USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies > Part 31
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so valuable in itself, and so characteristic of the writer, should here be reprinted. It first appeared in Redpath's Life of Brown, published
Die&SENG. CO. N.Y
BIRTH PLACE OF JOHN BROWN, TORRINGTON, MAY 9, 1800.
in Boston in 1860, having been placed in Mr. Redpath's hands by Mrs. George L. Stearns of Medford, Mass. The lad to whom it was addressed was then about twelve years old, and the letter was evi- dently written for his amusement and instruction, with no thought that it would ever become public. As first printed, and as here re- produced, it is spelled, punctuated, and italicized exactly as Captain Brown wrote it. If it thus indicates, what was probably true, that Brown could spell no better than Claverhouse, and was as regardless of " stops and marks" as any old Roman stone-cutter or Greek scribe, it also shows what a piquant and forcible style he used, both in speech and on paper. It was after hearing this paper read that Miss Osgood, of Medford, remarked, " If Captain Brown had not been called, in the providence of God, to a very different work, what charming stories he could have written for young children !" The original manuscript fills six pages of closely written letter-paper, without division into paragraphs. It was written during the summer when Hugh Forbes was drilling a small company of his men for the Virginia campaign, in the western part of Iowa.
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FRAGMENT OF AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
RED ROCK, IOWA, 15th July, 1857.
MR. HENRY L. STEARNS My Dear Young Friend
I have not forgotten my promise to write you; but my constant care, & anxiety have obliged me to put it off a long time. I do not flatter myself that I can write any thing that will very much interest you: but have concluded to send you a short story of a certain boy of my acquaintance : & for convenience and shortness of name, I will call him John. His story will be mainly a narra- tion of follies and errors ; which it is to be hoped you may avoid; but there is one thing connected with it, which will be calculated to encourage any young person to persevering effort: & that is the degree of success in accomplishing his objects which to a great extent marked the course of this boy throughout my entire acquaintance with him ; notwithstanding his moderate capacity ; & still more moderate acquirements.
John was born May 9th 1800, at Torrington, Litchfield Co, Connecticut ; of poor but respectable parents : a decendant on the side of his father of one of the company of the Mayflower who landed at Plymouth 1620. His mother was decended from a man who came at an early period to New England from Amsterdam, in Holland. Both his Father's & his Mother's Fathers served in the war of the revolution : His Father's Father ; died in a barn at New York while in the service, in 1776
I cannot tell you of any thing in the first Four years of John's life worth mentioning save that at that early age he was tempted by Three large Brass Pins belonging to a girl who lived in the family & stole them. In this he was detected by his Mother; & after having a full day to think of the wrong: re- ceived from her a thorough whipping. When he was Five years old his Father moved to Ohio ; then a wilderness filled with wild beasts, & Indians. During the long journey which was performed in part or mostly with an ox team ; he was called on by turns to assist a boy Five years older (who had been adopted by his Father & Mother) & learned to think he could accomplish smart things in driving the Cows ; and riding the horses. Sometimes he met with Rattle Snakes which were very large ; & which some of the company generally managed to kill. After getting to Ohio in 1805 he was for some time rather afraid of the Indians, & of their Rifles ; but this soon wore off: & he used to hang about them quite as much as was consistent with good manners ; & learned a trifle of their talk. His Father learned to dress Deer Skins, & at 6 years old John was installed a young Buck Skin - He was perhaps rather observing as he ever after remembered the entire process of Deer Skin dressing ; so that he could at any time dress his own leather such as Squirel, Raccoon, Cat, Wolf or Dog Skins ; & also learned to make Whip Lashes : which brought him some change at times ; & was of considerable service in many ways .- At Six years old John began to be quite a rambler in the wild new country finding birds & Squirels, & sometimes a wild Turkey's nest. But about this period he was placed in the school of adversity : which my young friend was a most neces- sary part of his early training. You may laugh when you come to read about it ; but these were sore trials to John : whose earthly treasures were very few & small. These were the beginning of a severe but much needed course of discipline which he afterwards was to pass through ; & which it is to be hoped
