Who Built John Brown's House?

Who Built John Brown's House?. . , Enslaved laborers worked in every sector of Rhode Island's economy before and after the American Revolution: they distilled rum, crafted furniture, worked as masons, made cheese and other foodstuffs, served in households, and were crucial to the building of roads and bridges., It is likely that enslaved laborers were hired out by their enslavers to join other workers to build John Brown's house between 1786 and 1788. This was a typical arrangement. Just half a mile away, four enslaved men, "Pero," "Abraham," "Mary Young's Negro Man," and "Earle's Negro" helped construct Brown's University Hall (1770)., For years, researchers have been trying to determine if any of the laborers who built the house were enslaved by John Brown. Surviving documents reveal that in 1774 John Brown enslaved at least one man and woman, each over the age of sixteen, and that the four Brown Brothers jointly enslaved several other individuals, including three men named Yarrow, Tom, and Newport. They worked in the homes, businesses, and farms of the Brown Brothers and regularly moved between these spaces. No documents have been found that state that these individuals helped to build the house at 52 Power Street., In 1784 Rhode Island passed a gradual emancipation act, so by the early 19th century the legal status of people of African heritage living and working in the state included those currently enslaved, formerly enslaved, and born free. All were integral to forming not only our built landscape, but also our social and cultural fabric, shaping Rhode Island's past, present and future., [Captions:] , Construction records from 1770 related to the building of College Edifice (now University Hall) at Brown University show that in addition to financial contributions, donors also pledged the labor of their bondspeople including twenty-nine days of work done by Pero, a sixty-two year old man enslaved by Henry Paget. Image courtesy of the Rhode Island College Miscellaneous Papers Collection, Brown University Archives., Writing under the pseudonym "A Citizen" in the Providence Gazette, John Brown recounts when five enslaved men living in his household ran away around 1786, the same year construction began on his mansion. After fleeing to Boston, Brown writes that they fell on hard times. Three of the men returned to Providence, one, believed to be Amboy Brown, stayed in Boston "with his wife," and the other fled to Virginia where he was later hanged for burglary. Providence Gazette and Country Journal, March 14, 1789. RIHS Collections, RHIX17 4720B