Who Is The William Brewer Whose Estate Was Administered In New Jersey, January 31, 1729/30?

The June 20, 2020 post, "The Earliest Brewers of Hunterdon County, New Jersey," left us with a couple of early William Brewers who we would like to identify. Here we will take a look at a couple of men named William Brewer (nos. 1 and 3 in the June 20th post) and then work through the roster of known men named William Brewer (Brouwer, Brower, Bruer) to see if we can find a fit.

From the June 20, 2020 post, No. 1 is the administration of the estate of William Brewer of Hunterdon County, yeoman. A second record of this administration (in "Hunterdon Wills") tells us he was of Amwell. William Brewer is obviously deceased shortly before 31 January 1729/30, and since he has an estate that needs administrating, he had to have been an adult and therefore born prior to 1708/09 (age 21 or older in Jan 1729/30). No. 3 is a William Brower/Brewer of Readington, who was an adult by 15 December 1733, when he was involved in a court action regarding a debt he owned to Casparus Vanorstandt of Somerset County. This William Brower/Brewer would have been born by 1712 and is certainly not the same William Brewer (no. 1) who died by 31 January 1729/30. There are two men named William Brewer (Brower) who we seek to identify.

The known candidates, i.e. men named Willem Brouwer, William Brower or Brewer, known to have lived in colonial New Netherland/New York/New Jersey and born prior to 1712, are:

A - We'll start by quickly eliminating Willem Brouwer of Beverwijck who was buried 3 August 1668, and his reputed son Willem/William Brouwer/Brower who lived at Schenectady and later Stone Arabia, New York and wrote is will in February 1757. This latter had a son Wilhelmus (William) baptized at Schenectady in 1725, which is clearly too late for him to be considered. The elder Willem Brouwer had a son Hendrick  (bapt. 1652 in Amsterdam) who in turn had a son Willem who was born and baptized in January 1704 at Schenectady. We have no further record of this Willem (William) Brouwer. He is not mentioned in his father's will of 1706, however, that will only mentions by name the eldest son (Johannis) and does not mention by name his other sons, Pieter, Jacob, Cornelis and Hendrick, all of whom were known to be living at the time the will was written. Although we have no evidence that any of the descendants of either Hendrick Brouwer or the younger Willem Brouwer (will 1757) ventured from the Albany/Schenectady/Mohawk Valley region of New York to Hunterdon County, the fact that Hendrick's son Willem is otherwise not accounted for by a known marriage, death, burial or probate record, does leave him as a possibility for either No. 1 or No. 3, but we would have to find evidence that he relocated to Hunterdon County, and thus far that evidence has not been found.