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has learned him before this time that the Heavenly Father sees it best to take all the little things out of his hands which he has ever placed in them. When John was in his Sixth year a poor Indian boy gave him a Yellow Marble the first he had ever seen. This he thought a great deal of; & kept it a good while ; but at last he lost it beyond recovery. It took years to heal the wound ; & I think he cried at times about it. About Five months after this he caught a young Squirrel tearing off his tail in doing it ; & getting severely bitten at the same time himself. He however held to the little bob tail Squirrel ; & finally got him perfectly tamed, so that he almost idolized his pet. This too he lost ; by its wandering away ; or by getting killed : & for a year or Two John was in mourning ; and looking at all the Squirrels he could see to try & discover Bob tail, if possible. I must not neglect to tell you of a very bad & foolish habbit to which John was somewhat addicted. I mean telling lies : generally to screen himself from blame ; or from punishment. He could not well endure to be reproached ; & I now think had he been oftener encouraged to be entirely frank ; by making frankness a kind of atonement for some of his faults ; he would not have been so often guilty of this fault ; nor have been obliged to struggle so long in after life with so mean a habit. John was never quarelsome ; but was excessively fond of the hardest & roughest kind of plays ; & could never get enough [of] them.
Indeed when for a short time he was sometimes sent to School the opportu- nity it afforded to wrestle & Snow ball & run & jump & knock off old seedy wool hats ; offered to him almost the only compensation for the confinement, & restraints of school. I need not tell you that with such a feeling & but little chance of going to school at all: he did not become much of a schollar. He would always choose to stay at home & work hard rather than be sent to school; & during the warm season might generally be seen barefooted & bare- headed : with Buck skin Breeches suspended often with one leather strap over his shoulder but sometimes with Two. To be sent off through the wilderness alone to very considerable distances was particularly his delight ; & in this he was often indulged so that by the time he was Twelve years old he was sent off more than a Hundred Miles with companies of cattle ; & he would have thought his character much injured had he been obliged to be helped in any such job. This was a boyish kind of feeling but characteristic however.
At Eight years old John was left a Motherless boy which loss was complete & permanent, for notwithstanding his Father again married to a sensible, inteli- gent, & on many accounts a very estimable woman : yet he never addopted her in feeling : but continued to pine after his own Mother for years. This op- perated very unfavourably uppon him; as he was both naturally fond of females ; & withall extremely diffident; & deprived him of a suitable connect- ing link between the different sexes; the want of which might under some circumstances have proved his ruin.
When the war broke out with England, his Father soon commenced fur- nishing the troops with beef cattle, the collecting & driving of which afforded him some opportunity for the chase (on foot) of wild steers & other cattle through the woods. During this war he had some chance to form his own boyish judgment of men & measures : & to become somewhat familiarly ac- quainted with some who have figured before the country since that time. The effect of what he saw during the war was to so far disgust him with military affairs that he would neither train, or drill ; but paid fines ; & got along like a Quaker untill his age finally has cleared him of Military duty.
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During the war with England a circumstance occurred that in the end made him a most determined Abolitionist : & led him to declare, or Swear : Eternal war with Slavery. He was staying for a short time with a very gen- tlemanly landlord once a United States Marshall who held a slave boy near his own age very active, intelligent and good feeling; & to whom John was under considerable obligation for numerous little acts of kindness. The master made a great pet of John : brought him to table with his first company ; & friends; called their attention to every little smart thing he said or did : & to the fact of his being more than a hundred miles from home with a company of cattle alone ; while the negro boy (who was fully if not more than his equal) was badly clothed, poorly fed ; & lodged in cold weather ; & beaten before his eyes with Iron Shovels or any other thing that came first to hand. This brought John to reflect on the wretched ; hopeless condition, of Fatherless & Motherless slave children : for such children have neither Fathers nor Mothers to protect, & provide for them. He sometimes would raise the question is God their Father ?
