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.

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