John Brown

Metadata
Citation
Documents
Download

Birth Date

1800-05-09

Death Date

1859-12-02

Gender

Race Description

White

Entity Type

Person

"John Brown" in the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/N00017925, (accessed April 17, 2025).

Download XML

Abolitionist who condoned the use of violence to end slavery, and leader of the raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Torrington, Connecticut native. Son of Owen Brown and Ruth Mills Brown. Married to Dianthe Lusk Brown. Father of John Brown, Jason Brown, Owen Brown, Frederick Brown, Ruth Brown Thompson, and Frederick Brown. Married to Mary Ann Day Brown. Father of Sarah Brown, Watson Brown, Salmon Brown, Charles Brown, Oliver Brown, Peter Brown, Austin Brown, Annie Brown, Sarah Brown, and Ellen Brown. Resident of Springfield, Massachusetts in 1846. Farmer in North Elba County, New York, in 1850. Resident of the Kansas Territory from 1855 to 1856. Participated in the murder of five pro-slavery settlers along the Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas, on May 24, 1856. Resident of Washington County, Maryland, in 1859. Led a raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, to incite a slave revolt on October 16, 1859. Convicted of murder, slave insurrection, and treason by the State of Virginia. Executed in Jefferson County, Virginia, on December 2, 1859.

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, New York, North Elba County, Essex, p. 179A.
"Brown, John," Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography, vol. I, eds. John Fiske and James Grant Wilson (New York: Appleton, 1889), 404-407.
Matthew Stanley, "Brown, John," Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865, The Kansas City Library, accessed November 4, 2022, https://civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/brown-john.
“John Brown (1800-1859)," Find A Grave, Memorial 137, accessed July 1, 2022, http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137.

Civil War Governors of Kentucky is always evolving. Help us improve the edition by suggesting a correction or addition to this record.

Suggest a correction