Sunset at Gowanus Bay

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

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Brewer Families of New England

The website, Brewer Families of New England, has been updated. An important change in the database is the discovery that Col. Jonathan Brewer (1725/26-1784), a commander at Bunker Hill, did not marry as a second wife, Dorothy Fowle. This incorrect claim has appeared in published accounts of this family dating back to the late 1800s. I was recently contacted by Jean Brewer, who kindly provided documentation, to support the fact that Col. Jonathan Brewer could not have been the Jonathan Brewer who married Dorothy Fowle on 30 Dec 1772 at Watertown, Massachusetts. Col. Jonathan Brewer made his will in 1783, and in it he appoints his wife Frances (Buckminster) as executor. Frances outlived Jonathan by 39 years, and died at Woodstock, Vermont on 27 March 1823, age 84 years (Vermont Vital Records). The question now is, who is the Jonathan Brewer who did marry Dorothy Fowle in 1772? Is he another Jonathan Brewer who already is known? Or is he a yet undiscovered Jonathan Brewer? Research continues.

BGB 33

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