John Brown Russwurm (1799-1851) was an American abolitionist from Jamaica, known for his newspaper, Freedom's Journal. He moved from the United States to govern the Maryland section of an African American colony in Liberia, dying there in 1851.
Early years Russwurm was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica to a white merchant father and an unknown black slave.[1] The family stayed in Jamaica until 1807 when Russwurm was sent to Quebec for his education. In 1812, father and son moved to Portland, Maine, where the elder Russwurm married widower Susan Blanchard in 1813. Blanchard (now Russwurm) insisted her husband grant 'John Brown', as he was then known, his full birth name. His father did so, and the now named 'John Brown Russwurm' lived with his father, stepmother and her children from a previous marriage, accepted as part of the family.
The elder Russwurm died in 1815 but his son stayed close to his stepmother, even after she re-married to become Susan Hawes.
