Frances Jane Scroggins Brown

Frances Jane Scroggins Brown (15 April 1819 – 16 April 1914) was an African American Underground Railroad station operator.

Early life Frances Scroggins was born into slavery in Winchester County, Virginia, She was freed by one of her grandfathers - a white Revolutionary War officer and plantation owner. Scroggins worked as an indentured servant until her employer moved to Cincinnati, Ohio.

Underground Railroad The couple settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at a residence called Monongahela House. The Brown house in Pittsburgh became a frequent stop for enslaved people fleeing to Canada on the Underground Railroad.

Family and legacy One of the Browns' six children, Hallie Quinn Brown, went on to become a prominent educator and elocutionist, who helped to pioneer African American women's clubs. In biographies of their daughter, the couple are described as having been "learned and passionate about education". Thomas Brown was known as the "walking encyclopedia", while Frances was said to have been very involved with Wilberforce University, where she acted as an unofficial counselor to students.

In Women of Ohio, it was written that:Mr. and Mrs. Brown exerted a definite influence for good upon the community and “Ma” Brown, as she was affectionately called, lived serenely and did her alms quietly to the ripe age of ninety-five years. In Front Line of Freedom, Keith P. Griffler numbered Frances Scroggins Brown as "among America’s forgotten children of the revolution", part of "the front line of the struggle against American slavery."