At the age of Ten years an old friend induced him to read a little history ; & offered him the free use of a good library ; by ; which he acquired some taste for reading : which formed the principle part of his early education : & diverted him in a great measure from bad company. He by this means grew to be very fond of the company, & conversation of old & intelligent persons, He never attempted to dance in his life ; nor did he even learn to know one of a pack of cards from another. He learned nothing of Grammer ; nor did he get at school so much knowledge of common Arithmetic as the Four ground rules. This will give you some idea of the first Fifteen years of his life ; dur- ing which time he became very strong & large of his age & ambitious to per- form the full labour of a man ; at almost any kind of hard work. By reading the lives of great, wise & good men their sayings, and writings ; he grew to a dislike of vain & frivolous conversation & persons ; & was often greatly obliged by the kind manner in which older & more inteligent persons treated him at their houses : & in conversation; which was a great relief on account of his extreme bashfulness.
He very early in life became ambitious to excel in doing anything he under- took to perform. This kind of feeling I would recommend to all young per- sons both male & female : as it will certainly tend to secure admission to the company of the more inteligent ; & better portion of every community. By all means endeavor to excel in some laudable pursuit.
I had like to have forgotten to tell you of one of John's misfortunes which set rather hard on him while a young boy. He had by some means perhaps by gift of his father become the owner of a little Ewe Lamb which did finely till it was about Two Thirds grown ; & then sickened & died. This brought another protracted mourning season : not that he felt the pecuniary loss so much : for that was never his disposition ; but so strong & earnest were his atach- ments.
John had been taught from earliest childhood to "fear God and keep his commandments ; " & though quite skeptical he had always by turns felt much serious doubt as to his future well being ; & aboutthis time became to some ex- tent a convert to Christianity & ever after a firm believer in the divine authen- ticity of the Bible. With this book he became very familiar, & possessed a most unusual memory of its entire contents.
Now some of the things I have been telling of; were just such as I would
41
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recommend to you : & I wd like to know that you had selected these out ; & adopted them as part of your own plan of life ; & I wish you to have some de- finite plan. Many seem to have none ; & others never stick to any that they do form. This was not the case with John. He followed up with tenacity whatever he set about so long as it answered his general purpose : & hence he rarely failed in some good decree to effect the things he undertook. This was so much the case that he habitually expected to succeed in his undertakings. With this feeling should be coupled ; the consciousness that our plans are right in themselves.
During the period I have named John had acquired a kind of ownership to certain animals of some little value but as he had come to understand that the title of minors might be a little imperfect : he had recourse to various means in order to secure a more independent ; & perfect right of property. One of those means was to exchange with his Father for something of far less value. Another was trading with others persons for something his Father had never owned. Older persons have some times found difficulty with titles.
From fifteen to Twenty years old, he spent most of his time working at the Tanner & Currier's trade keeping Bachelors hall ; & he officiating as Cook ; & for most of the time as forman of the establishment under his father. Dur- ing this period he found much trouble with some of the bad habits I have mentioned & with some that I have not told you off : his concience urging him forward with great power in this matter : but his close attention to business ; & success in its management ; together with the way he got along with a company of men, & boys; made him quite a favorite with the serious & more inteligent portion of older persons. This was so much the case ; & secured for him so many little notices from those he esteemed ; that his vanity was very much fed by it: & he came forward to manhood quite full of self-conceit ; & self-confi- dent ; notwithstanding his extreme bashfulness. A younger brother used some- times to remind him of this : & to repeat to him this expression which you may somewhere find, " A King against whom there is no rising up." The habit so early formed of being obeyed rendered him in after life too much disposed to speak in an imperious & dictating way. From Fifteen years & upward he felt a good deal of anxiety to learn ; but could only read & studdy a little; both for want of time; & on account of inflammation of the eyes. He however managed by the help of books to make himself tolerably well acquainted with common arithmetic ; & Surveying ; which he practiced more or less after he was Twenty years old.
