The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-05-12
JOHN BROWNS HEADSTONE
Tt was Carved by B. a. Barrett of
North Topeka


The inscription on the headstOne
which marks the place where John
Browns body lies Wondering in the
grave" was cut by a Kansas man. B.
A. Barrett, for many years a marble
worker, but now a druggist of North
Topeka, did it.
How well Go I remember dressing
down the stone and cutting the inscrlp-
ton" said Mr.. Barrett today. 1T was
in January, 1860, about six weeks after
John Brown had been hung. At the
time / was running a tombstone eStaD-
hshment at Wadham's Mills, Elba
county, n. Y, 35 miles from the Brown
homestead near North Elba. Mrs.
Brown engaged me to do the work
While she was at our place on Christ
mas attending an abolition celebration
given in her honor. She told me that
she had suitable stone and that
could come up there and do the work.
Two weeks later 1 went there. L
found resting against the side of the lit
tie farm house an old tombstone bear
ing the name of John Brown. It was
not the John Brown of abolition fame,
but his grandfather, an old Revolution
airy soldier. The slab had been remOV-
ed from the grave of the grandfather to
make room for monument and John
Brown took it home. He told his fam
lily that he wanted it to mark his grave.
The stone was a soft, free stone slab
about three feet high, 20 inches wide
and three inches thick.
1.-THE weather was intensely cold and
I had to work in the kitchen. 1 was
just a week at the job, and the Brown
family-What was left of it-Watched
me work all the time. There is no versa
or anything on the stone. Mrs. Brown
wanted to put one on, but when we
measured up we found that it would
take all the space to give the names
and dates of birth and death of John
Brown and his four sons. Browns
name was placed at the top and the
sons came next in the order of death.
week. Never had better eating in my
life. But 1 viii tell you confidentially
that the hospitality of the Brown fam
lily was about the only redeeming fea-
ture. None of them would ever be Sc
lected to participate in beauty show.
AS a whole, l never saw a more ugly
lot of women. But they were kind in
disposition, and that covered a multi
tude of shortcomings. Mrs. Brown was
a very large, masculine woman, with
coarse features. But she did know how
to cook.
Z returned to my home after COM
pleting the work. The stone was not
set during the winter. but 1 was up to
another abolition celebration on July
the same year and saw the stone at the
head of the grave. Brown is buried
his farm; not in the North Elba ceme-
terry.
mo, I did not cut the inscription on
the big boulder at the foot of the grave.
That was done by Andrew J. Daniels,
who learned his trade under me. When
1 charge
of the shop. In the spring of 1865, he
went out to the Brown farm and did the
lettering on the boulder. The rock is
about the size of an ordinary house,
and it stands al the foot of the grave.
or, perhaps, it would be better to say
that the grave stands at the foot of it.
Daniels is now postmaster of WeStpOrt,
of the same county, unless AXman BriS-
tow, of Kansas, has cut his official head
off
I have read the various stories writ
ten of John Brown and his burial. Some
were true but more were not. 1 never
cared to rush into print, however, about
them. 1 do know that Major Hud-
sons story of the burial is correct I
had charge of the hearse for the vicin-
ity of Westport at the time, and they
tried to get me to take it and haul
Browns body to North Elba. The
roads were bad, and the country was
the toughest you ever saw. They haul
ed the corpse from Westport to North
Elba in an old spring wagon"
Mr.. Barrett was born at Wadham's
Mills, December 6, 1925. He lived with
his parents on a farm until he was p
years old and then learned the marble
cutters trade. He kept at the trade
until 1862, when he entered the Union
army in the Eleventh New York caVal-
was mustered out at Memphis and re-
turned to his old home, where he took
up his trade again and remained until
1868. He then moved to Thomson. Ill
and worked at his trade until 1874 when
he came to Kansas. He first located at
Fort Scott and was there until 1917
when he moved to Garnett At this
place he ran a marble works for year
and in the spring of 1873 entered the
drug business, which he has been fol-
lowing ever since. He came to Topeka
in 1887 and now has one of the largest
drug establishments north of the Kaw
Mr. Barrett is a bachelor. He makes
his home back of his prescription case
While at Fort Scott. he lettered the
tombstone which marks the grave of
Col. Montgomery, who was a fighting
companion of John Brown during the
early Kansas troubles.
Ladies' shirt waists Numbered so that
the colors will not fade by Peerless