It is not only necessary to be "correct in every particular," Baltimore's Gentleman-Merchant Alexander Brown advised his sons early in the 19th Century, "but also to have the appearance of correctness." From the day he arrived in Baltimore from Ballymena, Ireland in 1800, spectacled, respectable Alexander Brown followed his own advice. He set up an Irish linen business, gradually built a fleet of eleven sailing ships, became a merchant banker. By the time he died in 1834, Alexander Brown had much more than an appearance of correctness: he had $2,000,000 as well....
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