Sunset at Gowanus Bay

Sunset at Gowanus Bay
Sunset at Gowanus Bay, Henry Gritten, 1851

Monday, May 13, 2019

The Elusive Mr. Davis - The Unidentified First Husband of Mary Brewer (1766-1813)

Mary Brewer, born 3 October 1766 and died 10 February 1813, was a daughter of Elias Brouwer/Brower/Brewer (1740-1812) and Femmetje (Phebe) Lucas (1749-1826). She is a descendant of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, Long Island, and can be found on the Brouwer Genealogy Database as Polly Brewer. To date, what has been known about Mary (Polly) Brewer's first husband, referred to as only "Mr. Davis," has essentially been nothing, except his last name, Davis, as evidenced by Mary's three known children, Elias Davis, Sarah Davis and Phoebe Davis. Mary Brewer's second husband was Jonathan Wolverton whom she married on 25 January 1806. There are no children of Mary Brewer and Jonathan Wolverton.

We now have a very likely identity for "Mr. Davis." Scott Kraus, one of the co-author's of "DNA: Adam Brouwer Berckhoven, Elias Brouwer and John Brewer," which was published in volume 138, issue no. 4 (Oct 2007) of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (Richard D. Brewer and William B. Bogardus being the other authors), has conducted new research into the identity of Mary Brewer's first husband and has summarized his findings in a paper which he would like to make available. We are making in available online as a PDF which can be accessed and downloaded here.

In addition to identifying the very likely first husband of Mary Brewer, Scott has also added new information on Mary's descendants through her daughter Sarah Davis (b. 12 May 1788) and her two husbands, Israel Wilcox and Ephraim Squires. This adds to what is currently found for Sarah Davis on the BGD website.

Scott Kraus, "The Elusive Mr. Davis: Unidentified First Husband of Mary Brewer (1766-1813).

Thank you Scott.

BGB 650

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