Brouwer Genealogy Database Update

The Brouwer Genealogy Database website has been updated. It has been over a year since the last update (May 16, 2014) and this may well be the final time that the BGD will be updated. Below I will discuss how future corrections will be handled.

Over the past year there have been a number of new participants in our Brewer Y-DNA Project. Also, as of a few months ago the Project's website was updated. A short summary of the new Y-DNA results follows. I anticipate elaborating on some in greater length in future individual posts.

John Brewer, born ca. 1786, died in December 1877, and buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at Tarrytown, New York. His wife was Mary Smack and they were married in 1810. A direct male descendant has taken a Y-Chromosome DNA test. The results show conclusively that he is not a descendant of either Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L. I., or of Jan Brouwer, of Flatlands, L. I. The results match closest with that of a Y-DNA tested descendant of Abraham Brewer, of Chemung County, New York. A link to John Brewer can be found on the Unplaced page of the BGD. Work on John Brewer's descendants is not complete, but some are now included on the BGD.

Donald P. Brower, born 1 April 1802 at Poughkeepsie, New York, and died 14 October 1873 in Northfield, Summit County, Ohio, is thought to be a son of a Philip Brower who was an early settler at Independence, Ohio. Going into the test it was strongly suspected (by me) that the descendant's ancestor would be shown to be Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L. I. The Y-DNA test proved otherwise. The tested descendant is not genetically related to descendants of Adam Brouwer, and as of this writing, does not have any matches with anyone who has tested with FamilyTreeDNA and has the Brower or Brewer surname. Donald P. Brower can also be found on the Unplaced page.

A new descendant of Adam Brouwer's son Nicholas Brouwer has been added to the project. Y-DNA test results confirm the descendant's ancestry to Adam Brouwer. He is represented by kit #396780. His ancestry, which includes a branch of the descendants of Nicholas Brouwer who settled in New Brunswick, Canada, can be found on the Nicholas Brouwer Chart page.

A new descendant of Adam Brouwer's son Pieter Brouwer has been added. The new line represents another descendant of Martin I. Brower (1847-1920) and can be found on the Pieter Brouwer Chart page. Kit #383189.

Pieter Brouwer (Peter Brower, Peter Brewer, Pieter Broer) is found at Duanesburg, New York from 1782 through 1803. His wife was Catrina Chrisler (Crisler, and other spellings). Prior to the testing of a direct male descendant Pieter Brouwer's ancestry was not known. The tested descendant's Y-DNA results clearly show that Pieter Brouwer is a descendant of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, L. I. Although not completely proved, his most probable ancestry is found on the Jan Brouwer of Flatlands Chart page. Kit #386956.

George J. Brower was covered in the post of October 25, 2014. Here it was proposed that George J. Brower was a previously unidentified son of Nicholas Brouwer and Christina Weyman of New York City. Another descendant of this couple had already taken a Y-DNA test, and in the recent months upgraded his results to the 67 marker level. This new level of comparison solidifies the belief that George J. Brower is most probably (I would even say certainly) a son of Nicholas Brouwer and Christina Weyman. The descendants line (kit #360871) is now included on the Pieter Brouwer Chart page.

Another descendant of John Rose, and genetic descendant of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, L. I. has been tested. The lineage is now included on the John Rose Chart page. Kit #353796.

John G. Brewer, of Miami, Greene County, Ohio was discussed in the post of July 10, 2014. The tested descendant, and therefore John G. Brewer are descendants of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L. I. A lineage chart has been added to the Adam Brouwer Group DNA Analysis page.

Regarding the submission of corrections from this time going forward - Back on November 1, 2014, I posted instructions on how to submit corrections to the BGD website to me. The procedure described on November 1, 2014 still stands, however, I would ask that you limit corrections to those that are already found online in the new edition of the BGD. Please do not ask me to add any additional lines of descendants or new families to this latest updated BGD. I have done this in the past, but can no longer do it going forward. Adding lines is a time consuming process that I no longer have the time for, nor the desire to so. Instead, I would ask you to place your own work, on the Brouwer/Brewer line or ancestry that you are concerned with, online in some format, yourself, and then send me a link to it, and I will create a link for it on this website and on the BGD website. I will continue to post corrections of importance here, on this website, and will add links to these pages on the BGD's "Log of Corrections" page. And again, please provide ample and suitable documentation and proof for any correction you suggest. You cooperation in this regard is appreciated. I, for one, would like to see more people take authorship and ownership of their own work and share it openly online with others. There are a lot of ways and formats in which to do this. You just gotta poke around online and I'm sure you'll find plenty of ideas on how to do this. (Please see JANUARY 1, 2016 below).

This update of the Brouwer Genealogy Database will be referred to as the June 22, 2015 edition. As I mentioned above, it will most likely be the last update. Previous editions have been archived by Internet Archive and can be found by using their Way Back Machine.

Good luck to all with your research on your Brouwer, Brower or Brewer ancestry!

July 12, 2015: The BGD was "re" updated. This was to add in a missing kit no. on the Pieter Brewer DNA Chart page. In addition data on Duryea family individuals and some Van Nuys individuals was added. The body of the website is now comprised of 749 pages covering 52,408 individuals. With regards to Brouwer Genealogy, I will for the most part be taking the remainder of the summer off.

October 8, 2015: Some more "technical" problems required the BGD to be updated once again. In addition, with this update, a new descendant of Adam Brouwer has been added to the Adam Brouwer DNA Analysis page. The descendant (kit #N142947, is a genetic descendant of Adam Brouwer as determined by comparison of his results with other Adam Brouwer descendants. However, his ancestry back to Adam Brouwer has not been discovered through traditional research. The descendant's earliest known paternal ancestor is John Brewer (1796-1849) of Broadalbin, Fulton County, New York.

JANUARY 1, 2016 - Please do not e-mail me directly with corrections or questions. Instead use the Comments section for any corrections or inquiries. Either use the Comments section for this post, or use the Comments section for some specific post that pertains to the subject of your correction or inquiry. Comments come to me for review prior to posting for any post that is more than one week old. This will cause a delay in the time it takes for your Comment to appear online. I will answer as time permits.

APRIL 4, 2016 - Corrections regarding John Brower (ca.1786-1877) mentioned above were posted.

BGB 467