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The oldest gravestone I have in my collection is that of Owen Brown's{B18} first wife, Ruth Mills Brown.
Photo credit Alice Keesey Mecoy 2010
The inscription reads:
Sacred to the
Memory of
Ruth, Wife of
Owen Brown
who died Dec. 13, 1808
in the 37year of
her age.
She was a dutiful child,
a Sprightly youth, a loving wife,
a Tender parent, a kind neighrbor,
and and Exemplary christian.
Sweet is the memory of the Just.
Ruth Mills was born 26 Jan 1772 in West Simsbury, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. The eldest child of Gideon Mills and Ruth Humphrey Mills. She married my 4xgreat grandfather, Owen Brown, on 11 Feb 1793 in West Simsbury, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Owen and Ruth had a total of 8 children.
Salmon Brown {B181} (1794-1796)
Un-named Infant {B182} (1796-1796)
Anna Ruth Brown {B183} (1798-1838)
John Brown {B184} (1800-1859) of Harper's Ferry Fame
Salmon Brown {B185} (1802-1833)
Oliver Owen Brown {B186} (1804-1858)
Frederick Brown {B187} (1807-1877)
Sally Brown {B188} (1808-1808)
They also adopted and raised as their own a neighbors child, Levi Blakeslee.
In 1805 Owen and his wife and four children moved from Connecticut to Hudson, Ohio, where the family remained for many years. Owen and Ruth were both active in abolitionist activities as well as equality for women. Owen was one of the early board members of Oberlin College, one of the first colleges to allow women and blacks to get a higher education.
Owen was very much in love with Ruth and did not take her death well. But with 6 children to care for, Owen remarried less than a year later. John, Owen's son, took the death of his mother very hard, and did not warm up to his step-mother. He pined for his mother for many years. We have no pictures of Ruth, we only have one of Owen. But it is obvious that she was loved, and missed by her family based on the inscription on her headstone.
Ruth is buried in the Old Hudson Township Burying Ground in Hudson, Summit, Ohio, USA next to her husband Owen.
Owen and Ruth's grave site. Owen's stone has fallen over and the caretaker of the graveyard has placed it face up near the original site. Plans to repair are being reviewed.
This post was written for the January 2011 edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival is: How long have they been there?
