John Frippo Brown Papers, circa 1873-1875

Contents and Arrangement

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Collection Overview

Title:

John Frippo Brown Papers

Repository:

Manuscripts Division

Permanent URL:

http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/k643b850w

Dates:

circa 1873-1875

Size:

1 box and 0.2 linear feet

Storage Note:

Firestone Library (scamss): Box B-001553

Language:

English

Abstract: Consists of a small collection of materials relating to Seminole chief John Frippo Brown (1842-1919) and his family, including a manuscript notebook, calling card, and five tintype photographs.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

This collection comprises a small group of papers relating to John Frippo Brown (1842-1919), a Seminole chief, trading company operator, and Baptist minister, and his family. Materials include a manuscript notebook containing occasional notes and accounts kept by Brown or another family member, Brown's calling card, and five tintype photographs picturing Brown and his family members.

Notebook entries cover a variety of topics, including notes on local geological features, translations of what are likely Mvskoke (Muscogee, Creek) phrases, a list of seven "Tribes of Creeks speaking different languages," and records of paid accounts, including an account with Seminole leader Caesar Bruner. Another note referring to Brown reads, "At JFB to look at treaty." Several pages of the notebook also touch on medical or medicinal subjects, including hemorrhoids, diarrhea, dropsy, and other ailments. One page describes a remedy for cholera, the disease which killed Brown's parents in 1867. Another page lists a recipe for "tooth wash" that includes ammonia.

The notebook includes entries dated in 1873 and 1875, but all other entries and materials in the collection are undated.

Collection Creator Biography:

John Frippo Brown (1842-1919) was the last principal chief of the Seminole Nation before Oklahoma statehood and governed the nation from 1885 to 1901 and 1905 to 1906. His mother was Lucy Redbeard of the Seminole Nation, and his father was Dr. John F. Brown, Sr., a Scottish American government physician. Brown served as an officer in the Confederate States Army under Seminole chief John Jumper (circa 1820-1896) during the American Civil War. After the war, Brown maintained a ranch southeast of Wewoka in what is now Hughes County, Oklahoma. He also ran the Wewoka Trading Company with his brother Andrew J. Brown and served as pastor of the Spring Baptist Church near his home in Sasakwa from 1894 until his death. His sister Alice Brown Davis was the first woman appointed as a Seminole chief in 1922. Brown married Lizzie Jumper and remarried twice following her death. He had twelve children.

Collection History

Acquisition:: Purchased from William Reese Company in 2020 . AM 2021-28.
Appraisal: No materials were removed from the collection during 2020 processing.
Processing Information: This collection was processed by Kelly Bolding in December 2020. Finding aid written by Kelly Bolding in December 2020.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

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Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

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