Sunset at Gowanus Bay

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

Friday, July 31, 2015

Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension File Transcripts

Foy Varner recently sent me the following link to a very useful website administered by Will Graves.


Here are found transcripts of Revolutionary War pension applications filed by men who served during the Revolutionary War in the South. There are hundreds of such transcripts found on this page, created by Will Graves and others. Included is the transcript of Ambrose Brewer's application, transcribed by Foy Varner. There links for eleven men named Brewer found on this page. They are:

Ambrose Brewer (Moore Co., NC; Hawkins Co., TN) - R1182 [Images of pages are also online].

Barrett Brewer (Charlotte Co., VA; GA; Montgomery Co., AL) - S32131

Edward Brewer (Chatham Co., NC; Randolph Co., NC) - R1183

Henry Brewer (NC, Christian Co., KY & Wilson Co., TN) - S39213

Henry Brewer (Berkeley Co., VA; Adams Co., OH) - S42093 [Note: Henry Brewer is a genetic descendant of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island].

Isaac Brewer (Chatham Co., NC; Talladega Co., AL, mentions of VA and GA) - R1185

Jesse Brewer (Halifax Co., NC) - W5872 [Includes names and birth dates of his children].

John Brewer (Winchester, VA; Fayette Co., PA) - W3652 [Suspected to be an unplaced descendant of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, Long Island. See the post of June 19, 2015 and the linked document found on that post].

William Brewer (Chatham Co., NC; SC; Blount Co., TN) - S3085

William Brewer (Prince William Co., VA; Henry Co., KY) - S30885 [Born in St. Mary's Co., MD in 1744].

William Brewer (Halifax Co., NC) - S41458

Please use the links found on the Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters page to access PDFs of transcripts for the above Revolutionary War veterans.

Thank you to Foy Varner for the link, and to Will Graves for the website.

PDF version of this post

BGB 472 

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Brewer Branches on YFull's Experimental Y Tree

YFull is a company that analyzes data received from advanced Y-Chromosome DNA tests administered by various companies including the results for those who have taken the Big-Y* test with FamilyTreeDNA. To date, the Brewer DNA Project has had fifteen members take the Big-Y test. Most of these fifteen have taken the next step and have ordered an analysis of their Big-Y test data with YFull.** YFull's analysis of many individual tests allows them to identify SNPs that any one tested individual shares with others, and to identify SNPs that are unique to each tested individual. By comparing similarities and differences YFull has created what it calls, The Experimental YTree. This is essentially a genealogical tree of the male Y-Chromosome.

Members of the Brewer DNA Project who have taken the Big-Y test and have had analysis done by YFull have been placed on the Experimental YTree in the following locations (follow the links):

  • Descendants of Jan Brouwer, of Flatlands, L.I., defined as haplogroup I-Y7214. [Four descendants have been tested and analyzed].
  • Descendant of Adam Brouwer, of Gowanus, L.I., defined as haplogroup E-V13. [To date only one descendant (id:YF03732) has taken the Big-Y test. We hope for others to take the test so that this haplogroup may be further refined].
  • Descendants of George Brewer, of Brunswick Co., VA, defined as haplogroup I-Y15031. [Four descendants have been tested and analyzed].
  • Descendant of Ambrose Brewer, of Moore Co., NC and Hawkins Co., TN, defined as haplogroup R-DF13. [To date only one descendant (id:YF03733) has taken the Big-Y test. We hope that other descendants will follow].
  • Brewer Family originating in Gloucestershire, England ca. late 15th century, defined as haplogroup I-Y15575. [We currently have only one member of this family who has tested on any level with FamilyTreeDNA (id:YF03562). In other words, the tested individual does not match any other tested individual with the surname BREWER. We hope that others will be found who are interested and willing to join the project].
One feature of the Experimental YTree is that you can begin with the current defined haplogroup and work your way back up the Y-tree, one haplogroup at a time, to the beginning. On each of the linked pages above, you will find at the top, a horizontal row of haplogroups beginning with "Home" on the far left (black characters on white background). Starting with the furthest haplogroup at the right, you can use your cursor to click on each haplogroup which will take you back in time to the next branch back on the male Y-Chromosome Tree. In addition, estimates are provided for when each haplogroup was formed, and for a "time to most recent common ancestor" (TMRCA) for those in each group. For example, haplogroup I-Y15575 (the Gloucestershire, England family), was formed 4000 ybp (years before present), and the common ancestor our member has with the other individual in this haplogroup lived 3400 ybp. [Caveat: it has to be remembered that these figures are estimates, and that overtime, as more individuals are tested and their results analyzed and compared to others, these estimates will change. In addition, new defining SNPs for individual haplogroups will be identified, and eventually the YTree will have more branches and become more refined. Years before present, will also become better defined and more exact].

