Thomas S. Brown and the big, black iron kettle left Indiana and came into the wilderness of the southern Missouri Ozarks in the summer of 1845. The Brown family stories have been passed down from one generation to another for over one hundred and seventy years. In The Black Kettle Ride, family history and imagination are woven together. Today, Tom BrownÕs actual kettle sits by the fireplace in the Missouri Ozarks home of author, Cinita Davis Brown, and her husband, Logan. Logan is a great-grandson of Thomas S. Brown.