Sunset at Gowanus Bay

Sunset at Gowanus Bay
Sunset at Gowanus Bay, Henry Gritten, 1851

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Petitions of John A. Brewer, "Confined in the Monmouth County Goal"

Documents no. 8 and no. 9 found on Abstracts of Early Monmouth County Court Papers, Part I, are petitions of John A. Brewer, confined in the Monmouth County Goal (jail), for having unpaid debts.

8. Petition of John A. Brewer

9. Petition of John A. Brewer

There are two men named John A. Brewer, contemporaries of each other, to consider when trying to determine just who the two petitions belong to. One of these men is John A. Brouwer, born 10 April 1788 at Gowanus, Long Island, a son of Adolph Brouwer and Aeltje Hulst (the A. here stands for Adolph, and is not technically a middle name as we think of them today). He is a descendant of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island. His name also appears as John A. BROWER, and he did live for a considerable portion of his life in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The second man, more often found as John A. BREWER, was born 7 May 1762 and baptized 30 April 1764 (recorded in the register of the Reformed Congregations of Freehold and Middletown). He was a son of Aris (Aaron) Brower and Neeltje Cooper, and a descendant of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, Long Island. In this case, the A. stands for John's father's name, Aris, and is not a middle name as we think of them today. He also lived in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Although there is no explicit or clear genealogical clues or information contained in the petitions, I suspect that the petitions belong to the later John A. Brewer, the one born in 1762, and descended from Jan Brouwer of Flatlands.

For background on this series of Monmouth County documents, please see the post of December 6, 2012.

For more details and source citations regarding John A. Brewer and John A. Brower, please refer to the Brouwer Genealogy Database website.

BGB 299

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