Hubert Brower, New Sub-Group of the Brewer DNA Project

Work done over the past six months or so has enabled the Brewer DNA Project to identify descendants of Hubert Brower, the end result being the creation of the project's newest sub-group, "Hubert Brower, Immigrant to Philadelphia, 1726." Contributions from descendants taking Y-Chromosome DNA tests and by conducting traditional genealogical research as resulted in identifying Hubert Brower as an ancestor for some members who were previously unaware of this. It has also identified new lines of descendants of Hubert Brower. In short, Y-DNA testing has shown that the descendants of Henry Brewer (a.k.a. Henrich Brauer) of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and the descendants of the Brower families of Randolph County, North Carolina, are in fact related to the Brower families of Chester County, Pennsylvania, descendants of the sons of Hubert Brower.

The new sub-group, formerly labeled "Under Consideration A," and now titled "Hubert Brower Immigrant to Philadelphia, 1726," can be found on the Y-DNA Results page of the Brewer DNA Project. It is color coded green. There are currently seven members in the new sub-group.

Key to the identification of this new sub-group was the identification of a direct male descendant of one of Hubert Brower's three sons (John, Christian and Henry) and his interest and willingness to participate by taking a Y-DNA test. A descendant of Henry Brower (b. 14 February 1720, d. 14 October 1784, Chester Co., Pennsylvania) through Henry's son Daniel Brower (1757-1809, of Chester and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania) was located thanks to the work of other members of the sub-group. His Y-DNA test results matched those of two descendants of Henry Brewer of Bedford County, of three descendants of the Randolph County Browers, and of one descendant of Abraham Brower (1758-1828) of Berks County, Pennsylvania. The clear matches required us to reconsider the previously accepted (but unproved) arrangement of the families of the sons of Hubert Brower. The Y-DNA test results, coupled with new traditional research which included the previously unknown or unconsidered baptism records of the sons of Johannes Brauer (John Brower) and his wife Hannah Echelbauer, provides us with the material for justifying the rearrangement of the first few generations of Hubert Brower's descendants. A summary of this rearrangement is available online.

Very little is known about Hubert Brower himself. His name is known from a document commonly referred to as "the Pass," which granted Hubert permission to immigrate to America in 1726 with his wife Anna and some children. The number and gender or genders of his children is somewhat unclear from translations of the original "Pass," but it is commonly believed and accepted by descendants that Hubert Brower had three sons, John, Christian and Henry, who settled in Coventry Twp., Chester County, Pennsylvania during the mid 1700s. No record of, or pertaining to Hubert, has been found in Pennsylvania, and it is believed that he died soon after his arrival. The date of his death and place of his burial is not known. It is believed that Hubert's widow Anna remarried a man named Johannes Roth and both are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Parker Ford, Chester Co., Pennsylvania.

As a tool to help locate provable descendants of Hubert Brower who would be interested in taking a Y-DNA test, I created a database (or "tree") on Ancestry.com titled "Hubert Brower, Immigrant to Pennsylvania, 1726." A subscription to Ancestry.com is required to view this database. This database supersedes what is found on the current edition of the Brouwer Genealogy Database regarding Hubert Brower and his descendants. The Ancestry.com database is more complete, and corrects errors found on the BGD site. Other participants in this project also maintained databases on Ancestry.com and it was through connections discovered while using Ancestry.com that a fellow descendant of Hubert Brower was located.

Of the seven descendants who now form this new sub-group, one has done advanced SNP testing by taking FamilyTreeDNA's Big-Y test. Analysis of the lab results by the company YFull has identified the terminal SNP, and therefore haplogroup, of the descendant as R-Z29713. He can be found on YFull's YTree at this location (id:YF07996). Other member's of the sub-group are identified by FamilyTreeDNA with the predicted haplogroup R-M269. This haplogroup is much further back in time (formed more than 13000 years ago) and R-Z29713 is a more recent sub-haplogroup of R-M269. The current estimate (as of this writing) for the formation of R-Z29713 is 2000 years ago. Should more descendants of Hubert Brower decide to participate in more advanced Y-Chromosome SNP testing, then the current haplogroup identification may be refined further to a more recent time.

Thank you to all of the members of the new sub-group "Hubert Brower, Immigrant to Philadelphia, 1726," for your work and participation. This has been a perfect example of how collaboration and dedication, and the use of both traditional and genetic genealogy methods, can break through a "brick wall" problem that had long been absent a solution.

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