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I am finally back to writing on my blog. I am working a full time job that takes a great deal out of me, as well as fighting some minor health issues which have kept me away, but I am now back.
During my absence I was awarded the Ancestor Approved Blog Award from not one but TWO other bloggers!. My humble thanks to Dr Bill Smith of Dr Bill Tells Ancestor Stories and Evelyn Yvonne Theriault of A Canadian Family who gave the Award for Excellence in telling Family stories. Thank you both for this honor, sorry I am so late in acknowledging it.
The award comes with homework : “list ten things I have learned about any of my ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened me and to pass the award along to ten other blog writers whom I feel are doing their ancestors proud.”
Hmm, ten things that I have learned about my ancestors that surprised, humbled or enlightened me. Only ten? I spend much of my time being surprised, humbled and enlightened about my ancestors.
John Brown was for the full and equal rights of ALL PEOPLE - regardless of color, nationality, gender, religion, economic standing, and anything else that could get in the way of equality.
Ellen Brown, John and Mary Brown's youngest child, only saw her father once in the five years from her birth until his death. She attended the funeral of a man she did not know, except from family stories and his numerous letters home to his children.
Martha Brewster Brown, a child herself, lost everything in the fight against slavery - her family disowned her for marrying into the Brown family, her husband died at Harpers Ferry, her new born daughter died days after her birth, and Martha followed her husband and daughter into death soon after.
John Brown was married twice and fathered 20 children, of which 4 from each wife survived him.
Brown women, if they lived past childhood, tend to live very long lives.
Nellie Brown Groves, one of John Brown's many grandchildren, sued Warner's Brothers Movie Studio over the horrible depiction of John Brown in the movie "Santa Fe Trail."
Floria Brown Adair, John Brown's half sister, is one of the overlooked heroines of the fight against slavery.
Sarah Brown worked in the US Mint in San Francisco. On of her jobs was "reeding" the dimes, quarters and silver dollars. Reeds are the grooves in the sides of coins that now serve no purpose, but in the 1800s they prevented people from scraping bits of silver off the coins to sell later. Coins minted today are no longer 100% silver.
The residents of California took up a collection to purchase a home in Redbluff for Mary, John Brown's widow, and her 4 daughters when they moved from New York in the mid 1860s.
You either love and respect John Brown, or you hate and despise him. There is no middle ground when talking about the "Old Man." People are opinionated and unrelenting in their belief of his "goodness" or "evilness."
And now the award is passed onto the following blogs
