James Brown (1791 - 1877)

Born 4 Jan 1791 in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1 Nov 1877 at age 86 in New York City, New York County, New York, United States

Biography

James Brown was born in Ireland.

James Brown was a prominent nineteenth century New York banker. James was born 4 February 1791 in Ballymena, co. Antrim, Ireland to Alexander Brown and Gracie Davison. He immigrated to the United States when he was young and moved from Baltimore, Maryland to New York in 1825 where he established the New York branch of Brown Brothers and Co., an international banking house.

James married 1st to Louisa Kirkland Benedict, daughter of Rev Joel Benedict of Plainfield, Connecticut. Louisa died in 1829 while traveling abroad and is buried in the cemetery at Lyons, France. ^[1]

Children:

1. Grace b 1821 married Herbert Allen ^[2]
2. James Alexander b 1823 married Maria Louisa Howland. James died on 3 July 1847 shortly after his marriage.
3. William Benedict b 1825 died 1 Jan 1853 along with other family members in the sinking of the steamer Arctic off the coast of Newfoundland. [p 240] ^[3]
4. Sarah Benedict married her cousin Alexander Brown of Beilby Grange, Yorkshire, England Brown-80275
5. Mary Louisa b 1827 married Howard Potter Maria Brown
6. Margaretta Hunter b 1829 married James Cooper Lord

James "established Brown Brothers & Co. in New York City in 1825 and eventually absorbed the other branches."^[4]

James Brown married 2nd to Eliza Mary Coe on 4 September 1831. They lived in New York City.^[5]

Children:

1. George Hunter 3rd son b 1835
2. John Crosby Brown 4th son b 1838
3. Clarence Stewart 5th son b 1840

James died on 1 November 1877 in New York City.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ "A hundred years of merchant baking, a history of Brown brothers and company, " by John Crosby Brown publ 1909 p 238-9 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hb0awn;view=1up;seq=374
2. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #129652613
3. ↑ https://www.green-wood.com/2010/brown-family-steamer-arctic-sinking-1854/
4. ↑ Brown Brothers & Company records https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/brown-brothers-company-records#/?tab=about&roots=17:6d0cb0e0-10ad-0135-4e21-633cacfc4b13
5. ↑ "New York State Census, 1855," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K67D-2VL : 19 November 2014), James Brown, E.D. 6, Ward 15, New York City, New York, New York, United States; count clerk offices, New York; FHL microfilm 1,018,660.
6. ↑ Bartlett, J. Gardner. Robert Coe, Puritan, his ancestors and descendants, 1340-1910 : with notices of other Coe families. Boston: Bartlett (Boston: Bartlett, 1911), pp 95 and 118; digital images, Archive.org (https://archive.org/stream/robertcoepuritan00bart#page/118/mode/2up : accessed 24 February 2017).

See also:

• Brown Bros. & Co. story at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Bros._%26_Co. .

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3283/james-brown