Moses
Brown
Born [location unknown]
Ancestors 
Son of James Brown
and Hope (Power) Brown
Brother of
Nicholas Brown I and John Brown
Husband of
Anna Brown
— married
1764 [location unknown]
Husband of
Mary (Olney) Brown
— married
4 Mar 1779 in Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Husband of
Phebe (Waterman) Brown
— married
1799 [location unknown]
Descendants 
Father of
Sarah (Brown) Almy and Obadiah Moses Brown
Died
at age 97
in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Profile last modified
| Created 1 Aug 2018
This page has been accessed 1,023 times.
Biography
Moses Brown was born in 1738. He was the son of James Brown and Hope (Power) Brown. He was an American abolitionist and industrialist from New England. He funded the design and construction of some of the first factory houses for spinning machines during the American industrial revolution, including Slater Mill. He co-founded Brown University.
First, he married Anna Brown in 1764. Together, they had two surviving children: Sarah (Brown) Almy[1] and Obadiah Moses Brown. She passed away in 1773. He married Mary Olney in 1774. She passed away in 1798. He married Phebe Waterman in 1799. Moses Brown passed away in 1836, Providence, Rhode Island at the age of 98 years. [2]
Sources
- ↑ https://archive.org/stream/chadbrownememori00bulkrich#page/n51/mode/2up/search/moses
- ↑ Bowen, Richard LeBaron, ed. "Early Rehoboth, documeted historical studies of families and events in this Plymouth Colony township" Vol. IV. pub. 1950, Rehoboth, Mass., USA: Privately printed; The Rumford Press, Concord, N.H., USA. Digitized by Google Books. NOTE: There is a really neat image of the old man in silhouette at about the age of 95 years (see first few pages of the book)and it was reproduced in this text with permission by the R.I. Historical Society but that permission prob. needs to be regranted for uploading in WikiTree.com https://archive.org/details/earlyrehobothdoc04bowe/page/n7/mode/1up?q=early+Rehoboth%2C+Massachusetts
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Brown.
- http://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss313.htm.
- Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 11 August 2020), memorial page for Moses Brown (12 Sep 1738–6 Sep 1836), Find a Grave Memorial no. 21279798, citing North Burial Ground, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island, USA ; Maintained by Scout (contributor 47319613) Find A Grave: Memorial #21279798.
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See: Rhode Island Historical Society, Manuscripts Division: The Moses Brown Papers, Merchant & Philanthropist of Providence, R.I. Catalog number: MSS 313. Processed by: Pam Narbeth, 1995 with notes by her dated October 1996. https://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss313.htm
The following is a brief cut and paste section of his extensive biography written by Narbeth (see source reference). I apologize in advance as I usually paraphrase text into a summary form as opposed to copying text (I make an exception for Wills and land records); but the following is important information because he became a Quaker and an abolitionist.
"Brown’s wife Anna died in 1773. He gradually retired from the family business and began attending Quaker meetings. The following year he formally became a member of the Society of Friends. As a Quaker, he began a lifelong crusade against slavery, and soon became the leading opponent of the slave trade in Rhode Island. He freed his own slaves in 1773. As his brother John Brown was one of the state’s leading slave traders, this caused some interesting tensions in the family."
Apparently in 1774 a bill prohibiting slavery was introduced in the Rhode Island Assembly which became one of the first anti-slavery laws in New England (and later the United States). Moses Brown, brother of John, would have been a proponent.