The record-union., 1899-06-12
JOHN BROWNS TANNERY.
IT STANDS TO-DAY AS HE BUILT
TT IN 1896.
His Life In the Pennsylvania Back.
woods-His Energy and His
Indomitable Nature.


In 1905. when John Brown was 5
years old, his parents removed from
1orrington, Conn, where he was born,
to Hudson, o. The boy worked on his
fathers farm and learned the tam
ners trade. At the age of 20 he was
married to Ddanthe Lusk Six years
later ne located with his young wire
and small family in Richmond Town
ship, Crawford County, Penn, then
wilderness and aus yet sparsely settled.
The township had perhaps twenty five
families when he settled on tract NO.
l,432, containing about 400 acres. ON
the State road from Meadville to New
York, about ten miles from the railroad
station of Cambridge Springs. The
farm was an unbroken forest.
Immediately on his arrival Brown
built double log house and began to
clear a f1ve-acre tract of land, which
he put under cultivation. He had come
to Crawford County to follow the tan
ner's business because of its large
growth of hemlock timber. He built
a tannery, in size 26x5O feet, and be-
gan tanning leather for the market
This building is in as good condition
to-day as it was in 1895, the year In
which it was built. 1t is two-story
structure the lower part of stone and
the upper part Of wood. The tannery
contained eighteen watts of leeches and
was an important industry for those
days. When, on account of business
reverses he had to dispose of his prop
erty, the tannery passed into the hands
of a Methodist preacher by the name
! of Butt. He sold 1t to Mr.. Quiggle
md he in turn transferred it to Nor
rfSon McGlory. Ira H. Clark was the
next owner, and was the last to use
the building for a. tannery. For a while
it was utilized as a cheese factory, and
in the autumn Of 1888 it was converted
into Jelly factory and corn-grinding
mill. A few years ago 1t was pur-
chased by Mr.. Cannon, who con-
verted the upper story into dwelling
house and uses the lower part as
mill for grinding corn. The building
now has porch along the front. 1t
still has in it the original doors and
windows and frames, and in the rear
may still be seen the old clapboardS
which John Brown nailed on to the
building.
Just across the road. in a field, is
the spring which furnished the water
for the tannery, dwelling house and
cattle, and little distance away is
the site of the old log house built by
him, now marked by the outlines of
an irregular foundation and growth
of underbrush. Near the spring also
is the orchard. now numbering only
ten trees planted by his hands. The
barn which he built is still in a good
state of preservation. 1t served for
many years as a station along the
underground railway" In the hay
NOW he had built room of rough
boards, with a trap door and proper
ventilation, around which the hay was
piled. The negro fugitive descended
into the room by means of a step
ladder, the trap door was let down
and the hay thrown upon it. When
the slave owner or agent came to find
his property there was nothing which
indicated that the slave was secreted
on the premises.
Eastward from the spring, in an
open field is buried John Browns first
wife. DiantIle who died on August 10
1882. An infant son, dying three days
& after his mother, lies buried in the
same grave. In another grave is buried
son, Frederick, aged 4 years. Two
tombstones mark the resting places of
wife and children, around which has
been built a picket fence. His first
wife, Dianthe, bore him seven children,