How did the founder of Vassar College accumulate his wealth?

Matthew Vassar (April 29, 1792 –June 23, 1868) was an English-born American brewer, merchant and philanthropist. He founded Vassar College in 1861. The city of Vassar, Michigan is named after him.

Matthew Vassar was born in April 29, 1792 in East Dereham, Norfolk, England to James and Ann Bennett Vassar. His parents were farmers. James's ancestors were French Huguenots. In 1796, they emigrated to New York and settled on a farm. In 1801 James Vassar brewed ale with barley grown from seeds his brother Thomas brought from Norfolk. Demand for the ale was such that in 1801 James Vassar sold the farm and bought a lot in the village of Poughkeepsie from Baltus Van Kleeck to build a brewery.

During the War of 1812, Vassar joined the local fusilier’s company as a sergeant, but saw little action. He spent his days at the brewery and his evenings working at an oyster saloon and restaurant he had opened in the basement of the county courthouse. Vassar opened M. Vassar & Company and rebuilt the brewery on Vassar Street across the street from the family townhouse. At the time, it was the largest brewery of its kind in the United States.

Vassar's niece, Lydia Booth, a teacher who ran the "Cottage Hill Seminary" out of a building Vassar owned on Garden Street, encouraged him to establish a women's college in Poughkeepsie. In January 1861, the New York Legislature passed an act to incorporate Vassar College, one of the first women's colleges in the U.S.