Otis Holmes was born in Sharon, Massachusetts. In 1935 he established a brewery at Jackson & Fountain Streets in Providence, Rhode Island. His brewery would be the literal foundation upon which the James Hanley brewery would be built. Holmes died on April 18, 1870 at the age of 76 years.

John Bligh was born in Roscommon, Ireland. He fled the potato famine in 1851 and emigrated to America. In 1867 he purchased the Merchant's Brewery in Providence, Rhode Island from Otis Holmes. The brewery was seized by the federal authorities in 1875 and he died in November of that year at age 47 years. The brewery was purchased from his estate by James Hanley and John P. Cooney. After buying Cooney's stake in 1879, Hanley would run the brewery until his own death in 1912. The brewery would in fact survive Prohibition and the rationing of WWII, ultimately closing in 1957.

James Hanley was born in Roscommon, Ireland. His family emigrated to America during the potato famine of 1845 when James was just four years old. His father found work as a laborer in an Irish section of Providence, Rhode Island. At age 18 Hanley established a retail liquor business in that town which he rapidly grew into a wholesale company. In 1875 he partnered with John P. Cooney to purchase the Merchant's Brewery on Jackson and Fountain Streets from the estate of John Bligh. Four years later Hanley bought out his partner's stake and renamed the firm James Hanley & Co., a Brewery in which he produced primarily ale. He grew this brewery into the largest of its kind in New England. He also established the Providence Brewing Company as a manufactory for lager beer. He controlled the distribution of his product through the Hanley-Hoye wholesale liquor company. He was also director of the Union Trust company and the National Exchange Bank. He invested widely in real estate and thoroughbred horses. Despite his lowly beginnings he was widely admired and respected in his later years. Hanley died suddenly on August 31st 1912. He was 75 years of age. His brewery survived prohibition and closed in 1957. His products were picked up by the Falstaff Brewery and beer and ale with the Hanley name continued to be made until the 1980s.

James Carroll was born in Albany, New York where he obtained an education in the public schools. He was then sent to New York City to study at the National Brewers' Academy. Upon graduation he returned to Albany and worked in the Arch Street Brewery, and later the Albany Brewery. His reputation as a brewmaster grew in conjunction with Albany's reputation as a brewery town. He soon became one of the most in-demand master brewers on the East Coast. The ambitious brewer James Hanley hired him to supervise his ale brewery in 1904 and it was there he would live out the rest of his career. Carroll died on March 14, 1919 at the age of 58 years .