Thomas Brown was born about 1731. He was son of Thomas Brown of Oxford, England. Educated at St. Albans Hall, he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of London in 1754. He came to America as deputy chaplain of the 60th Regiment of Royal Americans in 1760. Made chaplain of the 27th Regiment, in 1762 he served in the invasion of Martinique.

Earlier, in August 1761, he married Mertcha (Martina) Hogan at the Albany Anglican church. The wedding was performed by Richard Griffith, chaplain of the 48th Regiment. Their first child was baptized at St. Peter's in June 1762.

Settling in Albany after substituting for Rev. John Ogilvie, the newly ordained Brown was made rector at St. Peter's in 1764. He also served in Schenectady and as a missionary to the Indians. In September 1765, he petitioned the city council for land on which to build a minister's house.

Brown left Albany in 1768. Over the next decade, he served in several parishes in the Chesapeake region. Thomas Brown died in Maryland in May 1784 at age forty-nine. His family then returned to Albany where Martina died about 1807.

Sources: The life of Rev. Thomas Brown is CAP biography number 7460. This profile is derived chiefly from community-based resources and from Frederick Lewis Weis, The Colonial Clergy of the Middle Colonies: New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 1628-1776 (published separately by the American Antiquarian Society in 1957 and reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company in 1978), 22. Puzzling - yet interesting material is found in Albany Chronicles. A portrait of him exists and will be added to this profile.