Isaac Brewer's Revolutionary War Pension File

The post of January 15, 2015, "The Older Sons of Oliver Brewer of Chatham County, North Carolina," makes brief mention of Isaac Brewer who lived in Talladega County, Alabama when he filed a claim for a Revolutionary War pension on, what appears to be 18 March 1845 (see the paragraph on Oliver's son William Brewer). This date being my best interpretation of what I see in the first line of this first page in Isaac's file.

Isaac Brewer RWPF (NARA M804, image downloaded from Ancestry.com)

The post states that Isaac would be covered in a future post, but that is now beyond the scope of my own interests, and will not happen, and there are other sources for those interested to consult. However, Isaac's file was quite extensive and large, about 115 or so images. Back in the day when HeritageQuest was accessible for free from home (with a library subscription) they had available a condensed version, a.k.a. "Selected Records." However, this only included ten or so pages and the bulk of Isaac's file is found in the "Nonselected Records." I do have images (.jpg) of all the pages and I've made them available online with this link. A PDF of the "Selected Records" is available here, however, you will find that the first four pages are unreadable, and you will need to consult the images.

Isaac Brewer's pension application was given the number R1185. It has been transcribed by Will Graves and that transcription is online at Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements and Rosters. Here is the link to the transcription of Isaac's file in PDF. In his file, Isaac states that he was born in May 1763 in Georgia, in what is now Wilkes County. He states that at the age of four, "his father carried him to Bedford County, Virginia where he resided for about two years." He then moved to Chatham County, North Carolina (which at that time would have still been part of Orange County). He lived there until age 24 or 25. Based upon his stated birth date, this would be 1786 or 1787. Isaac afterwards lived in Hancock Co., Georgia, Blount Co., Tennessee and McGinn County, Tennessee. Isaac mentions a younger brother, George, who is said to reside in Wayne County, Tennessee, and who is in possession of a Family Bible register (if only that could be found!). Isaac also mentions an uncle John Brewer and an uncle John Howell. On page 5 of Will Graves' PDF we see mention of Isaac's father, Howell Brewer, Uncle Bill Brewer, Uncle John, along with Henry Bagly, Bill Buckhannon, Nat Powell, Jacob and Andy White, and Joe (or Jas.) Kirk, all of whom he served with. In these pages you will also find Isaac mentioning that he has had two wives and raised seven children of his own, and "two orphan children not kin to him." Isaac also mentions that his father Howell had a family record, "but that he married a second wife, had children by her and lived at the time of his death in West Tennessee, somewhere. In 1853, Isaac's brother, Simon Brewer of Coosa County, Alabama, gave a deposition supporting his brother's statements.

You can find much more on Isaac Brewer here on Mary Andersen's website, "The Brewer Family, Our Southern Roots." Although the site appears to not have been updated in more than two years, it is a very well done website and I'd encourage any one interested in publishing online their own family history website, to explore Mary's site to get a feel for how to do it well. Here is a link to the home page. Mary states that Isaac's father was "Howell Brewer, Jr." who in turn is placed as a son of Howell Brewer, and a grandson of George Brewer of Brunswick Co., Virginia. Please refer to Mary's "Brewer Family File" pages for her reconstruction of the descendants of George Brewer. Isaac Brewer would then appear to be a great-grandson of George Brewer.

I also had in my files, a image of the 1850 U. S. census at Hardeman County, Tennessee, on which appears, Isaac Brewer, Sen. (line 15), age 87, born in North Carolina, with Elizabeth, age 74 (presumably his wife), followed by Isaac Brewer, Jr., age 30.

1850 U.S. Census, Hardeman Co., TN (NARA, image from Ancestry.com)

I caution here, I am not certain if the Isaac Brewer found in this census record is the same as the Isaac Brewer of Talladega County, Georgia who applied for a pension. It is certainly possible, and it may well be that there are two (or more) men named Isaac Brewer, who were born about the same time and lived, at some point in their lives, in Tennessee.

Anyone who would care to add to what is known of Isaac Brewer is welcomed to do so by using the Comments field for this post.

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