Robert Brown (1775)

"Robert Brown was born about 1755 in the County of Norfolk, England. He was apprenticed in Norwich as a coppersmith and a brazier. At the time of the American Revolution he ran away, enlisted as a soldier and was sent in a large fleet to New York where he became a sergeant in the army. Until peace was declared he spent most of his time in the New York/Philadelphia area. He came as a Loyalist to Shelburne. While in the United States he married - wife died after they moved to Shelburne. They had a son named William. Robert later married Eunice Doty daughter of Thomas Doty. Her mother, Ann, was the daughter of Thomas Crowell Sr. of Barrington." In 1804 Robert went to England for the purpose of disposing of a piece of property left to him by his Uncle. He sailed on the Brig "Rainbow" which belonged to the Bingays of Shelburne - the cargo timber from Weymouth, etc. Robert and Eunice were living in Roseway when sons Paul and John were baptized. According to tradition (*see Brig Nelson file) Robert was a gunner on the Privateer Brig "Nelson" when she made her third cruise in 1800. Robert was living at Cape Sable Island in 1815. His property on the east side of the island had first belonged to Gideon Nickerson, then to his son Absalom. Robert and Eunice are buried towards the shore on that land which was later owned by William Nickerson."

Brig Nelson file at SCGS center lists the crew of the Nelson dated 27 June 1799. Robert Brown is a gunner and has 2 1/2 shares - there is also a William Brown listed as cabin boy for the Captain. An article written in the Shelburne Coast Guard by Charles Coakley says: "the crew was a rough, tough crowd former soldiers, mariners of Barnastride Tarleton's legion who came with the loyalists to Shelburne.[Most of Tarleton's British legion went to Port Mouton - not all the crew were former members of the British Legion - Christian Swineberg was a disbanded Hessian soldier].

British Privateer brig 'Nelson'

Pg 17 Going back another generation in the Brown family; the first of the family on Cape Island was Robert Brown, who lived at North East Point. He and his wife Eunice Doty, from Barrington, had five children; besides Paul, the father of Augusta, there were Patience, married Israel Atkinson; Henry, married Phebe Smith; James, married Jane Smith; and Elizabeth, married Collins Newell. Tradition says the Brown clan was started by a sixteen-year-old runaway from a family of silversmiths in London. He joined the British army, fought in the American Revolution, and afterwards settled on Cape Island.