On November 25, 1859, James Miller McKim wrote letters to two fellow abolitionists: William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown.

In his letter to Garrison, McKim informed him “of Wendell Phillips with whom I have been in correspondence on the subject of Mrs. Brown. Captain Brown &c.” He confirmed that Mary Brown stayed with him and continued by discussing her, saying, “Mrs. Brown has been at my house all this week. The more we see of her the more we like her. And the more we learn from her, of Mr. Brown and his family, the more are we impressed with the greatness of the man…What I want…to say here is that Mrs. Brown has expressed to my wife and she did with hesitancy & with delicacy, a fear…There are members of their family whose position ought not to be put at once to them…This she regards as too delicate a matter to speak of…too important a one to be overlooked. She fears the money intended for food, and greatly needed, may not accomplish all this benefit…for want of the requisite knowledge on part of those who may be its dependence.” [1]

After describing Mary Brown, McKim described the controversy surrounding the burial of John Brown. He claims that Brown “wrote a beautiful letter…asking for Mr. B’s mortal remains in the Earth of his personal wishes &c. I have written…to the same effect. The hope to have the body is in burial here and our purpose is it not…to send it in charge of a respectable” person in “Boston for internment there. Is there any reason why this should not be the course?” [2]

On the same day, McKim wrote to John Brown, confirming Brown’s wife was staying with him and reassuring him that she was doing well. McKim opened the letter with “dear friend,” but then crossed it out to the point that it is almost illegible and instead wrote “dear John Brown.” Based on letters stored at the Cornell University Library and at the New York Public Library that McKim wrote, he rarely addressed his letters “dear friend,” even though that was a common way to address letters between the abolitionists. Therefore, his original intro of “dear friend” is already out of the ordinary. However, crossing it out and writing “dear John Brown” instead is even more bizarre. [3]

He begins the letter by saying that “It will comfort you to know that your wife bears…this trial with…fortitude. Her behavior is the admiration of all who have opportunities of observing her. She is calm without insensibility, tender without weakness, sorrowful but not as one without hope. Her hope however is not that you will be…reprieved…but that the brief remnant of your life on Earth will be to…precipitate the triumph of the Great Cause which you have so long had at heart.” [4]

He continues, stating that “She is still an inmate at my house, though is intending as I before wrote you to spend a day or two with Mrs. Mott. Yesterday she accompanied me (it was Thanksgiving Day) to this church of the Rev. Dr….and was greatly reprieved and comforted. The Prayers, the hymns, the sermon, were all just what she could have most desired. As we were coming out it was discerned accidentally that she was present, and large numbers came around her with their eyes overflowing with sympathy to thank her by the hand and say ‘God bless you’…She reads of course…everything…concerning you. She laughed and cried with your comrades in the sermon…Your letter…gave her the greatest pleasure, but your allusion in it to your “two noble boys” quite broke her down…She said…she had always been desirous to hear your last-words. She was sure they would be words of strength.” [5]

Together, these two letters prove that Mary Brown did indeed stay with McKim and that she and McKim and his family became close during this time.

[1] James Miller McKim to William Lloyd Garrison, November 25, 1859, Maloney Collection, Box 2, Special Collections, New York Public Library. [PDF]

 

[2] James Miller McKim to William Lloyd Garrison, November 25, 1859, Maloney Collection, Box 2, Special Collections, New York Public Library.

[3] James Miller McKim to John Brown, November 25, 1859, Maloney Collection, Box 2, Special Collections, New York Public Library. [PDF]

 

[4] James Miller McKim to John Brown, November 25, 1859, Maloney Collection, Box 2, Special Collections, New York Public Library.

[5] James Miller McKim to John Brown, November 25, 1859, Maloney Collection, Box 2, Special Collections, New York Public Library.