Description:

Brown, John (1800-1859) John Brown forwards supplies to support two important free black communities, New York and New Jersey

Superb-content Autograph Letter Signed, "John Brown," 1 page, 7.75" x 10", Springfield, Massachusetts, October 28, 1848, addressed in his hand on the integral transmittal leaf to Willis A Hodges, an African-American abolitionist in Franklin County, New York. Marginal losses and fold separations expertly mended and infilled, light to moderate toning, else very good.

"I have just returned home & on my way at Troy I bought 5 Barrels of Pork & 5 Barrels of Flour. Three Barrels of the Pork & three barrels of the flour are directed to yourself care of Colvin & Allen, Port Kent. The other two Barrels of Pork & of Flour I have sent to Timbucto I wish you so to divide with the different families as to make all as happy & comfortable as possible. I think that the Pork & Flour will be at Port Kent before you get thir [sic] but you can find out by sending to Colvin & Allen. You will have the freight to pay from Troy as I had not sufficient funds with me to pay it. You must try & make your money reach now until Spring as I have now paid out quite a sum in the different ways. I shall expect to hear from you soon how you all get along, & whether you get the provisions all safe. Yours in truth..."

On the integral transmittal leaf, Brown has addressed the letter to "Mr Willis A Hodges (near Loon Lake / Merrillsville Post Office / Franklin Co / N Y".

The village of Timbuctoo, New Jersey was settled around 1820 by a mix of free-born blacks and manumitted slaves with the support of local Quakers. Located in Burlington County, the town was the scene of the "Battle of Pine Swamp," in which Timbuctoo's residents successfully resisted the efforts of a southern slave catcher to apprehend Perry Simmons, a fugitive living in the community.

Willis A. Hodges (1815-1890) was born free in Virginia. When his brother William fled the state after being accused of forging manumission papers for slaves, he followed him northward. In 1848, Willis started a short-lived settlement called Blacksville on 200 acres of land near Loon Lake in upstate New York granted to him by Gerrit Smith. It was a small community of about 10 families, and they abandoned the settlement after two years.

The same year as this letter, Brown had purchased land in North Elba, located in the Adirondacks and to the south of Blacksville, while still living in Springfield, Massachusetts where he raised sheep and dealt in woolÑa business that would fail in 1849. It was also in Springfield, where Brown resided from 1846 to 1850, that he would become increasingly involved in the abolitionist cause. It was there in 1847 that he first met Frederick Douglass, who later remarked, "From this night spent with John Brown in Springfield, Mass. 1847 while I continued to write and speak against slavery, I became all the same less hopeful for its peaceful abolition. My utterances became more and more tinged by the color of this man's strong impressions." (See W.E.B. DuBois, John Brown, 1909, 108-109)

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