John Brown was a white American abolitionist who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery. He led the unsucessful raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859 and the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas.

In Pre-Civil War Crawford County, Pennsylvania, the farm of the great abolitionist played a strategic role in the Underground Railroad. Disbursing "depots" in the area, Brown aided in the passing of an estimated 2,500 slaves.

In 1820, Brown married Dianthe Lusk. Their first child, John Jr, was born 13 months later. In 1825, Brown and his family moved to New Richmond, Pennsylvania, (between Cambridge Springs and Meadville) where he bought 200 acres (81 hectares). He cleared an eighth of it and built a cabin, a barn, and a tannery. Within a year the tannery employed 15 men. Brown also made money raising cattle and surveying. He helped to establish a post office and a school. During this period, Brown operated an interstate business involving cattle and leather production along with a kinsman, Seth Thompson, from eastern Ohio.

In 1831, one of his sons died. Brown fell ill, and his businesses began to suffer, which left him in terrible debt. In the summer of 1832, shortly after the death of a newborn son, his wife Dianthe died. On June 14, 1833, Brown married 16-year-old Mary Ann Day (April 15, 1817—May 1, 1884), originally of Meadville, Pennsylvania. They eventually had 13 children, in addition to the seven children from his previous marriage.

John Brown's farm is now a museum, proves to be an educational, exhilarating experience as you learn more about this great man of history and his many heroic efforts. Tour the remnants of the tannery and take a walking path to the cemetery.

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