendell Phillips pronouncing the eulogy. Of his twenty children only eight survived him, and his second wife, Mary Ann Day, whom he married in 1833, died in San Francisco, Cal., in 1884. He was executed in Charlestown, Va., Dec. 2, 1859.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Torrington, (Litchfield County) Connecticut

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