House, which today is the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage at Brown University. The desk-and-bookcase currently resides in a Private Collection. Following Rhoda Brown's death in 1783, Brown remarried Avis Binney (1749–1807). He fathered ten children with Rhoda and one with Avis, of which only two survived: a son Nicholas Brown Jr. (1769–1841) and a daughter, Hope (1773–1855) who married Thomas Poynton Ives (1769–1835). When Brown died in 1791, the Rev. Dr. Stillman of Boston gave a eulogy: He was the affectionate husband, the tender father, the compassionate master, the dutiful son, the loving brother, and the steady, faithful friend. He took much pains, by reading and by conversation, to inform his mind, and had acquired much general knowledge. But religion was his favorite subject. To Christianity in general, as founded on a fulness of evidence, and to its peculiar doctrines, he was firmly attached. * * * He was a Baptist from principle, and a lover of good men of all denominations. Blessed with opulence, he was ready to distribute to public and private uses. In his death the college in this place, this church and society, the town of Providence, and the general interests of religion, learning, and liberality have lost a friend indeed.The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: Biographical, Volume 6, by the American Historical Society, Inc., 1920. Pages 188 - 191 http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/article3.html Controversy As head of the family business, Nicholas Brown Sr. made a number of controversial decisions regarding smuggling, attempting to corner the tobacco market in Surinam, rigging elections, and most notably attempting a slave trading voyage in 1764 to fund his new iron foundry. The disastrous 1764 voyage of the "Sally" is described in detail in the final report of Brown University's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. Thereafter, Brown never again attempted slave trading and ensured his son was mentored by George Benson, an ardent abolitionist. References External links Encyclopedia Brunoniana Brown University Charter Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice 1729 births 1791 deaths Brown University people People of colonial Rhode Island University and college founders Nicholas Brown Sr. Baptists from Rhode Island American slave traders People from Providence, Rhode Island Colonial American merchants