third wife in 1809, Moses remained unmarried for the last 27 years of his life. Brown, a pacifist, was inspired by the War of 1812 to work on behalf of peace, and was instrumental in the founding of the Rhode Island Peace Society in 1818. He adhered to and promoted the orthodox Quaker position that Quakers should resist war taxes. Another one of his interests was local history. Brown played an important role in collecting documents relating to colonial Rhode Island, many of them inherited through his own family. He collected biographical information about his contemporary and fellow abolitionist, the evangelist known as the Public Universal Friend. He was a founding member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, served as its chairman, and had most of his papers left there after his death. Brown was also elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815. Moses Brown died from gastroenteritis in Providence on September 6, 1836. He left few family members, having outlived three wives, all three of his children, and three of his four stepchildren. At his death, his only descendants were his granddaughter Anna (Almy) Jenkins (1790–1849) and her children. He also left much of his estate to the children of his stepdaughter Sarah (Lockwood) Harris (1773–1832), and to the Society of Friends. His son Obadiah had married, but left no children. Brown is buried in the Quaker section of the North Burial Ground at 5 Branch Avenue, Providence, RI. Abolitionist activity Following the financial failure and human tragedy of his and his brothers' role in the slave trade, Moses broke with his brothers and refused to continue his business sponsorship of it. Later, after becoming a Quaker, he began a long crusade against slavery, and soon became Rhode Island's leading opponent of the slave trade. In 1773, nine years after the voyage of the Sally, he freed the last of his own slaves. During the war, he solidified his opposition to slavery in the company of ministers and teachers from the College, which had ceased business temporarily because British troops were billeted in its campus. At the end of hostilities, Brown renewed his efforts against the slave trade. He unsuccessfully petitioned the General Assembly in 1783, wrote frequently in the local press, and helped distribute antislavery pamphlets throughout New England. He was instrumental in the 1787 passage of a law banning the participation of Rhode Islanders