My grandmother's great uncle.

His brother (my great, great grandfather) was not part of the Harper's Ferry Raid.

Their father Owen Brown (my direct ancestor) was an abolitionist; as were all of his 7 sons including my great, great grandfather (a brother to John Brown). Owen Brown's father was Capt. John Brown (1728–1776), who died in the Revolutionary War in New York on September 3, 1776.

My grandmother was always embarrassed about being connected by family to the infamous John Brown who was hanged for his radical actions prior to the Civil War. But it was what it was... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)

However, my grandmother was proud of her great, great grandfather (my great, great, great grandfather) who fought in the Revolutionary War & who helped the USA to become an independent country. Capt. John Brown was a man who also died for his beliefs, but he was on the right side of history at the time. The senior John Brown died with honor as a captain of the Continental Army. His grandson (my great, great uncle John Brown) was hung in a shroud of dishonor by the "southern state" of Viriginia after being captured by Robert E Lee and then tried for treason. Both John Browns played a significant role in America's history.

Coming from a family of devote abolitionists was not a reason that my grandmother was uneasy about her childhood in Kansas. Her father fought on the side of the North in the Civil War, and she was proud of him. However, having a great uncle hanged (and perhaps actually helped to start the Civil War) was always a major embarrassment to her. She said that (like the rest of the family back then) her grandfather was also an abolitionist. However, he never expressed his views through violence.

My grandmother always felt very strongly against the use of violence to achieve a goal: no matter how worthy the cause.

However, I guess this feeling didn't apply to service in the military... She was proud of her father and great grandfather who fought in two of America's great wars. Her great grandfather died fighting in the Revolutionary War for what he felt was right. Her father later actively defended the United States Union in Civil War battle.

My grandmother claimed that her father and grandfather (even with their very strong beliefs) never would resort to any kind of terrorist violence, as did many of the brothers and the sons of the infamous John Brown. Some of her great uncles (including John Brown) and their sons acted as vigilantes. They had blood on their hands. My grandma grew up in the footsteps of "Bloody Kansas" and was from a family with "history".

The baby of the family, I was always amazed about my grandmother's tales of her very early childhood of going back & forth between Kansas and Pennsylvania via covered wagon. She grew up in a time totally alien to me. I was too young to fully understand why her mother, stepfather, and half siblings kept going back & forth cross country. To me and my parents, covered wagons only existed in museums. Her traveling via covered wagon was the part of her stories that amazed me the most. Maybe even more than John Brown being my grandma's great uncle.

Although her father and grandfather and great-grandfather both served their country, my grandma claimed that each one was both basically men of peace. They also believed in human rights for all. That belief has stuck with me. Complex? Yes. Her father died when she was just 3. So, I don't know how much about them my grandma really knew beyond what her mother (who remarried) told her. I only know that she was extremely embarrassed to have been related to John Brown by birth.

Genetically, I go directly back to John Brown's (of Harper's Ferry infamy) father (Owen) and to his grandfather (Capt. John Brown), and on. Although I am not directly descended from the infamous John Brown, he is a close branch in my family tree. Like my grandmother, I also am not a fan of violence of any sort. So, I guess I'm happy that my great grandfather (my grandma's father) did not follow John Brown and some of the other brothers and their sons in their murderous ways.

John Brown was someone who did some very bad things, but he did them in service of a good cause. Was John Brown a madman or a hero? On this Juneteenth, I have mixed feelings. But unlike my grandmother (who was more closely related to him generation wise), I am not embarrassed that he is in my family tree. I have only read about him in history books and heard about him in family stories. He also was hung even before my grandmother was born. But he left his mark on the family.