Evidence for the 1864 John Brown Family Camp Corral Sketch

After John Brown, Underground Railroad Engineer and organizer of the 1859 Harpers Ferry Siege, was tried and sentenced to death for his treasonous crimes, his surviving widow and family were persecuted and oppressed. In 1863, they left their New York homestead in search of a fresh start. After staying one winter in Decorah, Iowa, they continued their emigration in 1864 to Red Bluff, California in a covered wagon train led by Salmon Brown.

During this journey, they became acquainted with the Pella Company wagon train from Pella, Iowa, captained by Nicholas Porter Earp. Their repeated connections along the Overland-California Trail were documented and illustrated in a one-of-a-kind sketch by trail diarist Mrs. Sarah Jane Rousseau.



Evidence for the 1864 John Brown Family Camp Corral Sketch contains claims and supporting evidence from Researcher-Historians Janelle Molony, Nicholas R. Cataldo, and Larry Cundall. Their findings offer irrefutable provenance for the incredible discovery.