Florella Brown Adair
Kansas pioneer, abolitionist, half-sister of John Brown. Born: 19 May 1816, Hudson, Ohio. Married: Samuel Lyle Adair, 24 November 1841. Died: 6 February 1865, Leavenworth, Kansas.
Florella Brown, born May 19, 1816, in Hudson, Ohio, was the daughter of Owen and Sally Root Brown. Owen's first wife, Ruth Mills, died in 1808, after giving birth to eight children, including abolitionist John Brown.
Owen was a founder of Oberlin College, a leading antislavery school, which Florella attended. It was there that she met Samuel Lyle Adair. The couple was married November 24, 1841. As a Congregational minister, Samuel served at several churches in Ohio and Michigan before moving west in 1854 to become a missionary in Kansas Territory. The Adairs decided to settle in Osawatomie. They purchased for their home a log cabin built in 1855 by Samuel Glenn. Then in April 1856 they established the First Congregational Church in the community.
Violent outbursts occurred in spring 1856 between proslavery factions from Missouri and free-state supporters from Kansas. Florella's half-brother John Brown joined his sons who were living in Kansas and became a leader for the antislavery movement. To protest the sacking of Lawrence in May 1856, he led what became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre, when five proslavery supporters were killed. In return, proslavery forces attacked and burned Osawatomie on August 30, 1856. The Adair's cabin, located some distance northwest of the town, survived.
That morning a group of proslavery fighters returned to the Adair's log cabin home looking for John Brown.
"Who lives here? Where is the man?" they shouted. Seven months pregnant, Florella trembled as she stepped to the door.
It had been a violent day for Osawatomie. Florella's nephew Frederick, Brown's son, and cousin David Garrison, had been shot by a band of proslavery men. Her 14-year-old son, Charles, had gone to warn Brown and the other freestaters while Samuel sought refuge in the woods along the Marais des Cygnes River. Brown had led about 30 free-state men against 250 proslavery fighters in the Battle of Osawatomie. Nearly a dozen men were killed or wounded that day, and the angry proslavery men returned to the Adair's cabin.
Florella was concerned about the condition of the men in her family. She decided to take a stand to protect those inside. In a letter to her sister, Florella recalled the day's events:
A sick woman and three little children having fled to us for protection commenced screaming and crying don't kill us, don't burn the house down over us. I stood in the door and begged they would spare our lives and they might have all they could find in the house or on the place. Seeing us frightened almost to death, the Captain said hold on boys there is nobody here but women and children and we are Gentlemen we never abuse women and children, don't be frightened Ladies we won't hurt you, "but if we get the men we will put the rope over their heads mighty quick."
That night, Samuel and Charles returned. The battle had touched the family deeply. In addition to Frederick and David Garrison, a member of Samuel's missionary church had been killed.
Life for Florella had been hard since the Adairs moved to Osawatomie. Writing before the battle, she sensed the danger to come:
We are constantly exposed and we have almost no protection. A few have guns and revolvers, but as a people and place we are without even these and the place is known and called an "abolitionist nest."
During her life, Florella displayed courage and commitment to the cause of freedom. She and Samuel had seven children, three of whom survived past childhood. She died February 6, 1865, in Leavenworth.
Entry: Adair, Florella Brown
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: April 2009
Date Modified: June 2011
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