B - Willem Brouwer, baptized in 1651, son of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon (on the BGD here). A death, burial or probate record has not been found for this Willem Brouwer. He is last recorded in a deed dated 7 May 1708, when he was "of Brooklyn," and conveyed a lot in Brooklyn. What became of Willem, after 1708, has not been found. If he lived, he would have been aged 78 in January 1729/30. We have no record of him having a son named William.
Of his known sons, Samuel (bapt. 1706, Breuckelen Dutch Reformed Church) is tentatively identified as the Samuel Brewer, who with wife Margaret/Maregrita had two daughters baptized  at Raritan in Somerset County, they being Annate (22 Oct 1732) and Anate (19 Jan 1735). The surname is rendered as "Brouer" and no witnesses are recorded for either baptism. This Samuel was an innholder at Millstone (in Somerset County) in 1766 when he and his wife Margaret took out a mortgage from Peter Schenk. Samuel of Millstone is identified as the son of Willem, only because all other known Samuels born early enough to have married by 1732, are accounted for. However, Samuel Bruer (with William Post and Cornelis Willemse) witnessed the will of John Bruer of Somerset County, 29 October 1732, and this "John Bruer" is Jan Brouwer (bapt, 1695) a son of Derck Brouwer and Hannah Daws, and a grandson of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, L. I. There is no record of a Samuel having been born into the families of the descendants of Jan Brouwer early enough to have been an adult by 1732. A witness to a will need not be a relation, even if he or she has the same surname. To place Samuel within a family descended from Jan Brouwer would force us to create an individual for whom no other known record exists that explicitly connects him as a relation to a family descended from Jan Brouwer. I don't believe that it is sound practice to do that, and I suggest that the best identification for Samuel Brewer/Bruer/Brouer of Millstone is as the son of Willem Brouwer (bapt. 1651) and grandson of Adam Brouwer. 
Not wishing to digress much further here, Willem Brouwer did have a son Johannes baptized in 1687, recorded in the Breuckelen Dutch Reformed Church records. Hoffman, in "Brouwer Beginnings" (TAG 23:205) places Johannes as the "John Bruer" whose is discussed above. But this does not appear to be a correct placement. See no. 4 on the post of September 2, 2012.
Two of Willem's daughters, Lysbeth (married Herman Van Sant) and Catharina (married Joshua Cresson) relocated to Bucks County, Pennsylvania sometime during the first decade of the 1700s. Lysbeth's son, William Van Sant, was baptized at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia in 1708. Willem Brouwer's son, Adolphus, was witness to a deed in Bucks County in 1704, but nothing further has been found regarding him. Hunterdon County was, for lack of a better term, a "stepping stone," for people migrating from the New York City area to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, including Bucks County. Finally, Willem's daughter Jannetje (bapt. in 1702 at Breuckelen), may well have been the Jannetje Brouwer who married Jan Losee, was at Jamaica, Long Island in the mid 1720s, but then had a daughter (Marya) baptized at Raritan (Somerset County) in 1730, and a son (Cornelius) baptized at Readington in 1732, about the time that William Brower/Brewer of Readington was involved in a court action regarding a debt.
All in all, it is conceivable that Willem Brouwer could be either the William Brewer (No. 1) whose estate was administered in January 1729/30, or the William Brower/Brewer (No. 3) involved in the court action in 1733. What gives me hesitation through is, first off, his age. Willem Brouwer would be approaching 80 in 1729/30, and age 82 in 1733, in other words, very long-lived for that period of time. Secondly, the estate of William Brewer (no. 1) is administered by James Chambers, a person who is not known to have been a relation, even through marriage, to Willem Brouwer. As Willem clearly did have children living in 1729/30, we'd expect one of them to administer his estate. I also note that the inventory if the estate amounted to "a bond from John Hamilton, late of Trenton, for £25, and interest for two years, £4 money at 8s the ounce" [Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Vol. I, 1670-1730. (Paterson, N.J.: The Press Printing and Publishing Co., 1901):60, citing "Hunterdon Wills"]. This estate is rather small. I would have expected an aged man to have had a much larger estate. What I take away from this exercise of reviewing Willem Brouwer, is that not enough is known regarding either him or (most) of his children to draw less than questionable conclusions regarding what became of him after 1708. I am very hesitant to assign this record of administration and inventory to Willem Brouwer, son of Adam Brouwer. Possible, but, "I just don't know."

C - Willem Brouwer, a.k.a. William Brower and William Brewer, baptized 8 May 1687 at Breuckelen, son of Jacob Brouwer and Annetje Bogardus. He is a grandson of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L. I. William married Maritje Van Oort (Van Noordt) daughter of Goosen Van Oort and Maria Peeck. She was born at Schenectady, and had previously married Pieter Hennion (two daughters). William and Maritje were married 19 May 1709, recorded in the New York City Reformed Dutch Church where they had three daughters baptized (1710, 1712, 1714). He was at Middletown, Monmouth Co., New Jersey by 14 March 1720 when his earmark was recorded. Deeds have him at Middletown in 1721, 1725, 1726, and 19 June 1746 (the last one) when he deeded land to Jacob Brower. On 10 April 1735, William Brewer, late of Monmouth County, was to answer at the Monmouth County Court of Common Pleas for debt to Jacob Janeway and John Broughton, merchants (see nos. 58-60 here, which are followed by nos. 61 and 62 involving William Brewer of Readington's debt to Casparus Vanostrandt). I set off "late of Monmouth County" in bold because it implies that William is not living in Monmouth County in 1735. Where he is living, however, is not stated. There is a twenty year gap between 1726 and 1746 in which William has not been found in records in Monmouth County which state that he is living there. A record of death or burial, nor a record of probate has been found for William Brewer. He was certainly living after January 1729/30, so he cannot be No. 1. As he is not living in Monmouth County in 1735, and was last recorded there in 1726, it is conceivable, perhaps likely, that he was the William Brower/Brewer of Readington that owed a debt to Casparus Vanorstrandt in 1733 (No. 3).

