Moses Brown (September 23, 1738 – September 6, 1836) was an American abolitionist, Quaker, and industrialist from what became known as
Rhode Island
Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
. With his three brothers, he co-founded what became
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
. Later he supported the founding and revival of the
Moses Brown School.
As an industrialist, he supported the development, design and construction of some of the first factories for
spinning machines during the
American industrial revolution. This included the
Slater Mill, which was the first modern factory in America. While he was an abolitionist since before the Revolution, the New England textile industry was dependent on cotton produced by
enslaved African Americans in the Deep South. He did help gain anti-slave trade legislation in Rhode Island and later in Congress.
Early life
Moses Brown was born in Providence in the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was an English colony on the eastern coast of America, founded in 1636 by Puritan minister Roger Williams after his exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It became a haven for religious d ...
on September 23, 1738, the son of James Brown II and Hope (Power) Brown. He was the grandson of Baptist minister James Brown (1666–1732), and his father was a prosperous merchant.
The family firm was active in distilling rum, owned an iron furnace, and took part in a wide variety of merchant activities, including the slave trade. It sponsored the ill-fated and notorious voyage of the slave ship ''Sally'' in 1764, in which at least 109 Africans died.
Moses Brown's father died in 1739, and Moses was raised in the family of his uncle Obadiah Brown, who was primarily responsible for running the firm's
spermaceti
Spermaceti (see also: Sperm oil) is a waxy substance found in the head cavities of the sperm whale (and, in smaller quantities, in the oils of other whales). Spermaceti is created in the spermaceti organ inside the whale's head. This organ may ...
works derived from whaling. After Obadiah died in 1762, Moses served as executor of his estate. Shares in the farming and shipping business were divided among Moses and his brothers
Nicholas
Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...
,
Joseph
Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...
, and
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
. They renamed the business as Nicholas Brown & Co.
The brothers were co-founders of the
College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, later renamed
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
after
Nicholas's son. The family was active in the Baptist community of Providence and were descendants of
Chad Brown (c. 1600 – 1650), a Baptist minister who co-founded Providence Plantations with
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Pl ...
.
Brown married his cousin Anna Brown (daughter of his uncle Obadiah) in 1764. They had two surviving children: Sarah (1764–1794, married William Almy) and Obadiah (1771–1822), and a daughter who died young. Brown served as a deputy to the
Rhode Island General Assembly
The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Se ...
from 1764 to 1771, and he served on a committee to oppose the
Stamp Act in 1765. In 1769, he participated in efforts to move the college in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to Providence from Warren, Rhode Island. The four Brown brothers donated family land for the new campus that had been passed down from Chad Brown.
Brown's wife Anna died in 1773. He gradually retired from the family business and began his involvement with the
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
.
American Revolution
His brother
John Brown was arrested in the
''Gaspee'' affair, which helped to trigger the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. Moses and Joseph Brown delivered a proposal to English colonial officials in Boston that Rhode Island's preparations to resist royal authority would be stopped if John Brown was released.
Later life

In 1779, Brown married his second wife Mary Olney, a fellow Quaker. They were married for 18 years and had no children.
In 1788, Brown returned briefly to the business world, embarking on a textile venture in partnership with his cousin Smith Brown and his future son-in-law William Almy. Brown became interested in recent British attempts to use water power in their textile mills. He hired English immigrant
Samuel Slater to help build a similar mill in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Pawtucket ( ) is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence, Rhode Island, Prov ...
. In 1793, the factory became the first water-powered spinning mill in the United States, a seminal event generally considered the birth of the American
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
. Moses's son Obadiah Brown soon replaced Smith Brown as a partner, and Samuel Slater joined them to create the firm of Almy, Brown & Slater. Brown soon withdrew from active involvement in the firm but remained a partner.
Brown shifted to a variety of new activities. He played a role in Rhode Island's ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1790. He also became interested in agricultural experiments on his Providence farm, and helped found the Rhode Island Agricultural Society in 1800. He served on the first board of directors of the Providence Bank, and was treasurer of the
Central Bridge Company. During the
yellow fever epidemic of 1797, he was a strong advocate of sanitation practices. He later introduced
smallpox vaccination to Rhode Island.
