Brewer family papers

Collection

Identifier: collection 074

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Brewer family papers contain photographs, correspondence, biographical material, and ephemera documenting the lives and relationships of Joseph Henry and Mary Augusta (Hillyer) Brewer and their son Joseph Hillyer Brewer. Of particular note is the extensive documentation of Joseph Hillyer’s life. These papers document his education at Dartmouth, Oxford, and his career as a publisher, college president, and, to a limited degree, college librarian. Brewer wrote poetry as well as several dramas which are included. Of note are his Olivet College papers, which extensively detail the opposition Brewer experienced there, and his ultimate resignation. His Olivet correspondence contains letters from Henry Russell Hitchcock and other national and international figures. Included in the family photo album are photos of William Alden Smith and Arthur Vanderberg. The collection also includes material related to Joseph Henry and Joseph Hillyer Brewer's ancestors and relatives; the Brind, Escott, Brewer, Birge, Curry, and Pierce families. Included is Brind family genealogy, biographical material, and letters; notably letters from Henry Escott to Anne Brind prior to their marriage, and a letter Henry wrote to Anne’s mother confessing his love for Anne. The collection also contains ephemera and invitations addressed to Henry and Anne Escott’s daughters, Sarah and Annie.

Correspondence between Annie and Lucien Brewer during the Civil War is housed in the collection, as well as letters from Lucien to his half-brother, Bryon Brewer, who was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May of 1863. The letter notifying Alzono Brewer of his son, Byron’s death is also in the collection along with Union and Confederate currency. The collection contains family letters and newspaper clippings, and an 1895 family portrait of Lucien and Anne Brewer, Sadie and Chester Birge, and Ruth Birge in front of the Brewer residence; 298 Cass Avenue in Grand Rapids. The obituary of Commander Manning Davidson Birge (1839 - 1908), brother-in-law of Sadie Birge, and a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg, is included in the collection, along with Birge, Curry, and Pierce genealogy.

Dates

1813 - 1968

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is open for researcher use.

Brind and Escott families

Anne Brind was born in Wiltshire, England to Thomas and Sarah (Stockham) Brind in January 1795. As a young woman, she taught at the Rev. Goodenough’s grammar school. Anne married Henry John Escott (1796-1886) in April 1821. Together they had four children; Edward (1822-1884), Sarah (1823-1897), Mary (1826-1896) and Anne (1832-1915). In 1843 the family emigrated to America.

By 1850 Henry and Anne Escott were farming in Walker, Michigan. Anne died in 1854 and Henry married Harriet Schermerhorn (1837-1900) about 1858. At that time he was working as a druggist in Grand Rapids. Henry had two daughters with Harriet and died in 1886. Both Henry and Anne are buried in Greenwood Cemetery, in Grand Rapids.

Lucien B. Brewer family

In December of 1855, Anne (known as Annie) Escott married Lucien Bonaparte Brewer who was born in Canandaigua, New York in 1831 and had come with his father, Alonzo Brewer (1792-1864), stepmother, and siblings to Alpine Township, Kent County in the 1840s to farm. Lucien’s mother, Laura Lucas Brewer (b.1799), had died in Canandaigua in 1833. Lucien and Annie lived in Grand Rapids where he worked as a druggist and they had four children; Edward Escott (1856-1918), Sarah E (1859-1939), Maddie (1864-1954), Charles Lucien (1868-1930), and Joseph Henry (1875-1943). During the Civil War Lucien served as a hospital steward with the 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics. His half-brother, Byron Brewer (1838-1863) fought and died at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Annie and Lucien’s daughter, Sarah (known as Sadie), married Chester A. Birge in 1883. In 1886 they had a son, Richard, who died as an infant and in 1889 their daughter, Ruth was born. Ruth married Earle John Byers (1885-1959) and they had two children. Ruth died in 1966.

Brewer and Hillyer families

Anne and Lucien B. Brewer’s son, Joseph Henry Brewer (1875-1943), worked as a court stenographer from 1891-1905 and later expanded into other business ventures. He was an early investor in the Grand Rapids Sticky Flypaper Co., but made his fortune building and combining utility operations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana. He sold these interests in 1924 and purchased controlling interests in several of the Grand Rapids banks, the Pantlind Hotel, and the Morton House Hotel. He also established a 1,000-acre dairy and poultry farm north of the city. The Depression wiped out most of Brewer's financial fortune but he began rebuilding it before his death. He was a founding member of the Michigan National Bank Corporation Joseph Henry died in 1943.

In 1894 he married Mary Augusta Hillyer (known as Gussie), the daughter of Henry Livingston Hillyer (1840-1886), a well-known nineteenth-century artist of the Washington D.C. Landscape School, and Frances (Van Vechten) Brewer (1846-1924), a physician with a degree from Howard University. Augusta attended the Michigan Agricultural College but did not graduate. She and Joseph had two sons; Hillyer (1896-1898) and Joseph Hillyer (1898-1990). During her life, Augusta was active in various garden clubs and during 1942-1943 was elected national president of the Council of State Garden Clubs. She died in 1968.

John Hillyer Brewer

Joseph Hillyer Brewer attended high school in Grand Rapids and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1920. Following Dartmouth he attended Magdalen College, Oxford University, England from 1921-1922. He completed the requirements for his M.A. degree from Magdalen in 1933. From 1922-1924 he worked on the staff of The Spectator, a London literary magazine. In 1925, having returned to the United States, he worked for Payson & Clarke publishers and in 1928 took over the assets of this firm and formed Brewer & Putnam Publishers, of which he was president. This firm was sold to Harcourt, Brace & Co. during the Great Depression. From 1934 to 1943 Brewer was president of Olivet College, of which his father was a trustee. After resigning from Olivet, Brewer received a Library Science degree from Columbia University and worked as the associate director of the Queens College Library. Jospeph married Jacqueline Denise Campau of Grand Rapids in 1949. They were married only a short time, as she died in 1955. Joseph died Feb. 25, 1990 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Biographical / Historical

The collection notes were written using information from the collection material itself, Ancestry Library Edition and The Grand Rapids Press.

Extent

14 Linear Feet (30 boxes plus flat files)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Joseph Henry Brewer (1875-1943) was a successful Grand Rapids, Michigan banker and hotel owner. His son, Joseph Hillyer Brewer (1898-1990) was a publisher, academic, and college president. They were descended from the Brewer family of Vermont and England's Brind and Escott families, who emigrated to the United States in 1843. This collection includes letters, genealogies, and family papers documenting these families' histories. Also represented are the families and descendants of Mary Augusta Hillyer (1873-1967), wife of Joseph Henry Brewer, and the families of Chester A. Birge (1857-1919), who married Sarah (Sadie) E. Brewer, Joseph Henry Brewer’s sister. Joseph and Sadie's father Lucien Bonaparte Brewer (1831-1904) and Lucien’s brother, Byron Brewer (1838-1863) were veterans of the Civil War. Byron was killed in the Battle of Chancellorsville and the letter sent to their father, Alonzo Brewer (1792-1864), notifying the family of his death, may be found in the collection along with Union and Confederate currency. Researchers interested in Brewer family history; the social, economic, and political forces that affected them, or Michigan’s involvement in the Civil War will find this collection of interest.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Joseph Hillyer Brewer, July 1968.

John J. Burgdorfer, descendent of Joseph Brewer; accession 2021.080

Related Materials

Rebecca Richmond family papers - collection 094

Processing Information

In July of 2024 accession 2021.080 was processed into the existing collection. Two boxes were added and their content is described in five additional series. The finding aid and finding aid notes were also revised to reflect the new material. A copy of the original finding aid has been archived.