Harold Brown (Rhode Island financier)

Harold Brown
Born(1863-12-24)December 24, 1863
Providence, Rhode Island
DiedMay 10, 1900(1900-05-10) (aged 36)
New York City, New York
EducationBrown University
EmployerJ.N. & H. Brown
Spouse
Georgette Wetmore Sherman
​
​
(m. 1892⁠–⁠1900)​
Parent(s)John Carter Brown I
Sophia Augusta Browne
RelativesNicholas Brown Jr. (grandfather)
John Nicholas Brown I (brother)
John Nicholas Brown II (nephew)

Harold Brown (December 24, 1863 – May 10, 1900) was an American financier and philanthropist who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.[1]

Early life

Harold Brown was born on December 24, 1863, to John Carter Brown II (1797–1874) and Sophia Augusta Brown (1825–1909).[2][3] His father was a collector of American books in the mid-19th century and was the first American to join the Hakluyt Society as a charter member in 1846, and in 1855, he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society.[4] His older brother was John Nicholas Brown I (1863–1900), who married Natalie Bayard Dresser (1869–1950) (sister-in-law of George Washington Vanderbilt II),[5] and his younger sister was Sophia Augusta Brown (1867–1947), who married William Watts Sherman (1842–1912).[6] His brother donated his father's collection to Brown University.[7]

Family

His paternal grandfather was Nicholas Brown Jr. (1769–1841), the namesake patron of Brown University (in 1804). His great-grandfather was Nicholas Brown Sr. (1729–1791), a merchant and slave trader who co-founded the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.[8] His great-grandfather was the brother of John Brown, Moses Brown, and Joseph Brown.[9]

His nephew, John Nicholas Brown II (1900–1979), became the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and married Anne Seddon Kinsolving (1906–1985).[10][11]

Career

He prepared for college with private tutors, including William Carey Poland,[12] and later enrolled at Brown University with the class of 1885. He left Brown a year later, instead deciding to continue his studies at home and abroad.[13]

In 1888, Brown and his brother, John, formed a partnership, "J.N. & H. Brown." The brother's business was similar to the activities of the family business, Brown & Ives, where they lent funds for mortgages and invested in buildings and lands out west. In their business dealings, Harold and John relied upon George W. R. Matteson, the trustee of their father's estate for advice and assistance.[14]

Society life

In 1892, Brown was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families led by Mrs. Astor, as published in The New York Times.[15] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[16]

Brown and his wife owned a home in Newport, Rhode Island on Bellevue Avenue and Hazard Street,[17] and lived at 382 Fifth Avenue in New York City.[1] He was a member of the Metropolitan Club, the Knickerbocker Club, the Union League Club, the Grolier Club, and the Society of Colonial Wars.[1]

Personal life

On October 4, 1892, Brown was married to Georgette Wetmore Sherman (1872–1960),[18] the daughter of Annie Derby Rogers (née Wetmore) and William Watts Sherman (1842–1912),[19][8] a businessman and the treasurer of the Newport Casino who was married to Brown's younger sister in 1885.[6][20] She was also the niece of Sen. George Peabody Wetmore.[1]

On May 1, 1900, his brother died of typhoid fever. After hearing of his brother's death,[21] Harold immediately headed home from a trip in Europe with his wife, only to himself die a few days, aged 36, later upon his return to America.[22] He died at the Hotel Netherland in New York City.[1] Both Harold and his brother willed their estates to his nephew, who became the heir of his family's fortune and was referred to as the richest child in the world at the time.[23][24] His widow continued to live in Newport, until her death in 1960.[25][18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "DEATH OF HAROLD BROWN.; He Was Ill on His Arrival on the Oceanic, and Died Last Night". The New York Times. 11 May 1900. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  2. ^ Times, Special To The New York (1 March 1909). "Mrs. John Carter Brown". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  3. ^ "$30,000,000 TO MRS. SHERMAN; Reported Bulk of Mrs. John Carter Brown's Estate Goes to Daughter". The New York Times. March 4, 1909. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  4. ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
  5. ^ Times, Special To The New York (29 March 1950). "MRS. J.N. BROWN, 80, SUCCUMBS IN HOME; Newport Resident, Noted for Civic Leadership and Help to Needy, Was Political Figure Exhibited Own Paintings". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Wm. Watts Sherman Dead. Prominent in New York Society and Father of Lady Camoys". New York Times. January 23, 1912. Retrieved 2011-03-14.
  7. ^ "History of the John Carter Brown library". Retrieved 2011-04-21. Although the Brown family had been acquiring books since early in the eighteenth century, the present collection was not fully launched until the mid-nineteenth century when John Carter Brown (1797–1874) began avid pursuit of Americana, an area of interest he termed "the Great Subject." His son, John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900), actively continued this tradition and before his untimely death had conceived the idea of giving the Library to the world of historical research as a memorial to his father.
  8. ^ a b Rhode Island Historical Society Collections. Rhode Island Historical Society. 1918. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  9. ^ Miyoshi, Masao (January 1, 2009). Trespasses: Selected Writings. Duke University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0822392484. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  10. ^ "ANNE SEDDON BROWN". The New York Times. 23 November 1985. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Socialite Anne Brown dies". UPI. November 21, 1985. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Prof Poland of Brown Dead". The Boston Globe. 1929-03-20. p. 13. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  13. ^ Bicknell, Thomas Williams (1920). The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. American Historical Society. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Brown, John Nicholas". socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  15. ^ McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  16. ^ Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  17. ^ "NEWPORT SOCIAL HAPPENINGS.; Mr. Harold Brown Planning for a Handsome Summer Residence". The New York Times. January 28, 1894. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  18. ^ a b "MRS. HAROLD BROWN". The New York Times. 26 April 1960. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  19. ^ "YESTERDAY'S WEDDINGS.; BROWN -- SHERMAN". The New York Times. 5 October 1892. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  20. ^ Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Dwight, Melatiah Everett; Morrison, George Austin; Mott, Hopper Striker; Totten, John Reynolds; Pitman, Harold Minot; Forest, Louis Effingham De; Ditmas, Charles Andrew; Mann, Conklin; Maynard, Arthur S. (1912). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. p. 311. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  21. ^ "John Nicholas Brown II". Brown University. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-22. John Nicholas Brown II (1900–1979) was born February 21, 1900. Two months later, his father John Nicholas Brown I died of typhoid fever, followed shortly by the unexpected death of his uncle Harold Brown. Thus, as an infant JNB became heir of his family's fortune and was dubbed by the public the "richest baby in America." John Nicholas Brown traveled the world in his youth and would continue to do so throughout his life. ...
  22. ^ Romy Wyllie (2007). Bertram Goodhue: his life and residential architecture. ISBN 978-0-393-73219-1. When John Nicholas Brown I and his brother both died in 1900, they left their fortune to John's three-month- old son, who became the richest baby in the world.
  23. ^ Times, Special To The New York (13 March 1909). "WILLED HEIRLOOMS TO WEALTHIEST BOY; Mrs. John Carter Brown Left No Money to Master John Nicholas Brown. BIG ESTATE TO DAUGHTER Mrs. William Watts Sherman and Her Daughters the Principal Beneficiaries -- Gifts to Churches". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  24. ^ "THE BROWN WILLS FILED.; Many Public Bequests Made by J.N. and Harold Brown". The New York Times. 23 May 1900. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  25. ^ "THANKSGIVING AT NEWPORT.; Mrs. F.W. Vanderbilt and Mrs. Harold Brown Gave Dinners for Charity". The New York Times. 28 November 1902. Retrieved 20 October 2017.