Deacon Brown Thurston, who lived from 1814 to 1900, was an early supporter of the Temperance cause and one of the first to espouse the cause of the slave. He helped freedom seekers in their flight from slavery, at one time having the care of 30 fugitives who were dispatched to St. John, New Brunswick, and Montreal, Canada. He was a deacon in the High Street Congregational Church and superintendent of the Sunday School. He owned Thurston, Foster and Co., which printed newspapers, schoolbooks, and anti-slavery tracts. His home was burned in the great fire of 1866.