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BROWN, JOHN Jr. Three Page ALS, 4to., to Mother, Siblings & Cousins. March 26, 1860, Dorset, Astabula Co., Ohio. Pencil note on p. [4]. ?��Love to all. Ever & truly Jas Redpath?��. Very small tear beginning at fold. Ink. Fine. $750.00

 

John Brown, Jr., 1821-95, was the son of abolitionist John Brown. He was a member of the Kansas state legislature beginning in 1856 and served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Brown writes his family: ?��Dear Sister Ruth, Mother, Brothers Sisters Cousins, I have yours informing me of the death of our dear sister Martha. My heart bleeds... you say she was something of a believer in Spiritualism... if to believe that death is but a stepping stone to a higher mode of existence--that we take with us to that state of being all that we are now...?�� He goes on to describe at length the limits of his belief in spiritualism. Brown says that Mr. Redpath, Barclay Coppoe, and Owen are with him. Barclay Coppoe was a Quaker abolitionist (who had a falling out with the Quakers for being militant) and a member of John Brown?��s party. James Redpath (1833-1891) was a journalist, editor of the New York Tribune at age 19, and a staunch abolitionist. ?��Mr. Redpath says there has some talk of our folks moving from North Elba (a black community founded on land donated by the Anti-Slavery campaigner, Gerrit Smith) and establishing some where in the vicinity of Worcester, Mass. I do hope not...the family would be forced into a class of society, which in a pecuniary respect at least they could not stand with as equals...our family were not made to shine in the drawing-rooms of wealth and distinction--the wild and rugged ?��Adirondacs?�� with their pure air, clear streams, and placid lakes constuitute our most natural surroundings...?�� A fine letter revealing of John Brown, Jr.?��s personality and character.