We would ask any of the other members of the Brewer DNA Project, who have already taken the Big-Y test, who have not yet submitted their data files to YFull for analysis and placement on the Experimental Y-Tree, to consider doing so. If you have any questions you can contact either of the administrators of the Brewer DNA Project (either Richard Brewer or myself) using the e-mail links found on the Brewer DNA Project's main page. In addition, we would ask other members of the Project, who have previously taken the Y-DNA tests that identify STR values, to consider taking the Big-Y test and to follow through with analysis at YFull.



*For more on the Big-Y test you are referred to some of the links found on the Genetic Genealogy Page.

**As of this writing YFull charges $49 for access to their results, billed after the analysis is completed. For a bit more on YFull please see Richard Brewer's, "An Application of FTDNA's Big-Y Test to Our Brewer DNA Project," pages 14-19.

This post as a PDF 

BGB 471

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Links to Brower and Duryea in Kings County Will Books


New direct links for some Brower and Duryea wills recorded in the Kings County, New York Will Books have been added to the page, “Links to Image Pages at FamilySearch.org – Probate & Estate Records.” Added are the following:

Abraham4 Brower (Jeury3, Abraham2, Adam1), Will dated 13 February 1797.

Abraham E.5 Brouwer (Everhardus4, Jacob3, Jacob2, Adam1), Will dated 8 December 1831.

Adolphus4 Brower (Jeury3, Abraham2, Adam1), Will dated 30 April 1825.

Charity Brower, widow of Jeury3 Brouwer (Abraham2, Adam1), Will dated 9 May 1787.

John5 Brower (Isaac4, Adolphus3, Nicholas2, Adam1), Will dated 8 October 1803.

Since I have recently been looking at some Duryea families with regard to a few relationships with Brouwer families, I have included the following Duryea/Duryee wills:

Charles2 Duryea (Joost1, SimonA du Rieu), Will dated 4 December 1751 (this will is recorded in New York County).

Charles4 Duryea (Jacob3, Charles2, Joost1, SimonA du Rieu), Will dated 14 March 1795.

Charles T.4 Duryee (Theunis3, Charles2, Joost1, SimonA du Rieu), Will dated 30 September 1799.

Jacob3 Duryee (Charles2, Joost1, SimonA du Rieu), Will dated 11 August 1796.

Johannes3 Duryea (Charles2, Joost1, SimonA du Rieu), Will dated 3 March 1780 (the will is recorded in New York County, and Johannes/John was living in Somerset County, New Jersey at the time the will was written).

Joost3 Duryea (Abraham2, Joost1, SimonA du Rieu), Will dated 2 July 1793.

Please use the “Probate & Estate Records” page for links to the images. FamilySearch is, apparently, now requiring that you sign in, in order to view the images. If you do not have an account with FamilySearch, you will have to create one. The account is free.

Fortunately, the Kings County Will Books have been indexed. Links to the images of the first page of the indexes for each of Kings County, Wills, volumes 1 though 4, has been added to the “Indexes to Probate & Estate Records” page.

I would also note that the will books found here are not the originals. They were copies made in 1911 (see page 439 of Lib. 1). As we all know, errors can be created whenever a document is copied or transcribed. But, probably the biggest loss is that we are unable to view the original signatures of the testators and witnesses.

BGB 470