Jan Brouwer Group Y-Tree Update

 Members of the Jan Brouwer group of the Brewer DNA Project (FTDNA) who have taken either the original Big-Y test or the currently available Big-Y 700 test, and then joined and submitted their results to YFull (a company independent of FTDNA) are found on this branch of YFull's public YTree. 

The link I just provided takes you to version 9.01.00 of the YTree which was last updated February 18, 2021. The current "Live" version of the tree, which is accessible via the little button, "live" found on the top bar, includes a new additional sub-branch for the descendants of Jan Brouwer, of Flatlands, Long Island. The newest branch is identified by the SNP, I-FT135755.

To quickly review that what was previously known: The SNP I-Y7214 is common to all descendants of Jan Brouwer. This includes both, those tested individuals who can trace their paternal ancestry completely back to Jan Brouwer using traditional genealogical research, and those who can only trace their direct paternal ancestry back to some ancestor who lived between Jan Brouwer's time and the present. Most of our "brick wall" ancestors for this group lived during either the colonial period, or during the first few decades after the formation of the United States as an independent nation.

The two previously known sub-branches of I-Y7214, were I-Y87452 and I-FT175879. 

The two members who test for the SNP I-Y87452 to Elias Brower/Brewer, who was likely born during the decade of 1725-1735, and whose wife was Elizabeth Palmer. The two were married by a New Jersey license dated 27 January 1753, both being of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Elias Brower's ancestry back to Jan Brouwer remains undetermined. However, based upon his estimated time of birth, he was most likely a great-grandson of Jan Brouwer, and based upon the fact that his name is Elias, a grandson of Jan Brouwer's son, Derck Brouwer whose wife, Hannah Daws, was a daughter of Elias Daws. 

The three members who test for SNP I-FT175879 are descendants of three different men who lived in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. The three ancestors are Wright Brewer, who appears to have been born during the decade of 1755-1765; Phineas Brewer, who was born in New Jersey, about 1769 (age 81 on the 1850 U. S. census at Roaring Creek, Montour County, Pennsylvania), and Richard Brewer, who was born 1810-1813 (his age varies on the different U. S. census records consulted). He was married to Miriam Lundy (ca.1820-1884) daughter of Jesse Lundy and Phebe Bunn. Richard Brewer lived in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, although the census records consistently give his state of birth as Pennsylvania. He died 10 December 1889 at Alexandria, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, age 76 years. Richard may be a son of William Brewer and Anna King. William was aged 60-70 on the 1830 U. S. census at Alexandria, Hunterdon County, so born 1760-1770. It is apparent from the BigY-700 test results that the three ancestors above are closely related. Their presence in Hunterdon County, New Jersey adds some support here. It may be that Wright and Phineas Brewer are brothers, and that Richard is a nephew or perhaps a son of one or the other. If the identification of William Brewer as Richard's father is correct, then William may well be a brother of Wright and Phineas as well. All, are certainly descendants of Jan Brouwer and based upon the range of dates when they were born, are probably 2-great grandsons, or 3-great grandsons of Jan Brouwer. [Please note that the links to the individuals in this sub-group lead to pages at Ancestry.com and a subscription may be needed to view them. They are not found on the Brouwer Genealogy Database (BGD).

The newly identified sub-branch, as stated, is I-FT135755. The Brewer DNA Project at FTDNA has three members here, although the current Live YTree only shows two of them. The three members trace their respective paternal ancestries to three different men. Of the two seen on the YTree, one ancestor is Richard Brower, who was born about 1804 in New York (age 46 on the 1850 U. S. census at Lee, Oneida County, New York). It is believed that this Richard Brower is a son of a David Brower (ca.1771-1845) who lived at Lee in Oneida County, New York and whose wife is said to have been named, Roxie Williams. Please note that we do not have much conclusive evidence here and more documented evidence is sought.  The second member who appears on the YTree is a descendant of John Rose, apparently born in the later half of the 1760s, who died in December 1830 at Madison Twp., Pickaway County, Ohio. Despite his surname, John Rose is a clear genetic descendant of Jan Brouwer (see the post of November 12, 2012). A third member, who has taken the Big-Y 700 test with FTDNA, but who is not represented on YFull's YTree is a descendant of Lewis Brewer, born about 1790 in New York (age 60 on the 1850 U. S. census at Schenectady, New York), whose wife was named Mary (b. ca. 1793, family name not known) and who is also found in Schenectady, New York in 1820 and 1830. This new genetic evidence tells us that the descendant of John Rose is most closely related to the descendants of Richard Brower and Lewis Brewer, both of whom lived their lives in the Mohawk Valley region of New York State. Whether Richard Brower and Lewis Brewer are brothers or first cousins is not clear. The only clue as to John Rose's place of birth is found on the 1880 U. S. census record of his son Solomon Rose (Pleasant Hill, Saline County, Nebraska) which records his father's place of birth as Virginia. None of John Rose's other children lived long enough to be included on the 1880 census, so this record is all we presently have to go on regarding John Rose's place of birth. It should also be remembered that "Virginia," in particular the western part of the state, was in the period just prior to, during, and just after the American Revolutionary War, sparsely populated and in terms of boundary lines, a rather nebulous place. Western Pennsylvania and Virginia both laid claims to lands in the west during that period. The modern state boundaries really were not determined until 1863 with the formation of the state of West Virginia. The Mason-Dixon line of 1767 didn't clarify the situation in the region west of Maryland (here's an interesting webpage regarding this issue). And it should also be kept in mind that 1880 is more than 110 years after John Rose's birth. Solomon (assuming he was the source of the info found on the 1880 census, although even that cannot be certain) may simply have made a best guess. We do, however, know that Jan Brouwer's great-grandson Elias Brouwer (1740-1812) was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, removed to Albany County, New York by 1774, and then to Delaware County, New York by 1800. The link to Jan Brouwer for those of this sub-branch, may lie either with the sons of Elias (1740-1812) or with the descendants of his two brothers, Dirck Brouwer (b. 1732) and David Brouwer (b. 1738) both of whom have unfortunately left us little that has been discovered regarding their descendants. In fact we have nothing more than a baptism record for David. [Please not that the two sons assigned to Dirck Brouwer on the BGD are tentative and may not be correct].

I will add one other piece of information that I think should be of interest to researchers. The 1792 Hunterdon County Militia Roll,  at page 12, which is for Amwell Township, includes Phineas Brewer, William Brewer and Wright Brewer (I-FT175879). Move forward to page 16 and you will also find a John Rose in Amwell in 1792. Now, this may or may not be the John Rose that interests us, his name is common, but if it is, and he would have been of age to be listed on a militia roll in 1792, it would imply that his origins are in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, most likely with one of the brothers of Elias Brouwer (1740-1812), in other words, Dirck or David, rather than with Elias himself. Additionally, we do have a descendant of Elias Brouwer (1740-1812) who has taken the Big-Y 700 test, and is on YFull, and he does not test positive for the SNP I-FT135755.

[An earlier edition of this post incorrectly stated that the YFull YTree sub-branch I-FT135755 included a descendant of Lewis Brewer of Schenectady and that it did not include a descendant of John Rose. That is incorrect. The current "Live" version does include the descendant of John Rose, and does not include the descendant of Lewis Brewer. March 27, 2021.]

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