30 Facts About Clara Brown

Clara Brown was a former enslaved woman from Virginia and Kentucky who became a community leader and philanthropist.

Clara Brown helped formerly enslaved people become settled during Colorado's Gold Rush.

Clara Brown was known as the 'Angel of the Rockies' and made her mark as "Colorado's first black settler and a prosperous entrepreneur".

Clara Brown married another enslaved person when she was 18 and they had four children.

In 1835, Clara Brown's family was broken apart when they were all sold to different slave owners.

When Clara Brown was 56, she received her freedom but was required by law to leave the state.

Clara Brown worked her way to Denver, Colorado, as a cook and laundress on a wagon train.

Clara Brown settled in the mining town now called Central City, Colorado, where she worked as a laundress, cook, and midwife.

In 1885, the last year of her life, Clara Brown was voted into the Society of Colorado Pioneers for her role in Colorado's early history.

Clara Brown was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2022.

Clara Brown was born into slavery near Fredericksburg, Virginia, on January 1,1800.

Clara Brown married a slave named Richard at 18 years of age.

Clara Brown was held at some point by the Smith family in Kentucky.

At the age of 56, Clara Brown was granted her freedom, as stipulated in George Brown's will.

Clara Brown left the state upon receiving her freedom according to a Kentucky law.

Clara Brown was hired as a maid and cook by a family heading to the westward departure point of Leavenworth in Kansas Territory.

Clara Brown is believed to be Colorado's gold rush first African American woman.

Clara Brown was one of the founding members of the nondenominational Union Sunday school through her affiliation with two Methodist missionary ministers.

Clara Brown's income grew substantially when she expanded her laundry business after taking a partner.

Clara Brown invested her earnings in mine claims and land and within several years had accumulated $10,000 in savings and reportedly owned 16 lots in Denver, 7 houses in Central City, and property and mines in Boulder, Georgetown, and Idaho Springs.

Clara Brown gave generously of herself to those in the community.

Clara Brown hosted the first Methodist church services at her house and helped those in need any way she could, including newly settled Euro-Americans and Native Americans.

Clara Brown was raised in old Kentucky, and with her own freedom secured after years of persistent, patient toil, when well along in life she joined the procession of gold seekers to Gregory Gulch.

Clara Brown heard that her husband Richard and daughter Margaret had both died and her son Richard was lost, but she vowed to find her daughter Eliza Jane.

Clara Brown did not find Eliza Jane, but she helped 16 relatives and others who were former enslaved people travel to Colorado by train and wagon train.

Clara Brown helped them find work once they were settled.

Clara Brown moved to Denver when she could no longer sustain the higher altitude and lived in the home of a friend.

Clara Brown died in Denver on October 23,1885 and was buried in Denver's Riverside Cemetery.

Clara Brown is the subject of the opera Gabriel's Daughter by Henry Mollicone and William Luce, which premiered at Central City Opera in 2003.

Clara Brown was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1989 and on January 27,2022, she was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.