Nicholas Brown Sr. (July 26, 1729 – May 29, 1791) was an American merchant, civic leader and slave trader who was a co-signer of the founding charter of the College of Rhode Island in 1763. In 1771, Brown was instrumental in convincing Baptist authorities to locate a permanent home for the college in his hometown of Providence. In 1804, the college was renamed Brown University following a gift made by Brown's son Nicholas Brown Jr.
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Biography
Born in 1729, the second child of James Brown II and Hope Power Brown, Nicholas Brown Sr. was apprenticed to his uncle Obadiah Brown from the age of 16. Just before his 21st birthday, his older brother Captain James Brown died at sea. Nicholas delayed his marriage to Rhoda Jenckes until he was 33 years old. Following the death of his uncle Obadiah, the family business conglomerate that included maritime trade along the Eastern Seaboard, with the Caribbean and with England; a rum distillery; spermaceti candle manufacturing; an iron foundry (the Hope Furnace); and a network of shops, was renamed Nicholas Brown & Co. Until 1771, Brown worked in partnership with his three younger brothers Joseph, John, and Moses, who were known in Rhode Island annals as the "Four Brothers." Thereafter, the brothers continued to collaborate on ventures but were no longer partners.
Brown served in the Rhode Island Legislature and became a civic leader, funding or fundraising for the paving of Providence streets, a library, a market house, the College of Rhode Island's first building, the First Baptist Church, a fire engine and other civic improvements. During the Revolution, he speculated in war bonds, supplied the Continental Army with gunpowder and foodstuffs, transformed the Hope Furnace into cannon works, and funded several privateering ventures. During the post-war "critical period," Brown was a leader of the Federalist faction in Rhode Island that opposed paper money and supported ratifying the U.S. Constitution.