Henry Elijah Brewster was born in New London, Connecticut, to a family that can trace its lineage back to the Mayflower.  In 1842 he and his brother Nelson established a brewery on Catherine Street in Syracuse, New York.  A decade or so later, they hired another set of brothers, English immigrants John and George Greenway, to work in their brewery.  By 1862 the Greenway brothers had become controlling partners in the company and had renamed it the J. & G. Greenway Brewery.  Brewster stayed on as an executive in the firm until about 1873, when he retired.  Henry Elijah Brewster died on the 16th of December, 1893, at the age of 83 years.

Nelson Brewster was born in New London, Connecticut.  He was the youngest of the two Brewster brothers who in 1842 established a brewery on Catherine Street in Syracuse New York.  The firm passed into the hands of the Greenway brothers in the 1860s and become a favored regional brewery for another 90 years.  Nelson Brewster never married and lived with his mother and various relatives until he died some time in the early years of the 20th Century.

John Greenway, founder of the Greenway Brewing Company of Syracuse, was born in Warwickshire, England.   His parents Thomas and Hannah (Padbury) Greenway were poor and had married uncommonly late.  The family decided to come to the new world for the promise of a better life for their children.  They emigrated to America in around 1836 and settled in Syracuse, New York.  In 1837 Hannah died suddenly at age 44 leaving Thomas at age 50 a widow to take care of three young boys alone. 

Around this time John, and later his brother George, began working in Nelson and Henry Elijah Brewster's. brewery on Catherine Street in Syracuse.  The Greenway brothers gradually rose through the ranks and by 1862 had displaced the Brewsters as controling partners in the firm.  The brothers operated the brewery together until George's death in 1865.

By this time the brewery was a massive five story structure.  The Brewsters, now in their fifties, were still helping John guide the brewery.  The company was thriving amid the post-war depression of Onandagua County.  In response John Greenway staged a feast on January 1st, 1870 to ring in a new and hopefully better American decade.  An estimated 20,000 people jammed Clinton Square for the barbeque.  It was an all-day party featuring four courses of food brought in by the wagonload and music in several bandstands.  The weather was uncommonly warm.  Attendees remarked that it felt like a day in April.  The event so thoroughly enlivened the Syracusians it became legendary, and was recalled fondly for decades in the local newspapers. 

The Brewster brothers' retirement in the 1870s did not hinder the Greenway Brewery's growth and success.  When John Greenway died on the 28th of May 1887 his company was just hitting its stride.  The firm continued until 1920, when it was closed down by Prohibition.  It reopened on repeal day, 1933 and operated until 1952, all the while bearing the esteemed Onandagua family name Greenway.

George Greenway was born in Warwickshire, England.  He was the younger of the two Greenway brothers who operated a brewery in Syracuse New York.

The Greenway family emigrated to America in around 1836 and settled in Syracuse.  The mother died the very next year, when George was just nine years old.  Despite his young age, George followed his older brother John to work in the Brewster Bros. Brewery on Catherine Street and they hired him to do whatever he could.  As the Brewster brothers grew older the Greenways grew into management the firm and by 1862 they became the controlling partners.

Sadly George would see little of the firm's success as he died on Christmas Day of 1865.  The Greenway Brewery would go on to become a major brewery in upstate New York.  It finally closed in 1952.

A grand barbeque was held to welcome in a new decade and bid good riddance to the old one.  It was funded entirely by John Greenway and his Greenway Brewery in hopes of better times and no more war.  The party was such a success it would be remembered for decades.

John Greenway died in his home at age 66. In 1853 Greenway and his brother George established the Greenway Brewing Company of Syracuse, New York.