Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Brewer, Charles 1804 - 1885 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: J. Orr orr@hawaii.com August 28, 2009, 2:54 pm Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925. Author: Edited by George F. Nellist CAPTAIN CHARLES BREWER, Navigator and Merchant. The important Honolulu firm of C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., sugar factors and commission agents, the oldest American business institution west of the Rocky Mountains, which in 1926 will commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of its establishment, owes its name to one of that hardy crew of New England navigators who carried the American flag to the then little known islands of the Pacific in the dawn of the Nineteenth century. Captain Charles Brewer, whose career in Hawaii has become almost legendary, first visited the Islands in 1823 as an ordinary seaman on the ship “Paragon.” He returned to Hawaii in 1835, master of his own ship. This was nine years after James Hunnewell had founded the firm which later was to become known as C. Brewer & Co. Ltd. Hunnewell, to whom must go credit for the establishment of this pioneer firm, arrived in Hawaii first in 1817. This was three years before the arrival of the first missionaries. Hunnewell was an officer of the “Bordeaux Packet,” and when she was sold to the Hawaiian government Hunnewell stayed here to dispose of her cargo. It was this experience that definitely determined him to establish a business of his own in the “Sandwich Islands.” He then engaged in the business of exporting sandalwood to China. Hunnewell made two voyages to Boston and returned from one of them as first mate of the brig “Thaddeus,” which brought the first company of New England missionaries to Hawaii in 1820. In another return trip from Boston, following a voyage to the Orient, Hunnewell was master of the “Missionary Packet” and in payment of his services was permitted to bring with him “forty casks of merchandise,” with which he went into business in 1826 and thus was born the firm of C. Brewer & Co., Ltd. Henry A. Pierce joined Hunnewell in business and conducted it when the latter left Hawaii in 1830. Captain Charles Brewer came into the firm in 1835 and in 1843, with the return of Captain Pierce to New England, Captain Brewer took full control and continued the enterprise under his own name. In 1845 there was a merger with the firm of Marshall & Johnson, established in 1841 by James B. Marshall and Francis Johnson, Captain Brewer returning to Boston. This association expired by limitation in 1847 and the business was taken over by S. H. Williams & Co., composed of Stephen H. Williams, James B. Marshall, William Baker, Jr., and, a year later, Benjamin E. Snow. It was not until 1859 that the firm again and finally resumed the name of C. Brewer & Co., when in September of that year, Charles Brewer II, a nephew of Captain Brewer, engaged in partnership with Sherman Peck and took over the business, which had been conducted since 1850 by Snow and later by B. W. Field, successors of S. H. Williams & Co. The second Brewer retired in the summer of 1861, but the business was continued under the Brewer name by Mr. Peck and H. A. P. Carter. About this time the sugar industry was making its first strides and C. Brewer & Co. became agent for a plantation at Makawao, Maui, then producing 200 tons of sugar a year. In 1863 it had acquired holdings in Wailuku plantation, representing an investment of $35,000, and in 1866 the agency for Waihee plantation was brought into the firm by Ichabod Bartlett, who retired a year later. C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., was developing into the place it has since held as one of the principal corporations of Hawaii. In 1869 a son of Charles Brewer, John D. Brewer, and I. B. Peterson were admitted as partners. A man who was destined to make C. Brewer & Co. famous was admitted to partnership on Jan. 1, 1871. His name was Peter Cushman Jones. During the next ten years the fortunes of the firm fluctuated between high prosperity and the brink of failure, but during these trying periods agencies for Onomea and Princeville plantations were obtained. John D. Brewer died late in 1879 and J. O. Carter became cashier in 1880. In 1879 the firm was heavily embarrassed through its financing of Hawaiian Agricultural and Huelo plantations, and it was at this time that the genius of the late P. C. Jones was exhibited. A decisive event was the entrance into the firm of Charles R. Bishop, pioneer banker, in 1880 with $100,000 of new capital. C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., was incorporated on Feb. 7, 1883, with Peter Cushman Jones as president and manager; J. O. Carter, secretary and treasurer; Henry May, auditor; and Charles R. Bishop and H. A. P. Carter, directors. Mr. Jones retired in 1891 and was succeeded as president by J. O. Carter. Mr. Carter resigned in Feb. 1894, and Mr. Jones returned to office until his final retirement in 1899, when he was succeeded by Mr. C. M. Cooke, who died in 1909, when E. Faxon Bishop, long with the firm, was elected president, an office he still occupies. Absorption of William G. Irwin & Co. by C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., followed Mr. Bishop’s elevation to the presidency and George H. Robertson and Richard Ivers became vice-president and secretary, respectively. The late Alonzo Gartley succeeded Mr. Robertson as vice-president and manager upon the latter’s death in 1920. Mr. Ivers, who died in 1918, was succeeded by Richard A. Cooke, who in turn succeeded Mr. Gartley as vice-president and manager in the summer of 1921. At the present time (1925) officers and directors of C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., are: E. Faxon Bishop, president; Richard A. Cooke, vice-president and manager; Horace Johnson, vice-president; E. A. R. Ross, secretary; W. Jamieson, treasurer; C. H. Cooke, J. R. Galt, E. I. Spalding and George R. Carter. Additional Comments: DOB and DOD from internet article - not included in the biography. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/bios/brewer8bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/hifiles/ File size: 6.4 Kb