Tombstone Tuesday - Owen Brown - my gggg Grandfather

John Brown's father, Owen Brown (1771-1856) is buried in the Old Hudson Township Burying Ground, located on Chapel Street in Hudson Ohio. Also buried here are Owen's first wife, Ruth Mills Brown (1772-1808), his second wife, Sally Root Brown (1789 - 1840) and Owen and Sally's son, Watson (1813-1832). Owen is buried between his wives, with Watson next to Sally.

The graves are shown in the picture at right.  From left to right: Watson, Sally, Owen (base only), and Ruth. Owen's headstone has broken off the base.

When Owen's headstone fell, it fell face down, and to prevent the possibility of more damage to the stone being caused by well meaning public trying to turn the stone over, the City of Hudson Park and Recreation Department have placed the headstone face up in front of Ruth's headstone. The P&R Department is working on a plan to not only repair Owen's headstone, but also preserve all historic headstones in Hudson.

 As early as the 1920s,  the descendants attending the annual Brown Family Reunions, expressed concern about the maintenance of the Brown's headstones. They discussed commissioning the building of wood and glass enclosures,  similar to the one around John Brown's headstone in North Elba NY, to protect the headstones of Owen, Ruth and Sally from the elements and the effects of time. This subject was discussed at numerous future reunions, but no final decision was ever made. And so the effects of time continue to take their toll on these headstones.

These are lovely violets that I found growing wild in the cemetery. Small, yet prolific, they add a spark of color to this small cemetery.

On a non John Brown note: I found this headstone, for Stephen Thompson, Jr who served as a drummer boy in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. His stone has brass markers to show he was a veteran of each of these wars. He is buried one row behind Owen and his family.