Brewers Found In Putnam County, New York Probate Records

Digital images of the Will Books and other Probate Records for Putnam County, New York can be found online at (where else) FamilySearch.org, housed in their "New York Probate Records, 1629-1971" collection. There is a general index which includes other records in addition to wills. Those with the BREWER surname are found on page 19 (image 20), and page 20 (image 21), which takes us up to the year 1934. There are a couple more on the following pages from the 20th century, but that's beyond our scope of interest here. Below are abstracts with links to the images.

Daniel Brewer (1865). File Box 1646. Wills I:1; Letters Testamentary C:58; Letters of Administration B:540 Old Estates. See the post of January 28, 2019.

John Brewer (1871). The Index says: File Box 1939. Wills Old Estates C:69; Letters of Administration 4:102. Petition for Letters of Administration are found in Old Estates C:69. Petition of Clarissa Brewer of Philipstown, Putnam County, widow of John Brewer, deceased. States that John Brewer died 10 January 1871, at Philipstown, and the value of his estate did not exceed $3000. Surviving John Brewer are the petitioner, his widow and William Brewer, residing in the County of Westchester, New York, and Frederick Brewer, Alexander Brewer, Allen Brewer, Mary Brewer, Charlotte Brewer, Ezra James Brewer and Freeman Brewer, all residing in Philipstown, and Phebe Jane Kemble residing in Bergen County, New Jersey. All children are of full age except Allen, Mary, Charlotte, Ezra James and Freeman who are minors having no general guardian his only next of kin. Prior to his death, John Brewer was an inhabitant of Philipstown. Dated 17 January 1871. Also see Letters of Administration 4:102, where Clarissa Brewer, widow, and William J. Brewer, a son, are granted administration, 30 January 1871. [Note: I have not found a will].

Ebenezer Brewer (1883). File Box 2661. Letters of Administration 5:239. Dated 10 April 1883. Administration on the estate of Ebenezer Brewer of Carmel, granted to Elizabeth Morris, a daughter, and James H. Merritt of Carmel, a friend.

Fowler Brewer (1886). File Box 2819. Wills O:22; Letters Testamentary E:99. Will dated 20 September 1885. Names wife Betsie Anna Brewer. Appoints Silas A. Anderson, executor. No mention of children. Signs with his mark. Proved by Edward Barrett and Gideon Barrett, 9 Nov 1886. The will is also recorded in Putnam County Deeds 67:107. Administration on his estate was granted to Silas A. Anderson on 9 November 1886 (Letters Testamentary E:99).

Daniel Brewer (1890). File Box 3147. Letters of Administration 6:148. Administration on the estate of Daniel Brewer late of the Town of Carmel, granted to Mary E. Smith, a daughter, and Henry Barrett, a friend. Dated 9 April 1890.

Clarissa Brewer (1892). File Box 3256. Wills Q:149. Letters Testamentary E:260. Clarissa's will begins at Q:151. Clarissa Brewer of the Town of Philipstown, aged seventy three years and upwards... To son Freeman Brewer, all my farm and land situate in the town of Philipstown conveyed to me by Elijah Uekel and wife by deed dated April 30, 1879. Appoints son Freeman Brewer executor. Dated 8 November 1891. Clarissa Brewer sign with her mark. No other children named in the will. At Q:149, Freeman Brewer appears before the court on 9 January 1892. The appearance concerns Frederick Brewer "one of the heirs and next of kin" of the deceased. Frederick Brewer is deceased and is survived by his widow and eight children. The children are named as Laura Brewer, Marion Brewer, Sarah Brewer, Charles Brewer, Robert Brewer and Frederick Brewer, who are to be appointed with guardians. Administration on the estate was granted 18 March 1892 to Freeman Brewer, sole executor. [Clarissa Brewer is the widow of John Brewer above].

Betsey A. Brewer (1900). File Box 3761. Wills S:465. Letters Testamentary F:176. Administration of estate granted 27 March 1900 to Ezra Pinckney. Will dated 15 February 1889. Betsey A. Brewer of the Town of Carmel. All lawful debts are paid. To grandson Hubert S. Pinckney, the sum of one hundred dollars. Remainder of property to daughters Esther Barrett, Emma Adams and Jemima J. Pinckney to be divided equally among them. Appoints Ezra Pinckney of Carmel as executor. Signs with her mark. Witnesses: John Parker and Orlando V. Barrett. [Betsey A. Brewer was the widow of Fowler Brewer above].

The above is all that is presently available online through FamilySearch.org, "New York Probate Records, 1629-1921," Putnam County. Letters of Administration ends with volume 7. Letters of Testamentary ends with volume F. Wills ends with volume S. All at about 1900 to 1905. There are more Brewers found in the index, and some of the earlier 20th century records may be of value. Here are a few more entries that may be of interest:

William Brewer (1905). File Box 4144. Letters of Administration 8:57.

Bella Brewer (1924). File Box 5714. Letters of Administration 9:529.

Ezra J. Brewer (1932). File Box 6385. Wills 27:199. Letters Testamentary J:89.

The indexes for probate records only include the name of the testator or of the person whose estate is being administered. Of course there may well be other mentions of Brewers in many of the other records, yet their names are not indexed so it's more difficult to find them. There is one helpful source to remedy this, at least for some records, those up to 1835. AmericanAncestors.org, the website of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, has a searchable database of William A. D. Eardeley's, Abstracts of Wills, Administrations and Guardianships, 1787-1835, for New York State. They are arranged by counties, and as mentioned, it is searchable across every name, not just that of the subject of the record. Using this tool and then locating the record at FamilySearch.org, we also find:

Eliza Arden. Wills D:303-304. Eliza Arden of the City of Brooklyn (Kings Co.). Leaves legacies, after just debts are paid, to my nephew James Brewer ($500) and his sister, my niece, Sarah Ann Brewer ($500). Also to the children of my daughter Sarah Mary the wife of Daniel M. H. Butler. Nephew James Brewer and niece Sarah Ann Brewer are appointed executors with friends William Jennison(?) and Thomas R. Lee.

Also included in the Putnam County Probate Records collection are Guardianship, volumes 1-5, 1812 to 1898. These volumes are not indexed but looking at volume 1 I see that there is a list of infants and guardians. They are not listed alphabetically, but are listed in page number order. We'll have to explore these records in another post.

A little bit about Putnam County - Putnam County was created in 1812 out of Dutchess County. It is south of Dutchess County and north of Westchester County in southeastern New York State. It is on the east side of the Hudson River and to the west and southwest are Orange and Rockland Counties respectively It is a relatively small county in terms of land mass and is comprised of six towns - Carmel, Kent, Patterson, Philipstown, Southeast and Putnam Valley. The area of Putnam County is essentially the area that originally constituted the Philipse Patent.

A Map of the Philipse Patent (Public Domain)

BGB 632