At a little past Twenty years led by his own inclination & prompted also by his Father, he married a remarkably plain ; but neat industrious & economical girl; of excellent character ; earnest piety ; & good practical common sense ; about one year younger than himself. This woman by her mild, frank, & more than all else : by her very consistent conduct; acquired & ever while she lived maintained a most powerful ; & good influence over him. Her plain but kind admonitions generally had the right effect ; without arousing his haughty obstinate temper. John began early in life to discover a great liking to fine Cattle, Horses, Sheep, & Swine ; & as soon as circumstances would enable him he began to be a practical Shepherd : it being a calling for which in early life he had a kind of enthusiastic longing: with the idea that as a business it bid fair to afford him the means of carrying out his greatest or principle object. I have now given you a kind of general idea of the early life of this boy; & if I believed it would be worth the trouble ; or afford much interest to any good
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feeling person : I might be tempted to tell you something of his course in after life ; or manhood. I do not say that I will do it.
You will discover that in using up my half sheets to save paper ; I have writ- ten Two pages, so that one does not follow the other as it should. I have no time to write it over; & but for unavoidable hindrances in traveling I can hardly say when I should have written what I have. With an honest desire for your best good, I subscribe myself, Your Friend
J. BROWN.
P. S. I had like to have forgotten to acknowledge your contribution in aid of the cause in which I serve. God Allmighty bless you ; my son. J. B.
Upon this Autobiography a few remarks may be made. It was sent to the son of his friend, the late Major Stearns of Medford, Mass., who, as chairman of the Massachusetts Kansas committee, had become acquainted with John Brown in 1857, and had done much to promote the objects he then had at heart. When it was written, though Brown was then engaged in preparations for his at- tack on slavery in Virginia, nothing was known of that scheme by Major Stearns or by any of Brown's Massachusetts friends. The contributions made by Harry Stearns and by others "in aid of the cause in which I serve," were given to help the oppressed pioneers of Kansas whom Brown was then defending. But it seems by this account of John Brown's childhood and youth, that his hostility to slavery began before 1815, when he was in the habit of driving cattle long distances in Ohio, for army supplies, during the war with Eng- land which began in 1812. One of the first important events of that war was the surrender of Gen. Hull of Massachusetts, with his whole force, to the British near Detroit in 1812. Owen Brown, as a beef contractor, was with Hull's army at or just before the surrender, accompanied by his son John. The boy, then but twelve years old, circulated among the American soldiers and officers and overheard many of the conversations in camp concerning Gen. Hull and his position. He saw much of Gen. Cass, then a captain under Hull, and it is to him, no doubt, that allusion is made as one of those " who have figured before the country since that time." Long after- ward (in 1857), he told me that he overheard such mutinous con- versation from Cass, McArthur, and other officers as would have branded them as mutineers, if he could have reported it to the Wash- ington authorities, and he had an ill opinion of Cass ever after, on account of this incident. He believed that Gen. Hull was forced into the false position which led to his surrender by the ill conduct of his subordinate officers.
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The town of Hudson, and the region about it was the part of Ohio familiar to John Brown's boyhood, and the nature of his life at that time is well described in the preceding pages. He thus entered early upon that long course of special training for his future warfare. A most important part of this discipline was his outdoor habit of life, and his intimate acquaintance with all that passes in wood and field, by day and night. This life in the open air, to which he was bred from infancy, gave him a hunter's digestion and the keen senses of an Indian warrior. He was remarkably clear sighted and quick of ear, and so acute of smell, that he could perceive the frying of dough- nuts at a distance of five miles, as he once told me. The life of a shepherd - an open air calling - was one, as he says, " for which in early life he had a kind of enthusiastic longing." When he became a shepherd in after years his eye was so discriminating that if a strange sheep got into his flock of two or three thousand, he could select the intruder without difficulty. The surveyor's art, in which he became expert, was another calling that kept him constantly in the open air. " As happens usually to men of romantic character," said Emerson in 1859, " his fortunes were romantic. A shepherd and herdsman, he learned the manners of animals, and knew the secret signals by which animals communicate. He made his hard bed on the mountains with them ; he learned to drive his flock through thickets all but impassable. If he kept sheep, it was with a royal mind." Or as Emerson had written in earlier years of another char- acter, equally romantic :
" He trode the unplanted forest floor, whereon The all-seeing sun for ages has not shone ; Where feeds the moose and walks the surly bear, And up the tall mast runs the woodpecker, Through these green tents, by eldest nature dressed. He roamed, content alike with man and beast, Where darkness found him he lay glad at night, There the red morning touched him with its light. The timid it concerns to ask their way, And fear what foe in caves and swamps can stray. To make no step until the event is known, And ills to come as evils past bemoan, Not so the wise ; no coward watch he keeps, To spy what danger on his pathway creeps, Go where he will, the wise man is at home, His hearth the earth, his hall the azure dome ; Where his clear spirit leads him, there's his road, By God's own light illumined and foreshowed."