D - Willem Bouwer, son of Samuel Brouwer and Grietje Smith, who lived in Westchester County, New York and were members of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow in Tarrytown. No record of his baptism has been found, but he married Annatie Namburgh on 6 November 1725 (Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, New York), and so was likely born around 1700 to 1705 (I have "bef 1704" on the BGD). William and Annatie's son Samuel was baptized 15 April 1727 (Sleepy Hollow) and his parents, "Samuel Brouwer and Grietie his wife," were the witnesses. A daughter, Anna was baptized 29 March 1729 at Sleepy Hollow. William was deceased by 22 August 1730 when his wife married Jeremiah Mabie (Sleepy Hollow). The marriage record calls her the widow of Willem Brouwer. Obviously he is not No. 3. His daughter's baptism does not refer to him as deceased. The date of the baptism is likely in the new style, meaning it is prior to the 31 January 1729/30 date of No. 1. His death prior to 22 August 1730 creates a window between the dates of his daughter's baptism and his wife's remarriage during which both William died and the estate of the William Brewer of Amwell, Hunterdon County was administered, but as this William was a member of a large family (he had ten siblings) that was anchored in Westchester County, New York, I think it highly unlikely that he is No. 1. As with A, above, we would need to find other evidence that he ventured to Hunterdon County. I doubt such evidence exists.

And that is it. There are only four known men named Willem/William Brouwer/Brower/Brewer who could vie for the two spots we seek to fill, one of which is the William Brewer, of Amwell, Hunterdon County, whose estate was administered on 31 January 1729/30, and the second, a William Brewer/Brower of Readington, who on 15 December 1733 was named as a debtor in a court case in Monmouth County, New Jersey. To recap and condense what is above, they would be:


A - Willem Brouwer, born and baptized in January 1704 at Schenectady, New York, son of Hendrick Brouwer and Maritie Pieterse Borsboom, grandson of Willem Brouwer and Lysbeth Drinkveldt. No further known record after his baptism, so possible (for either record), but unlikely unless evidence connecting one of the William Brewers of Hunterdon County, to Schenectady, New York, can be found.

B - Willem Brouwer, baptized 5 March 1651 at New Amsterdam, son of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon. Living on 7 May 1708 when he and his wife, Martha, of Brooklyn, conveyed a lot in Brooklyn to Cornelius Sleght of Newtown, Long Island. No record after this date has been found. He would be aged 78 on 29 January 1729/30 and aged 82 on 15 December 1733. He could be (although I'm not comfortable saying that it is likely) the William Brewer of Amwell who had administration of estate granted 29 January 1729/30 to one James Chambers. But why administration was not granted to a child, a number of whom were living, some as close as Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is a question that needs to be answered. The presence of C (below) leaves me to think it doubtful that he is the William Brewer/Brower of Readington on 15 December 1733.


C - Willem Brouwer/William Brower/William Brewer, baptized 8 May 1687 at Breuckelen, son of Jacob Brouwer and Annetje Bogardus and grandson of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon. He lived at Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey from at least 1720 through 1726, but is called "late of Monmouth County" on 10 April 1735. No record of death or probate, but he was living on 19 June 1746 (deed). Certainly not the William Brewer of Amwell, 29 January 1729/30. He is the best candidate to be the William Brower/Brewer of Readington, indebted to Casparus Vanorstrandt, 15 December 1733, as per a court action held in Monmouth County.

D - Willem/William Brouwer, son of Samuel Brouwer and Grietje Smith. He is a grandson of Matthys Brouwer and Marietje Pieterse (Wyckoff) and a great-grandson of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon. Living 29 March 1729 but deceased by 22 August 1730. Although the date of the administration of William Brewer of Amwell's estate falls between these dates, we have no evidence that Willem/William lived anywhere outside of Westchester County, New York, and without that evidence we cannot assume that he was at Amwell. He is certainly not the William Brower/Brewer who was indebted to Casparus Vanorstrandt.

A final possibility could be that either, or both, of these records, No. 1 (the 29 January 1729/30 administration) and No. 3 (the 15 December 1733 court case) belong to one or two men named William Brower or Brewer who otherwise have not been identified by any known record found anywhere within colonial New Jersey or New York prior to 1729/30 or 1733. This might especially be the case for record No. 1 (the administration of the estate of William Brewer of Amwell). If this, to date unknown William Brewer (or two) is a descendant of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island, he would have to be placed either among Adam's grandsons, or perhaps among his earlier great-grandsons. I'll just note here that Adam's son, Willem (B above) is not known to have had a son named William. If  he (or they) are descendants of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, Long Island, a place for him (them) would have to be found among Jan Brouwer's grandsons. However, it is conceivable that one of the William Brewers, could be a yet unidentified son of Jan Brouwer (but I would be extremely hesitant to create another son for Jan Brouwer without any additional evidence). Neither of the William Brewers would be found among Jan Brouwer's great-grandsons. All of Jan Brouwer's known grandsons were born too late to have fathered a son in the time period we're looking at. And of course, the possibility remains that one, or both, of the William Brewers could be someone completely unrelated to either of these two early Brouwer families.

We welcome any additional information or clues on this puzzle. Please use the Comments option.

BGB 690