Note of Lazarus Brewer and William Brewer, 1759

Abstracts of Early Monmouth County Court Papers, Part II, No. 29, is a copy of a note signed by Lazarus Brewer and William Brewer.

No. 29, Note Signed by Lazarus Brewer and William Brewer

The note was dated 24 February 1759, and presented at the Monmouth County Court of Common Pleas in 1769, which no doubt, was a follow up to William Brewer's appearance at that same court in 1768 (see the previous post of December 15, 2013).

In the original bond, Lazarus and William are described as "Lazarus Brower & William Brower sons of Adam Brower both of the town of Shrewsbury in the County of Monmouth & Province of East New Jersey." They are bonded to Samuel Wardell, of Shrewsbury, for the sum of sixty pounds.

William Brewer (Brower) was briefly profiled in the previous post. Lazarus Brower, more often referred to as Elazerus Brewer, was his younger brother, born either 23 June 1730 or 23 May 1731, depending on what source you wish to go with. William A. D. Eardeley in his 1923 manuscript, "Brower Genealogy and Langdon Genealogy," lists both dates which he says were obtained from a copied Bible record received from "a Lady in Freeport, Long Island." He notes the discrepancy in the dates in the record he was given, and on page 31 of his manuscript takes the opportunity to question the reliability of the record he was given. (The manuscript is online. It is a large file that must be downloaded). I get the impression that William A. D. Eardeley never saw the actual Bible record himself. In my own questioning of others who have also researched this family, I have yet to receive a positive reply from anyone when asked if they have actually seen this Bible record first hand. Apparently, the "Lady in Freeport," gave him two copies of the Bible record, but four five of the nine children, the birth dates are different in each of the two copies. Eardeley states that the variations in the two copies of the Bible records that he received are enough to make him reject both. The birth dates have since been repeated elsewhere. I choose to present the birth dates of the  children of Adam Brewer with the phrase, "Said to be born" (followed by the date, or dates).

Elazerus Brewer, sometimes referred to as Lazerus Brewer or Brower (as in this note) was married to Frances Morris, a daughter of John Morris and Francyntie (Frances) White. Their New Jersey marriage license is dated 25 June 1755. They had seven children, the first said to be born 16 September 1754 (which pre-dates their marriage license), and the last 15 April 1766.

Elazerus is found in Monmouth County, New Jersey up to and through the years of the Revolutionary War. His son Aaron Robbins Brewer remained loyal to the British and removed to Ontario, Canada. Elazerus is said, by grandchildren in testimony to settle his estate, to have died in Ontario, Canada, on 31 March 1820.

In 2012, Lawrence Lippert, published in Monmouth Connection, volume 23, "The Paper Trail of Elazerus Brewer." It was featured in the May 19, 2013 post on this website.

A descendant of Elazerus Brewer has participated in the Brewer DNA Project, and his Y-DNA test results clearly match those of other descendants of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L. I. Additional info and source citations can be found at the Brouwer Genealogy Database.

BGB 356