Follow Jean Libby
and Alice Mecoy in our
voyage of discovery of
Annie Brown (1843-1926)
in New York, Maryland,
and California.
Meet John Brown
scholars along the way.
Alice met some in Kansas!
Interview in Lawrence
photo by Captain South T. Lynn, owner and preserver of the Kennedy Farmhouse in Washington County,
Maryland. John Brown's army headquarters in the summer of 1859, Annie Brown and Oliver's wife
Martha kept house and served as lookouts. They were aged sixteen and seventeen.
and Alice Mecoy in our
voyage of discovery of
Annie Brown (1843-1926)
in New York, Maryland,
and California.
Meet John Brown
scholars along the way.
Alice met some in Kansas!
Interview in Lawrence
photo by Captain South T. Lynn, owner and preserver of the Kennedy Farmhouse in Washington County,
Maryland. John Brown's army headquarters in the summer of 1859, Annie Brown and Oliver's wife
Martha kept house and served as lookouts. They were aged sixteen and seventeen.
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
The communal settlement of African Americans and the family of John Brown in the
Adirondack Mountains was called "Timbucto" in honor of the ancient African city.
Winters were bleak after they hanged John Brown. Mary, her only surviving son Salmon, his family and
three daughters (Annie, Sarah, Ellen) moved to California by the Overland Trail in 1863 - 1864.
Annie Brown was the first to settle in Rohnerville, marrying carriage-maker Sam Adams there in 1870.
Mother Mary Brown (widow of John Brown of Harpers Ferry) came with younger daughters Sarah and Ellen;
but after Ellen married schoolteacher James Fablinger, all except Annie and Sam Adams moved to the San
Francisco Bay area, settling finally in Santa Clara County. Annie lived the longest of any of the children of
John Brown, dying in Petrolia in 1926. She was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1843. Annie helped many
biographers, historians, and collectors with her memories and experiences throughout the years.
One of her descendants, Alice Cook Hunt remembers the family caring for her in her final days.
The location of her grave in Humboldt County was unknown until Bonnie Laughlin-Schultz
located it with local historians in 2007.
photo in the Mattole River Valley ot California by Bonnie Laughlin-Schultz, Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University,
preparing "Could I Not Do Something for the Cause?": The Brown Women, Antislavery Reform, &
American Memory of Militant Abolitionism." as her dissertation topic
A family reunion at the cabin of Jason Brown and Owen Brown in Altadena, California, ca. 1888). Annie
and her husband Sam Adams are at the far left (note carriage and horse in the background).
Ellen (born 1855) and James Fablinger are at the far right. The photographer, who may be Isaac Taber,
has written the names of the three brothers, sons of John Brown and his first wife Dianthe Lusk (died in
1832) on the print. It is possible that Ruth Brown Thompson is second woman from left and Sarah Brown
the second woman from the right. Photo courtesy Society of California Archivists
(lower right) John Brown, the son of Salmon
is recognizable in the reunion photo above.
Quite likely the baby in this photo is the
father. Both were named John Brown.
The Fablinger family were teachers as well as
orchardists. Mary Fablinger (who died in 1964),
the granddaughter of John and Mary Brown, gave
the family collection to Florence Cunningham of
the Saratoga. Mrs. Cunningham in turn willed it to
the Saratoga Historical Foundation, who have
preserved the artwork of Sarah Brown and made a
permanent display of the artifacts and artworks.
Saratoga Historical museum website
Henry Organ, Allies for Freedom,
Jim Keesey, wife Jennifer, and father
Paul Keesey (son of Beatrice) at the
Madronia Cemetery in Saratoga
honoring the family plot of Mary Brown
and her descendants.
No nomination of the Mary Brown gravesite is now under way
by the National Network to Freedom as a significant
marker of an Underground Railroad active participant.
Historian Herbert Aptheker at the grave of Mary Brown on May 9, 2000. photos by Jean Libby
Jim Keesey, wife Jennifer, and father
Paul Keesey (son of Beatrice) at the
Madronia Cemetery in Saratoga
honoring the family plot of Mary Brown
and her descendants.
No nomination of the Mary Brown gravesite is now under way
by the National Network to Freedom as a significant
marker of an Underground Railroad active participant.
Historian Herbert Aptheker at the grave of Mary Brown on May 9, 2000. photos by Jean Libby
Bonnie
Laughlin-Schultz
at the grave of
Mary Brown
(1816-1884)
"Wfe of John
Brown of
Harper's Ferry."
Mary Brown in 1860
Laughlin-Schultz
at the grave of
Mary Brown
(1816-1884)
"Wfe of John
Brown of
Harper's Ferry."
Mary Brown in 1860
| April Halberstadt, director of the Saratoga Historical Museum with Sarah Brown's charcoal portrait of her mother. |
Mary Brown's oldest
surviving daughter
Annie is at right
with her husband
Sam Adams, a
carriage-maker.
Annie's grave was
not known for many
years until found by
Ron Kuhnel, the
Humboldt County
Cemetery Project.
Kansas Free State
Battery, 1856
(left to right) James
Redpath, Richard Realf,
Augustus Wattles, John T.
Jones (Ottawa Jones),
George Gill, Owen
Brown (holding limber
sack) original donated to
the KSHS by Rev. T. W.
Higginson. identifications
by Jean Libby in 2003.
"Daughters of
John Brown"
Sarah and Ellen
are buried next to
their mother. The
property of Ellen
and James
Fablinger is now
the Civic Center
of the City of
Saratoga,
California. It was
acquired in 1957.
surviving daughter
Annie is at right
with her husband
Sam Adams, a
carriage-maker.
Annie's grave was
not known for many
years until found by
Ron Kuhnel, the
Humboldt County
Cemetery Project.
Kansas Free State
Battery, 1856
(left to right) James
Redpath, Richard Realf,
Augustus Wattles, John T.
Jones (Ottawa Jones),
George Gill, Owen
Brown (holding limber
sack) original donated to
the KSHS by Rev. T. W.
Higginson. identifications
by Jean Libby in 2003.
"Daughters of
John Brown"
Sarah and Ellen
are buried next to
their mother. The
property of Ellen
and James
Fablinger is now
the Civic Center
of the City of
Saratoga,
California. It was
acquired in 1957.
Jean Libby
Alice Mecoy