日志
布朗大学的中国资本
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布朗家族（普罗维登斯）
布朗兄弟——约翰·布朗、尼古拉斯·布朗、约瑟夫·布朗和摩西·布朗——是18世纪末19世纪初普罗维登斯最主要的商业家族。
他们的财富最初来自大西洋贸易，包括西印度群岛和奴隶贸易，后来又来自对华贸易、私掠和制造业。
约翰·布朗（1736-1803）曾亲自投资建造了首批与中国直接贸易的美国船只之一——乔治·华盛顿号（1789年）。
该家族的财富后来资助了布朗大学，并在1804年以小尼古拉斯·布朗的名字更名为布朗大学。
与纽波特的联系
布朗家族主要居住在普罗维登斯，但他们的商业网络也延伸到了纽波特——美国独立战争前，纽波特是罗德岛州主要的海运融资和造船港口。
布朗家族资助纽波特的商人（Wantons, Vernon, and Robinson families）并与他们合作，进行中国和印度的航行、私掠以及西印度群岛的航运。
独立战争后，随着纽波特经济的衰落，布朗家族领导下的普罗维登斯成为了罗德岛新的商业中心——但纽波特的旧精英阶层和与布朗家族相关的人脉网络仍然通过联姻、贸易伙伴关系以及在中国贸易中的共同投资而紧密相连。
豪宅建造者的背景
乔治·皮博迪·韦特莫尔、爱德华·金和约翰·格里斯沃尔德等商人后来在19世纪中期，利用旧中国贸易的财富或其后代的财富，在纽波特建造了他们的豪宅。
布朗家族的财富虽然更早，并且以普罗维登斯为中心，但它们与大西洋-亚洲贸易的延续性息息相关，而这一延续性也使纽波特后来的商人精英阶层更加富裕。
简而言之：
布朗家族并没有在纽波特建造豪宅，但他们属于同一个商业世界——他们的资本、船只和网络与纽波特旧瓷器贸易家族的资本、船只和网络重叠，其影响力延伸至整个罗德岛海岸。
The Brown Family (Providence)
The Brown brothers — John, Nicholas, Joseph, and Moses Brown — were the dominant mercantile family in Providence during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Their wealth came initially from Atlantic trade, including the West Indies and slave trade, and later from China trade, privateering, and manufacturing.
John Brown (1736–1803) personally invested in one of the first American ships to trade directly with China — the George Washington (1789).
The family’s fortune later funded Brown University, which was renamed after Nicholas Brown Jr. in 1804 following his donation.
Ties to Newport
While the Browns resided mainly in Providence, their commercial network extended into Newport — the leading Rhode Island port for maritime finance and shipbuilding before the Revolution.
The Browns financed and partnered with Newport merchants (like the Wantons, Vernon, and Robinson families) on China and India voyages, privateering, and West Indian shipping.
After the Revolution, as Newport’s economy declined, Providence (with Brown family leadership) became Rhode Island’s new mercantile center — but Newport’s old elite and Brown-linked networks remained intertwined through marriage, trade partnerships, and shared ventures in the China trade.
Context with the Mansion Builders
Merchants like George Peabody Wetmore, Edward King, and John Griswold built their Newport mansions later, in the mid-19th century, on fortunes from Old China Trade wealth or its descendants.
The Brown family’s wealth, while earlier and based in Providence, was part of the same Atlantic-Asian trade continuum that enriched Newport’s later merchant elite.
So in short:
The Brown family didn’t build Newport mansions, but they were part of the same mercantile world — their capital, ships, and networks overlapped with those of the Newport Old China Trade families, and their influence extended to the entire Rhode Island coast.
