Who was John Brown and if he was a man of faith, how could he have been a leader in the taking of innocent lives? This is a question that has baffled the minds of many scholars and historians since that October day in Harpers Ferry in 1859. Was what John Brown organized and executed right or wrong? These are difficult questions to answer about a man who felt so strongly about his convictions about slavery and the God whom he served. John Brown was committed to the abolition of slavery at a young age and believed his faith shaped his views and allowed for what he would finally do.
John Brown was the fourth of eight children born to Owen and Ruth (Mills) Brown. He was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut. “Religious devotion was intense …show more content…
Mary was the daughter of a housekeeper he had hired to help care for his family. John and Mary had thirteen children together. Sarah was born in 1834, Watson in 1835, Salmon in 1836, Charles in 1837, Oliver in 1839, Peter in 1840, Austin in 1842, Annie in 1843, Amelia in 1845, Sarah in 1846, Ellen in 1848, Unnamed son in 1852, and Ellen in 1854. Four of the children died in one week in 1842. Mary was good for John according to David S Reynolds “Mary would prove to be a rock of stability for John Brown. Staunch and stoical, she set the tone of quiet courage that would influence the whole family” (Reynolds 49). Throughout these years John allowed the Bible to be an influence in his parenting. A granddaughter gave this reflection of John Brown to W.E.B. DuBoise, “’stern, unyielding, Puritanic, requiring his wife and daughters to dress in sober brown, disliked show and requested that mourning colors be not worn for him - a custom which still obtains with us - laying the rod heavily upon the boys for their boyish pranks, he still was wonderfully tender-would invariably walk up hill rather than burden his horse, loved his family devotedly, and when sickness occurred, always installed himself as nurse’”(DuBoise 18). Of his twenty children, those that lived to adulthood were like their father in strong opposition to slavery even though most did not share his
John Brown was the fourth of eight children born to Owen and Ruth (Mills) Brown. He was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut. “Religious devotion was intense …show more content…
Mary was the daughter of a housekeeper he had hired to help care for his family. John and Mary had thirteen children together. Sarah was born in 1834, Watson in 1835, Salmon in 1836, Charles in 1837, Oliver in 1839, Peter in 1840, Austin in 1842, Annie in 1843, Amelia in 1845, Sarah in 1846, Ellen in 1848, Unnamed son in 1852, and Ellen in 1854. Four of the children died in one week in 1842. Mary was good for John according to David S Reynolds “Mary would prove to be a rock of stability for John Brown. Staunch and stoical, she set the tone of quiet courage that would influence the whole family” (Reynolds 49). Throughout these years John allowed the Bible to be an influence in his parenting. A granddaughter gave this reflection of John Brown to W.E.B. DuBoise, “’stern, unyielding, Puritanic, requiring his wife and daughters to dress in sober brown, disliked show and requested that mourning colors be not worn for him - a custom which still obtains with us - laying the rod heavily upon the boys for their boyish pranks, he still was wonderfully tender-would invariably walk up hill rather than burden his horse, loved his family devotedly, and when sickness occurred, always installed himself as nurse’”(DuBoise 18). Of his twenty children, those that lived to adulthood were like their father in strong opposition to slavery even though most did not share his