Cornelius Brower of Hamilton, Madison County, New York (continued)

Continued from the post of May 7, 2019.

In his will dated 18 April 1867 (Madison Co. Estate File 2916), Cornelius Brower mentions his wife, Mary A. Brower, and three children - sons Charles A. Brower and Norman Brower, and one daughter, Artemisia Edwards. It is apparent from land records and census records that his wife, Mary A., was a second wife who was not the mother of his children. As the profile for Cornelius Brower on the Brouwer Genealogy Database is very much incomplete, we'll fill in more details regarding his descendants here. Research on the descendants was largely conducted on Ancestry.com and a "tree" for Cornelius Brower of Hamilton, New York can be accessed here (subscription to Ancestry.com required). The basics will be filled in on this post, but to access source citations you will need access to the Ancestry.com tree.

As stated in the probate file, Cornelius Brower died 4 December 1869. He is buried in Graham Cemetery in Hubbardsville, which is a hamlet in Madison County, New York, just east of Hamilton. A Find-A-Grave memorial (#110932890) includes a photo of his gravestone. His first wife, Roxie (Roxy/Roxa) is buried with him. She died in 1863, and her Find-A-Grave memorial (#11093922) gives her maiden name as Phillips, but I have yet to find other evidence to support this identification (I don't believe that her maiden name is engraved on the gravestone, which is worn). Roxie is the mother of Cornelius' three children and she is found with Cornelius on the 1850 and 1860 U. S. census at Madison, Madison Co., New York, as well as the 1855 New York State census where the location is given as Hamilton. From the census records it appears that both Cornelius and Roxie were born about 1808 or 1809.

Cornelius Brower's second wife, called Mary A. Brower in his will, is identified as Mary A. Burdick, daughter of Samuel Burdick and Polly Beal by John Cortland Crandall in Elder John Crandall of Rhode Island and His Descendants (New Woodstock, N. Y.: J. C. Crandall, 1931) at page 11. Cornelius is listed here as Mary A. Burdick's second of three husbands. Her first husband was Jonathan W. Green (c.1824-1863) who died in Louisiana during the Civil War. Her third husband was Charles J. Brabazon (1832-1909). Mary (Burdick) (Green) (Brower) Brabazon died 31 July 1896 and is buried with her third husband in Mount Hope Cemetery, Norwich, Chenango Co., NY (Find-A-Grave memorial #146747577, but no photo of the grave marker). It appears that Mary A. Burdick did not have any children by any of her three husbands. She can be found, as Mary A. Brower, with Cornelius on the 1865 New York State census at Hamilton, New York. She is also mentioned in a few of the deeds involving the family.

Cornelius Brower had three children. Two sons and one daughter, who follow:

Son, Charles A. Brower was born about 1834 in New York, although whether or not that was in Madison County cannot be ascertained. He died in 1887 and is buried in Graham Cemetery in Hubbardsville under the name of Albert C. Brower (Find-A-Grave memorial #37967014). He is also called Albert in the 1860 U. S. census at Hamilton. Otherwise he is mostly recorded as Charles or Charles A. Brower, whether that be on the federal and state census or in Madison County deeds. He married, probably about 1858, Eliza Smith who was born in England in 1837 or 1838. She outlived her husband by about 36 years and does not appear to have remarried. She died inn 1923 and is buried with her husband in Graham Cemetery. The gravestone includes her maiden name of Smith (Find-A-Grave memorial #110932961). Charles and Eliza had three daughters. The eldest, Alice A. Brower (1859-1928) married King C. Thornton in 1880 (1900 U. S. census) and had one son, Olin A. Thornton (1886-1950) who married Hattie Babcock and had one son of his own. Daughter Hattie C. Brower (c.1871-1963) was married twice, first to Dealton Taylor (1852-1932) and later in life to Earl D. Keith (1864-1957). There is no evidence that she had children or left descendants. Daughter Cora J. Brower (c.1873-1962) married Edward W. Price (1870-1933) and had a daughter Doris B. Price (1909-1992) who was a graduate of Syracuse University and apparently remained single her entire life. The Price family lived in Syracuse, while the other children and grandchildren of Charles and Eliza remained in Madison County or adjacent Chenango County.

Son, Norman Brower was born about 1835. The 1900 U. S. census gives his birth as March 1835. Norman was married three times. His first wife, Mary E. (c.1840-1881) is the mother of his only known child, a son Addison DeForest Brower (c.1865-1943) who appears to have never married and has no known descendants. Addison lived in Madison County until the 1930 census when he is found in Utica, Oneida County. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Hamilton (Find-A-Grave memorial #93350753). Mary E.'s family name has not been determined, but perhaps her son's name is a clue. Norman's second wife, whom he married on 23 December 1886 at Hamilton (N.Y. State Marriage Certificate #17868) was Fidelia A. Abell, a widow of William Witherman Staples whom she married in Knox County, Ohio in 1876. Fidelia was born at sea aboard the ship Fidelia, off the coast of Newfoundland in July 1854. Norman and Fidelia were not married long, perhaps less than a year (one tree on Ancestry.com gives their date of divorce as 22 December 1887). Fidelia can be found on the 1900 U. S. census, at Hamilton, under her first married name as Fidelia Staples. Norman's third wife was Ruth J. who according to the 1900 U. S. census was born in New York in March 1849. The same census gives their marriage as having occurred in 1894. Ruth's family identity has not been discovered. Norman does not appear to have any living descendants.