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John Brown early learned to submit himself to God's guidance in all things. He experienced religion at the age of sixteen years, and at that time joined the Congregational church in Hudson. Not long after his mind turned towards the ministry as a profession and he began to study with that in view.
Precisely when this took place I have not learned, but it was the occasion of his first return to Connecticut after his emigration with his father in 1805. Whether he then revisited Torrington is un- certain, but upon making the long journey to New England, perhaps in company with his father, he went to take the advive of a parish minister who had married an aunt or cousin of Owen Brown, Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, then settled at Canton, Ct. By him John Brown was advised to fit for college at the school of his brother, Rev. Moses Hallock in Plainfield, Mass. The school was at that time famous for graduating ministers and missionaries, and the poet Bryant had been a student there some years before. Plainfield is the next town to Cummington, where Bryant was born, and is not very far from Amherst college, where John Brown's uncle, Rev. Dr. Heman Humphrey, was soon after made president. No doubt the lad's hope was to fit himself at Plainfield and then enter Amherst college - working his way by his own efforts, as so many young men have since done. But he was attacked with inflammation of the eyes, which soon became so serious that he was forced to give up study, and go back to his father's tan-yard in Hudson, from which he had set forth for college. The time spent by him at the Plainfield school was short, and there are few reminiscences of him at that period, but something may be cited. In December, 1859, Heman Hallock, the youngest son of Rev. Moses Hallock, wrote to his brother Gerard Hallock, then editor of the New York Journal of Commerce, as follows :
"Your youngest brother does remember John Brown, who studied at our house. How long he lived there, or at what period, I do not know. I think it must have been at the time of my visits to Plainfield, when I was or had been at Amherst academy, 1 perhaps in 1819 or 1820 I have the name " John Brown' on my list of father's students. It is said that he was a relative of Uncle Jeremiah Hallock's wife, and that Uncle J. directed him to Plainfield. He was a tall; sedate, dignified young man, from twenty-two to twenty-five years old .? He had been a tanner, and relinquished a prosperous business for
I Afterwards Amherst college.
? This shows that he appeared older than his years, for he was really only nineteen and perhaps not so much.
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the purpose of intellectual improvement. He brought with him a piece of sole leather about a foot square, which he had himself tanned, for seven years, to re-sole his boots. He had also a piece of sheep skin which he had tanned and of which he cut some strips, about an eighth of an inch wide, for other students to pull upon. Father took one string and, winding it around his fingers, said with a triumphant turn of the eye and mouth, ' I shall snap it.' The very marked yet kind immovableness of the young man's face, on seeing father's defeat, father's own look, and the position of people and things in the old kitchen, somehow gave me a fixed recollection of this little incident."
John Brown set the whole nation a similar task to do in later years. The cord that fastened the fortunes of the slave to the destiny of the country was placed by him in the hands of the whole people. Defenders of slavery and of the " Union as it was," tried to snap it, but they failed, and the " marked but kind immovableness" of John Brown's face looked down upon their failure, while his soul went marching on. The anecdote was characteristic of the man, as are most of the stories current about him.
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