This is Annie Brown's page. At age 16 she joined her father's
army in Maryland, across the Potomac River from Harpers
Ferry. Her story has been used in bits and pieces by many
historians and novelists: it is now her descendants' turn to
bring Annie's special relevance to the John Brown story.
army in Maryland, across the Potomac River from Harpers
Ferry. Her story has been used in bits and pieces by many
historians and novelists: it is now her descendants' turn to
bring Annie's special relevance to the John Brown story.
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| from left to right: Beatrice Keesey, granddaughter of Annie Brown Adams. Photographed holding Oliver Brown's Bible "carried through the Kansas troubles" at her home in Sunnyvale, California, December 2, 1976. Alice Keesey at age 16, granddaughter of Beatrice Cook Keesey, Annie Brown at age 16 , from the Featherstonhaugh Collection, of John Brown images at the Library of Congress. Photographer may be John Heywood. Alice Keesey Mecoy at age 48 Photographed in Allen, Texas, on her way to Kirke Mechem's opera about John Brown in Kansas City, May 3, 2008. Annie Brown at ca. age 20 Tintype owned by Alice Louise Cook Hunt, grandaughter of Annie Brown Adams, at age 92. |
| Alice Mecoy quoted in the Kansas City Star, April 26, 2008: Alice Keesey Mecoy of Allen, Texas, has special reason to look forward to Mechem’s opera, which she will attend. She’s John Brown’s great-great-great-granddaughter, descended from Brown’s daughter Anne. Mecoy is one of the few members of her branch of the family who is proud of being related to Brown. (Her father even tells stories of his family burning a box of Brown memorabilia when he was a boy.) “He (Brown) really thought that he was doing the right thing,” said Mecoy, who was 16 before she knew she was related “It was something my family just didn’t talk about,” said Mecoy, who remembers family stories about Anne Brown annotating her children’s history-book accounts of Brown’s life with phrases like, “This is not how it happened.” “I may not condone his actions, but what he wanted for the world is what I want for the world,” Mecoy said. “He was firmly trying to make the world a better place.” ************************************************************************************* Annie's 1887 letter about the summer of 1859 at the Gilder-Lehrman Collection GLC 3007.03 click on image to read her letter |
Alice Keesey Mecoy Daughter of Paul Keesey Son of Beatrice Cook Daughter of Bertha Adams Daughter of Annie Brown Daughter of John Brown, Abolitionist are you related? contact jbrownkin@yahoo.com Alice in Kansas City -- May 2008 photos by Fred Mecoy Link to Lawrence Journal-World Interview |
| Saratoga, California "John Brown from daguerreotype loaned to me by Annie Brown. Regarded as the best picture by the family." note on copy print at the Library of Congress written by historian/collector Thomas Featherstonhaugh. The copy was made ca. 1909 by the Handy Studio. Handy was a nephew of Matthew Brady. This is the recently-auctioned original daguerreotype which sold for $97,750 and was donated to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City by the purchaser, the Hall Foundation. At right is an original daguerreotype found mislabeled at an auction in Pennsylvania in 1996. It is now owned by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Both were photographed a few days apart by Augustus Washington, an African American daguerreotypist in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1846 or 1847. |
| The Kennedy Farm in Washington County, Maryland -- John Brown's headquarters. Annie Brown spent her sixteenth summer in 1859 as lookout for her father and his growing army of black and white men. Her job was to warn of neighbors curiosity. "Invisibles" she called them, as they would rise from a meal, taking "vittles, utensils and all" with them out of sight. South Lynn, owner and preserver of the Kennedy Farm is pictured here by John Frye, archivist.
|
Stan Cohen, author and
publisher of John Brown, the
Thundering Voice of Jehovah
( Pictorial Histories
Publishing, Inc 1999
publisher of John Brown, the
Thundering Voice of Jehovah
( Pictorial Histories
Publishing, Inc 1999
| My name is Alice Louise Hunt. I am the great granddaughter of John Brown. I suppose I am the oldest living descendant of his having celebrated my 92nd birthday Mar.27 this year. I am the youngest child of Bertha and George Cook. My mother being Anne Brown Adams daughter. I have many memories of Grandma Anne. She came to live in a house just down the block that my parents rented for her. This was about the time I was ready to start school. This was in Holmes Flats, Humboldt County, CA. The expense war to much for my folks so they rented a farm at Shively, CA. It had a small house on the property that became Annes home. Since I was the youngest and smallest of my parents nine children it was my job to button Grandma Annes shoes and also assist her in any way she required including carrying in her meals that were prepared in our home. I was about ten when Grandma died of cancer. She had a horrible passing. We buried her at Rohnerville, CA. I remember taking my mom to her grave site years later. We found the site flooded and the grave marker slab in bad shape. My husband Melvin and I went to the cemetery association and arranged for the needed repairs. Many years have passed but I think of those times frequently. I still have the small tintype picture of Grandma Annie. My [mother] gave it to me in November 1937. |
| History note: Mrs. Alice Louise Cook Hunt is the closest descendant to John Brown living today. She is the granddaughter of Annie Brown Adams. A great-granddaughter, Eleanor Clausen Blangsted, is older than Mrs. Hunt but not as close in lineage. Her ancestor is Ruth Brown Thompson. interview by Lou DeCaro |