John Nicholas Brown I

John Nicholas Brown I (1861 – May 1, 1900) was a book collector who donated his father's collection to Brown University.

He was born in 1861 to John Carter Brown II. His only son, philanthropist John Nicholas Brown II, was born on February 21, 1900.

On September 8, 1897 he married Natalie Bayard Dresser at Trinity Church in Newport, Rhode Island. Natalie was the daughter of Brevet Major George Warren Dresser, an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

He was a member of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati and the New York Society of Colonial Wars. In 1890 he was elected as the second president of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and served until February 1891. Ironically, according to the Rhode Island Society's manual published in 1900, Brown "never qualified as a member of the Society, nor officiated as president." (pg. 27.)

He died on May 1, 1900 when his son was only three months old. His brother Harold Brown (Rhode Island) died a few days later after returning to the United States from Europe after hearing of his brother's death.

Brown was the donor of the Providence Public Library building in Providence, RI.

In 1901, his widow donated the funds to build Emmanual Episcopal Church in Newport, RI in his memory.