C. Brewer & Co.
C. Brewer & Co., Ltd. was a Honolulu-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company did most of its business in agriculture. The company was founded by Captain James Hunnewell (1794–1869) of Massachusetts in 1826, making it the oldest of Big Five companies. The company originally traded sandalwood with China. Henry A. Peirce joined in 1828 as a clerk, and worked his way up to a partner. Peirce took over when Hunnewell left in 1830. Charles Brewer (1804–1885), the master of Peirce's ships, became a partner in December 1835 and the business was known as Peirce & Brewer.Peirce retired to a life as a diplomat in 1843, and the company was renamed after Brewer, who shifted the company's focus to supplying whaling ships and general merchandise. Brewer ran the business with his nephew Charles Brewer II (1823–1863) until 1845, returned to Boston in 1849, on the ship that brought the first gold from the California Gold Rush. He continued to be an investor and convinced Peirce and Hunnewell to rejoin him for a while. James Fowler Baldwin Marshall and Francis Johnson took over management of the Honolulu business. Stephen H. Williams and Benjamin F. Snow continued the business in the 1850s. Charles Brewer II ran the business again in 1859, reviving the C. Brewer & Co. name. Sherman Peck and Charles H. Lunt took over in 1861 when the younger Brewer retired. Henry Alpheus Peirce Carter (1837–1891) became a partner in 1862 until 1874.In 1863, the company entered.
Honolulu-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii
business