Alexander Brown (1764-1834)
Founder of Brown & Sons, Bankers, of Baltimore, Maryland
He was born in "a wretched Irish hovel" in Northern Ireland at Ballymena, Co. Antrim. He was a successful auctioneer in the linen market at Belfast but chose to emigrate to Baltimore after visiting his brother. They established an import-export business with a third brother based in London and by 1811 all four of his sons were partners in what had become the banking firm known as Alexander Brown & Sons. The firm continues today as Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., one of the oldest and largest private banks in the U.S.
