Existing comment:
John Anthony Copeland, Jr.
1834-1859
"there was a dignity about him"
John Copeland's family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, from North Carolina when he was eight years old. As a child he worked in his father's carpentry business, but he received enough schooling to attend Oberlin College in 1854 at the age of 20. He joined the town's anti-slavery society, listening with emotional intensity each time a fugitive slave addressed the group. Copeland participated in the controversial "Oberlin Rescue" of a runaway slaw and served time in prison for his part. Copeland's uncle, Lewis Leary, recruited him to join John Brown in Virginia. "I have a hardy man, who is willing and in every way competent," wrote Leary of his nephew to Brown. "His address is John Copeland, Jr., Oberlin, Ohio." Copeland traveled quietly from Ohio to Virginia with money donated by friends in Oberlin. He arrived at John Brown's rented farmhouse on October 12, 1859. |