George Brown was born in Scotland in about 1720. A plantation owner in Bladen County, North Carolina, he married Elizabeth Bright in 1746 and they had several children. In 1755, he joined other merchants, traders, and planters in petitioning the Board of Trade for relief on trade restrictions. In 1777 he testified in a court case involving Jim, an enslaved man found guilty of theft. Brown died in Bladen County in about 1801.