41 Facts About Moses Brown

Moses Brown was an American abolitionist and industrialist from New England who funded the design and construction of some of the first factories for spinning machines during the American industrial revolution, including the Slater Mill which was the first modern factory in America.

Moses Brown was the grandson of Baptist minister James Brown, and his father was a prosperous merchant.

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 works.

Obadiah died in 1762, and Moses served as executor of his estate.

Moses Brown married his cousin Anna Moses Brown in 1764.

Moses Brown served as a deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly from 1764 to 1771, and he served on a committee to oppose the Stamp Act in 1765.

The four Moses Brown brothers donated family land passed down from Chad Moses Brown for the new campus.

Moses Brown gradually retired from the family business and began his involvement with of the Quakers.

John Moses Brown was arrested in the Gaspee affair which helped to trigger the American Revolutionary War.

Moses and Joseph Brown delivered a proposal to the English in Boston that Rhode Island's preparations to resist royal authority would be stopped if John Brown was released.

In 1779, Moses Brown married his second wife Mary Olney, a fellow Quaker.

In 1788, Moses Brown returned briefly to the business world, embarking on a textile venture in partnership with his cousin Smith Moses Brown and his future son-in-law William Almy.

Moses Brown became interested in recent British attempts to use water power in their textile mills, and he hired English immigrant Samuel Slater to help build a similar mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Moses Brown soon withdrew from active involvement in the firm but remained a partner.

Moses Brown then moved on to a variety of new activities.

Moses Brown played a role in Rhode Island's ratification of the US Constitution in 1790.

Moses Brown became interested in agricultural experiments on his Providence farm, and helped found the Rhode Island Agricultural Society in 1800.

Moses Brown served on the first board of directors of the Providence Bank, and was treasurer of the Central Bridge Company.

Phebe died in 1809, and Moses Brown remained unmarried for the last 27 years of his life.

Moses Brown was a pacifist, and he was inspired by the War of 1812 to work on behalf of peace; he was instrumental in founding the Rhode Island Peace Society in 1818.

Moses Brown promoted the Quaker position that Quakers should resist war taxes.

Moses Brown played an important role in collecting documents relating to colonial Rhode Island, many of them inherited through his own family.

Moses Brown collected biographical information about his contemporary and fellow abolitionist who was known as the Public Universal Friend.

Moses Brown was a founding member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, served as its chairman, and had most of his papers left there after his death.

Moses Brown was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.

Moses Brown died from gastroenteritis in Providence on September 6,1836.

Moses Brown left few family members, having outlived three wives, all three of his children, and three of his four stepchildren.

Moses Brown left much of his estate to the children of his stepdaughter Sarah Harris and to the Society of Friends.

Moses Brown is buried in the Quaker section of the North Burial Ground at 5 Branch Avenue, Providence, RI.

Moses Brown broke with his brothers and refused to continue any involvement in the slave trade.

Moses Brown began a long crusade against slavery after becoming a Quaker, and he became Rhode Island's leading opponent of the slave trade.

Moses Brown freed the last of his own slaves in 1773.

Moses Brown 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.

Moses Brown renewed his efforts against the slave trade after the war ended.

Moses Brown unsuccessfully petitioned the General Assembly in 1783, wrote frequently in the local press, and helped distribute antislavery pamphlets throughout New England.

Moses Brown was instrumental in the 1787 passage of a law banning the participation of Rhode Islanders in the slave trade.

Moses Brown later helped pass a law in Congress to forbid foreign slave ships from being equipped in American ports.

Moses Brown played a significant role in the revival of the New England Yearly Meeting School.

In 1814, Moses 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.

Moses Brown provided important financial assistance, and donated his impressive book collection to the school library.

Moses Brown served as the school's treasurer until shortly before his own death in 1836 at the age of 98.