The first page is a cover page of sorts. Joseph King v. Mathew Brewer, Debt, August Term, 1764. The second page tells us that the case is from the Hunterdon Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and we have the complaint. Here's an image of that page:
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Back on September 11, 2013, and then on September 18, 2013, we focused on Mathew Brower of Greene County, Pennsylvania. We also have him on the Brouwer Genealogy Database. The records we have for Mathew Brower are limited and the estimate for the range of his years of birth is handicapped by that limitation. The estimate of 1755-1760 is based on the birth date of his first known child, which is 1778, and 1800, 1810 and 1820 U. S. census records, specifically the 1800 census which gives is age as 26-44, which, if correct, would place the earlier year of his birth at 1756. We also have strong reasons to believe that Mathew Brower of Greene Co., Pennsylvania came there from Hunterdon Co., New Jersey, and do know of a Mathias Brewer on the 1793 militia roll at Lebanon in Hunterdon County. [We do know that this Mathew Brower/Brewer is a descendant of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L. I., because of Y-DNA testing of direct male descendants].
If this record, found in the Miscellaneous Court Records of Hunterdon County, belongs to Mathew Brower (later) of Greene Co., Pennsylvania, we would have to change the estimation of the years of his birth. The agreement between Matthew Brower/Brewer and Joseph King is dated 30 June 1763, and this tells us that Matthew has to have been of legal age by this date. That would then move his year of birth earlier in time to "by 1742" (1742 at the latest). However, this would be in conflict with the 1800 census which, if correct, tells us that Mathew was born in or after 1756.
There is another Matthias Brewer/Mattheus Brouwer, who had two daughters (Elizabeth and Maria) baptized at the North Branch (Readington) Reformed Church in Hunterdon County in 1750 and 1753*. This Matthias Brewer (his wife in the records is called Elizabeth) was clearly born before 1742, and so more likely is the Matthew Brower/Brewer of Bethlehem, New Jersey who is indebted to Joseph King.
A second index card for Matthew Brewer directs us to file nos. 30940 and 34187. No. 30940, from the February Term, 1767, is a continuation of this issue between Joseph King and Matthew Brewer, involving a twenty pound debt. No. 34187, is from the August term, 1764. Joseph King and Matthew Brewer, with J. Smith, attorney for Joseph King. On the matter of the twenty pounds owed, the Sheriff is "commanded" to take Matthew Brewer, otherwise Matthew Brower, and to deliver him to the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, at Trenton, the first of August, to answer to Joseph King (the order is dated 10 May 1764).
A few things then, regarding both this set of records in general, and then specifically Matthew Brewer. In general, first with regards to using the Miscellaneous Court records, in just what little time I have spent with them, my first note is that the file numbers are not chronological. In other words, lower file numbers do not correspond to earlier dates. The three files I looked at for Matthew Brewer demonstrate this - file no. 514 takes place in 1763; file 30,940 takes place later in 1767, but then file 34,187 is earlier, in 1764. I also found on an index card for a Samuel Brewer, a file no. 51, and when I quickly looked at it, I discovered that the event occurred in 1817. So, file number does not equal place in time. Secondly, the first film I looked at, the one which included no. 514, the individual files were collected in folder (manila folders) ten to a folder. But in the films which had numbers 30,940 and 34,187, there were twenty individual files to a folder. The fact that the files are arranged in folders is very helpful in locating them within each film where the digital image numbers do not correspond to the file numbers. To locate a specific file I just zoomed out, scrolled down the film counting through the images that had a manila folder until I figured that I was about at where the file number I was looking for might be, zoomed in, if the folder was the one I was there, if not I just figured out how many folders away, forward or backward, my folder might be, zoomed out, and tried again. The manila folder images do a nice job of breaking down each film into smaller segments.
The value in the information found in these folders may lie principally in the fact that they will place individuals at a location within time. We know, now, that Matthew Brewer was living at Bethlehem, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey in 1763, 1764 and 1767. We also know that he was an adult by 1763, and so was born sometime prior to 1742. Other than church records in which an individual might appear as a parent or witness to a baptism, or as a bride or groom in a marriage, we don't have many, if any, other records that simply place individuals in time at places in Hunterdon County. There are the land records, and the probate records, but not nearly everyone is found in either. There are no census records in New Jersey until 1830. There may be people, who lived in Hunterdon County during the 1700s and early 1800s for whom that only record which demonstrates their existence there during that time, is found within these Miscellaneous Court records.
Regarding the Matthew Brewer who was pursued by Joseph King for a debt of twenty pounds. I would guess that he is most likely the Mattheus Brouwer/Matthias Brewer who, with wife Elizabeth, had two daughters baptized at the North Branch (Readington) Reformed Dutch Church in 1750 and 1753. As he was married by 1750, he may have been born around 1725 or earlier. It is conceivable that he is also the Mathew Brower/Brewer who lived at Lebanon, Hunterdon County, in 1793, and was afterwards in Bedford and Greene Counties, Pennsylvania, and living in 1820, but I tend to doubt it. If there is but one Matthew Brewer, he found have had two families, one earlier in life and one later in life, and his life would have spanned nearly a century. Possible, but not likely. I think that they are two different men, and it is possible, especially given the fact that they have the same name, and are found in locations in Hunterdon County (not a large area to begin with) that are close to each other, that the older of the two is the father of the younger of the two. But, of course, having the same name and being in the same location, is not proof of a relationship. It's just a hint on where to look for more evidence.
In time I'll likely look through more of these files. If anyone out there does the same, and finds anything that might solve or break open one of our many Hunterdon County mysteries, please let us all know.
*The baptism record for Elizabeth can be seen on the BGD. The record for Maria was found later, the citation: "Readington Church Baptisms From 1720," Somerset County Historical Quarterly vol.4-5 (1915-16), 5:56, Maria; parents: Brouwer, Mattheus and Elizabeth.
BGB 683
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