Brown married Margaret Brinegar (1809-1876), daughter of Joshua and Sarah Brinegar. Brown served as a trustee of the old Joppa Church. He became a Deacon in 1841 and an Elder in 1853. William and Rufus Brown, two sons of Thomas Brown, operated the Brown Brothers Mercantile Store later sold to C.C. Sanford. They also ran a tobacco factory on Salisbury Street which moved to Winston-Salem in 1877. By 1878, Brown Brothers Tobacco ranked as the largest tobacco manufacturer in Winston-Salem and later merged with R.J. Reynolds Company.