Born in Torrington, Connecticut on May 9, 1800, John Brown was the son of a wandering New Englander. Brown spent much of his youth in Ohio, where he was taught in local schools to resent compulsory education and by his parents to revere the Bible and hate slavery. As a boy he herded cattle for General William Hull’s army during the war of 1812; later he served as foreman of his family’s tannery. In 1820 he married …showed first 75 words of 1209 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1209 total…me of his own accord, and the greater part of them at their own expense. A number of them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation with till the day they came to me; and that was for the purpose I have stated. Now I have done.” Brown was, of course, executed for seizing the federal arsenal at Harper’s ferry in October, 1859, for the purpose of arming slaves for an insurrection.