Brown's second wife Mary died in 1798. He married widow Phebe (Waterman) Lockwood in 1799. Phebe died in 1809, and Brown remained unmarried for the last 27 years of his life.
Brown was a pacifist, and he was inspired by the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
between the US and Great Britain to work on behalf of peace. He was instrumental in founding the Rhode Island Peace Society in 1818. He promoted the Quaker position that Quakers should resist war taxes.
Brown played an important role in collecting documents relating to colonial Rhode Island, many of them inherited through his own family. He collected biographical information about his contemporary and fellow abolitionist Jemima Wilkinson, who was known as the
Public Universal Friend. He was a founding member of the
Rhode Island Historical Society, served as its chairman, and had most of his papers left to it after his death. Brown was also elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society in 1815.
Brown died from
gastroenteritis
Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea, is an inflammation of the Human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Fever, lack of ...
in Providence on September 6, 1836.
He left few family members, having outlived three wives, all three of his children, and three of his four stepchildren.
At his death, his only descendants were his granddaughter Anna (Almy) Jenkins (1790–1849) and her children. He left much of his estate to the children of his stepdaughter Sarah (Lockwood) Harris (1773–1832) and to the
Society of Friends
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
. His son Obadiah had married but left no children. Brown is buried in the Quaker section of the North Burial Ground at 5 Branch Avenue, Providence, RI.
Abolitionist activity
Before the Revolutionary War, Moses broke with his brothers and refused to continue any involvement in the
slave trade. He began a long crusade against slavery after becoming a Quaker, and he became Rhode Island's leading opponent of the slave trade. He freed the last of his own slaves in 1773.
He solidified his opposition to slavery during the Revolutionary War, in the company of ministers and teachers from the college in Providence, which had closed temporarily because British troops were billeted in its campus.
Brown renewed his efforts against the slave trade after the war ended. He unsuccessfully petitioned the General Assembly for that cause in 1783, wrote frequently in the local press, and helped distribute antislavery pamphlets throughout New England. He was instrumental in the 1787 passage of a law banning the participation of Rhode Islanders in the slave trade. In 1789, he helped found the Providence Society for Abolishing the Slave Trade, with Quaker and non-Quaker associates, to help enforce recently passed anti-slave trade legislation. He later helped pass a law in Congress to forbid foreign slave ships from being equipped in American ports.
In contrast, his brother
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
was one of the state's leading slave traders and the first person prosecuted under the
Slave Trade Act of 1794.
Moses Brown School

Brown played a significant role in the revival of the New England Yearly Meeting School. It had existed intermittently in the 1770s and 1780s, but died out through lack of interest. In 1814, Brown presented the Yearly Meeting School with 43 acres of land in Providence, and worked diligently toward the creation of a school on this land.
He provided important financial assistance, and also donated his impressive book collection to the school library. His son Obadiah joined him as a major supporter of this effort until his untimely death in 1822. Moses Brown served as the school's treasurer until shortly before his own death in 1836 at the age of 98. The school was renamed in his honor in 1913 as the
Moses Brown School, and remains a leading preparatory school in the U.S.
See also
*
Brown Square
*
Brown Square House
*
Moses Brown School
References
Further reading
Rhode Island Historical Society Moses Brown PapersMoses Brown School History* Charles Rappleye, ''Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution'' (Simon & Schuster, New York: 2006)
*
Encyclopedia BrunonianaBrown University CharterJohn and Moses Brown reviewed in the Providence Journal with portraits of both ''Hidden in Plain Sight: Slavery and Justice in Rhode Island'' - an address by Brown President Ruth J. Simmons at St. John's College, Cambridge University on the occasion of the bicentenary of the Act of Parliament abolishing the British slave trade''Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice''
External links
Emlen Family Papersfro
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Moses
1738 births
1836 deaths
18th-century American inventors
Abolitionists from Rhode Island
American Christian pacifists
American manufacturing businesspeople
American Quakers
American slave owners
18th-century American slave traders
American tax resisters
Moses Brown
Brown University people
Converts to Quakerism
History of religion in the United States
People from colonial Rhode Island
People of the American Industrial Revolution
Quaker abolitionists
Quaker slave owners
University and college founders
Inventors from Rhode Island
19th-century American merchants