Description
AUNT CLARA BROWN. Death of the First Woman to Cross the Great American Desert. - - Denver Globe Democrat - - Denver. Col., Oct. 24. “Aunt” Clara Brown, formerly a slave, who is credited with being the first woman to cross the plains into Colorado, died here late last night, at her home on Arapahoe Street. She was the only female member of the Colorado Pioneers’ Association, and was the pet of that body, numbering over 400 people. Aunt Clara Brown was upwards of 83 years of age. She remembered the outbreak of the war of 1812 well, and was a half-grown girl at that time. In her youth she was owned by a planter in Logan County, Kentucky, who sold her to someone who emigrated to Kansas, where she managed to obtain her freedom and started with a wagon train to Colorado. She had no money with which to pay her passage and so acted as cook in order to pay for her transportation. The wagon train arrived at Denver in June, 1859, having encountered some SOO (Sioux) Indians on the way. Aunt Clara was never afraid of the Indians, as she had Indian blood in her veins, her grandparents having been savages. She was a born philanthropist, and when President Lincoln set the negroes free she took her savings and journeyed to Kentucky for her people. Later she returned with 26 members of her family, men and women, for all of whom she paid full wagon fare, and who have long since married and intermarried until they and their descendants form a notable part of the colored community in Colorado. Aunt Clara’s husband and children were sold before the war. The children were in their infancy. Two years ago Aunt Clara heard that one of her slave-sold daughters was living in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and she gathered enough money by hard labor to take her to Council Bluffs. There she met her daughter from whom she had been separated 40 years, and brought her back to Denver with her. The long lost daughter was the sole comfort of Aunt Clara’s declining days. In an early day here she engaged in numerous noble charities, turned her home into a hospital, a hotel, and general refuge for those who were sick or in poverty. If those who made her home their home were able to pay her for what they received she accepted it; if not, it did not matter. At one time she accumulated a large amount of property, but lost it all through the scheming of her agents.Date(s) of Creation
10/30/1885
