Brown met his first wife, Mary Chadwick Barrett, in 1846 at Bradford Academy, near West Newbury, as he studied to prepare for college.
Together they studied astronomy, in which she excelled.
Informally engaged since his days at Amherst, they married on January 1, 1856, when financially able to maintain a household.
She was an invalid before their marriage.
Notwithstanding various cures meeting with mixed success, her physical and mental condition worsened until her death in 1887.


In July of 1893, Brown married Helen Carpenter Gaskin, a botany teacher at the New York Normal College, which later became Hunter College.
He was in his 60s; she was considerably younger.
One newspaper report stated that the bride was said to be attractive and charming: "Not a little romance is connected with their courtship."
Others described surprise that Brown, active in numerous elite New York social clubs, managed to keep the impending wedding secret.
The couple pursued joint scientific interests, and had three sons and a daughter.

Stricken with paralysis, Addison Brown died at his  Manhattan home on April 9, 1913 at age 83.
He was interred in a sarcophagus at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.
Brown's estate was estimated at $750,000.
While the bulk of his bequests were in trust for his children, Brown left $40,000 to charities, principally the bequest to the New York Botanical Garden magazine, and scholarship prizes for Harvard University and Amherst College.
Smaller gifts went to organizations ranging from the Tuskegee Institute to the West Newbury Library Association.
Brown met his first wife, Mary Chadwick Barrett, in 1846 at Bradford Academy, near West Newbury, as he studied to prepare for college. Together they studied astronomy, in which she excelled. Informally engaged since his days at Amherst, they married on January 1, 1856, when financially able to maintain a household. She was an invalid before their marriage. Notwithstanding various cures meeting with mixed success, her physical and mental condition worsened until her death in 1887.

In July of 1893, Brown married Helen Carpenter Gaskin, a botany teacher at the New York Normal College, which later became Hunter College. He was in his 60s; she was considerably younger. One newspaper report stated that the bride was said to be attractive and charming: "Not a little romance is connected with their courtship." Others described surprise that Brown, active in numerous elite New York social clubs, managed to keep the impending wedding secret. The couple pursued joint scientific interests, and had three sons and a daughter.
Stricken with paralysis, Addison Brown died at his  Manhattan home on April 9, 1913 at age 83. He was interred in a sarcophagus at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. Brown's estate was estimated at $750,000. While the bulk of his bequests were in trust for his children, Brown left $40,000 to charities, principally the bequest to the New York Botanical Garden magazine, and scholarship prizes for Harvard University and Amherst College. Smaller gifts went to organizations ranging from the Tuskegee Institute to the West Newbury Library Association.
Addison Brown