Ellis Wainwright was born in Pennsylvania. He was the son of the Prominent Pittsburgh brewer Joseph Wainwright. From a young age he and his brother Ellis apprenticed in his father's Brewery where they learned the brewing of ale and beer in the English method. In 1831, at age 22, Ellis ventured westward with the intention of establishing one of the first breweries in St. Louis Missouri.

On or about 1840 his brother Samuel (younger by 13 years) joined him in the Fulton Street Brewery. Together they guided the brewery to become one of the largest in a city of many large breweries. Ellis Wainwright died in the cholera epidemic of 1849 on May 16th. He was just 40 years of age. Upon his brother's death Samuel purchased his brother's share from the estate and ran the brewery, expanding it even more until another generation of Wainwrights took it over in the 1870s.