Clara Brown: the Angel of the Rockies
Discover the remarkable life of Clara Brown (c. 1800–1885), a formerly enslaved woman who transformed hardship into service, enterprise, and hope. Known lovingly as “Aunt Clara” and the “Angel of the Rockies,” she built a new life in Colorado while never giving up her search for family.
Separated from her family, sustained by hope
Born into slavery around 1800, Clara Brown was taken with her mother to Kentucky. She married Richard and became the mother of four children: Richard Jr., Margaret, Paulina Ann, and Eliza Jane. After the death of the man who enslaved her in 1835, Clara was sold away from her husband and children.
After years of enslavement, Clara gained her freedom in the late 1850s. Though she was already in her late fifties, she chose a courageous new beginning. Hearing of opportunity during the Gold Rush, she traveled west to Colorado—with the enduring hope that she might one day find her daughter Eliza Jane.
Building a life and lifting a community
Clara arrived in the Denver area and eventually made her home in Central City, a mining town in the Colorado mountains. She opened a laundry business, washing clothes for miners and residents. She also earned money by cooking meals, caring for sick people, and assisting midwives with deliveries.
With determination and wise stewardship, Clara saved her earnings and invested in real estate and mining interests. Her success made her one of Colorado’s early Black pioneers and a respected businesswoman. Yet her greatest achievement was not the wealth she gained—it was the generosity with which she shared it.
A legacy of generosity and reunion
Clara used her resources to provide food, clothing, shelter, and care for people who were poor or sick. She helped formerly enslaved people travel west to Colorado to seek work and build new lives. She also helped establish a Sunday school and supported the growth of a Methodist church community.
Her search for Eliza Jane never ended. In 1882, at about age 80, Clara learned that her daughter was in Iowa. With help from her community, she made the journey, and after approximately 47 years apart, mother and daughter were reunited. Clara died in Denver on October 23, 1885. Her trailblazing life was later honored through induction into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2022.
“Your past does not have to limit your purpose. Like Clara Brown, you can begin again, serve generously, and keep hope alive.”
A reflection from Ingrid’s Corner