Charles Harvey Brewster was born in 1833 [mistakenly reported as 1834 in some accounts], the son of Harvey and Martha Russell Brewster. After finishing school, he was a store clerk in a nearby town, and then attempted to run a millinery store, but was not successful. In April 1861, Brewster enlisted in Company C of the Tenth Massachusetts Volunteers and became a commissioned officer later that year. He left service in November 1864 and returned to Northampton. In 1868 he married Anna P. Williams; they had six children, including daughters Anna Gertrude, Mary Katherine, Caroline, and Helen [later Mrs. Karl Allured], and a son Charles. His post-war business ventures prospered. He established first a sash, door, and paint business, and later became the first successful professional florist in his area. Brewster died suddenly in 1893 while in New York City, to which he had accompanied a daughter on the first leg of her trip to Australia. Brewster's Civil War letters have been published under the title When This Cruel War is Over, edited by David W. Blight (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992). The Jones of Brewster & Jones was probably the painter Charles H. Jones.
From the description of Journal account book, 1871-1873. (Winterthur Library). WorldCat record id: 261233218
