John S. Brown wrote from Lawrence, Kansas Territory to Edward Everett Hale, a member of the New England Emigrant Aid Company's Executive Committee. Brown informed Hale that he had substituted for Rev. Ephraim Nute, minister of the Lawrence Unitarian Church, for the previous six months while Nute lectured in the East. Brown stated that he wanted to serve in Kansas as a missionary but lacked financial resources. He asked Hale for funds to support his missionary efforts.