Daughter, Artimicia F. Brower was born about 1841 (March 1841 by the 1900 U. S. census) and died in 1918. She is buried in Graham Cemetery in Hubbardsville as Artimicia Brower (Find-A-Grave memorial #110932860). Artimicia was married three times and had children by all three husbands. In her father's will she is called Artimicia Edwards, and as we've seen, an earlier deed refers to her as Artimicia Holmes. Her first husband was Franklin Holmes (1835-1864) a son of Jabez Holmes and Harriet Smith. He died in service during the Civil War at Point City, Virginia of typhoid fever (New York State Archives; Albany, New York; Town Clerks´ Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca 1861-1865; Collection Number: (N-Ar)13774; Box Number: 32; Roll Number: 18). Their one child, daughter Hattie Viola Holmes was born 1 May 1862 (according to her Find-A-Grave memorial #100844241). She was married to Albert Truax at a young age (perhaps just 15) in 1876, as per U. S. census records in 1900 and 1910 (New York State did not implement vital record recording until 1881). She left descendants. Artimicia's second husband had the surname Edwards (Cornelius' will), but I have been unable to discover his given name. They had a son, William J. Edwards who was born in February 1867 (1900 U. S. census) who married Carrie Groat (1861-1937) a daughter of Philip A. Groat on 15 April 1901 (N. Y. State marriage certificate #6337). She had previously been married to Mason S. Simpkins who left for Beaverhead Co., Montana, leaving Carrie with a son Herbert Mason Simpkins. William J. Edwards and Carrie Groat did not have children of their own. He died 12 October 1938 at Florence, Oneida Co., New York (N.Y. Death Certificate #61466). William and Carrie are buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Camden, Oneida County, New York (Find-A-Grave memorial #46862418). Artimicia's third husband was John H. Youngs whom she married by 1876. They had two children. The eldest, Bert Wellington Youngs was born 4 January 1876 at Florence, Oneida County (World War I Draft Registration and his Social Security application). The second child, daughter Lulu Youngs was born about 1878 and the family, with Artimicia's son William Edwards enumerated as "Willie Youngs," is found on the 1880 U. S. census at Florence, Oneida County. Artimicia is found as a "widow" on the 1900 U. S. census (Florence, N.Y.) indicating that her third husband was deceased by 22 June 1900, the date her household was recorded. However, no New York State death registration for John H. Youngs was found. There are a handful of trees on Ancestry.com that claim he was the John H. Youngs found on the 1900 U. S. census at Township 27, Cherokee Nation Territory with the age of 78, born in New York, a widow. The 1880 census record at Florence confirms that age and place of birth, so it may be that the family separated. John H. Youngs was considerably older than Artimicia, and if he is in fact the John H. Youngs who is in the Cherokee Nation Territory in 1900, then he had been previously married and had older children. This is a puzzle that still needs some work. Speaking of puzzles, anyone who enjoys them will have fun working on Artimicia's Youngs descedannts. Her son, and a few of his six children, all had multiple marriages (one granddaughter was married five times), to spouses who also had multiple marriages which added step-children to the confusion. Newspaper notices, including but not limited to obituaries, are needed to solve he puzzle of Artimicia's descendants through the 20th century.

From the above, it is apparent that there are no living direct male descendants of Cornelius Brower. That of course eliminates the possibility of locating and enlisting a male descendant interested in a Y-DNA test to help determine which ancestral family in New York Cornelius Brower is a member of. Cornelius Brower's ancestry has not been determined. Land records first place him in Madison County in 1837, and he is found on the 1840 U. S. census at Georgetown, Madison County, with a household of two males ages 5-9, one male age 30-39, one female age 20-29 and one female age 70-79, which would describe himself, his wife Roxie, sons Charles and Norman and perhaps a widowed mother or mother-in-law. Madison County, which was created in 1806 out of Chenango County and saw people and families settle there who came from the east via the Mohawk River and Erie Canal, some of whom had come from locations further downstate along the Hudson River (Dutchess County for example). The given name Cornelius is found among the descendants of both Willem Brouwer of Beverwijck and Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L. I., and our Cornelius Brower could belong to either. His birth year of circa 1808 or 1809 does not line up with any other Cornelius Brouwer, Brower or Brewer that I have in my database. A few trees on Ancestry.com claims that he is a son of a Cornelius Brower and  Betsey Prentice. I am not familiar with this couple and none of the trees provide credible sources. The elder Cornelius Bower is claimed to have been born about 1788. The only Cornelius Brower I know of that might match this was the son of Nazareth Brouwer and his first wife, Ginney Brouwer, who was born 13 September 1788 and baptized at New Hackensack in 1798 (when he was age 10). This Cornelius, however, died 8 April 1808, which would mean that he was not yet 20 years old. Still, it's possible he could have married and had a posthumous son born later in 1808 (the trees give Cornelius' birth as 19 November 1808, but don't site a source). Betsey Prentice is claimed to have been born c.1789, and died in 1834. But again, I have yet to encounter this couple independently in any reliable record. Perhaps this can be used as a clue, but for now, as of this writing, the parents and ancestry of Cornelius Brower of Hamilton, New York, is unknown.

BGB 651