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While in Kansas John Brown was employed as a surveyor, an occupation which allowed him to move around freely to locate and observe proslavery camps. This compass was part of a surveying kit made by Phelps and Gurley of Troy, New York. According to a 1915 Omaha Sunday Bee newspaper article, Brown sold the compass kit to his neighbor, Simon B. McGrew, in 1858. McGrew lived in Mound City at the time. The compass was used to survey Linn, Anderson, and Bourbon counties.
Creator: Phelps & Gurley
Date: between 1845 and 1851
Item Number: 209989
Call Number: 1984.180.1.1
KSHS Identifier: 1984.180.1.1
Business and Industry - Occupations/Professions - Surveyors
Collections - Museum
Date - 1840s
Date - 1854-1860
Military - Wars - Bleeding Kansas
Objects and Artifacts - Tools & Equipment for Science & Technology - Surveying & Navigational - Compass, Surveyor's
People - Notable People - Brown, John, 1800-1859
Places - Counties - Anderson
Places - Counties - Bourbon
Places - Counties - Linn
Places - Other States - New York
Thematic Time Period - Bleeding Kansas, 1854 - 1861
Type of Material - Objects and Artifacts
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209989