Reviewing the Unplaced Genetic Descendants of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, L.I. Revisited (Part V)

 This series of posts began with the post of March 19, 2022. The previous post is from March 30, 2022. Relative reports to this series are the 2015 Review of the Early Generations of Descendants of Jan Brouwer..., and Summary of the Male Descendants of Jan Brouwer..., which was published March 24, 2022. You'll want to refer to both when using this post. We continue with...

Richard Brouwer on pages 13-14 of the 2015 review. His name appears variously in records as Richard Brewer, Derick Brewer, Richard Brower, Richerd Brauer, and Rishert Brauer. He married Mary Blann prior to 1779, their eldest known child being baptized 31 January 1779 at Schenectady, New York. He is at Duanesburgh in Albany County in 1790 (U.S. census), and then at Walton, Delaware Co., New York on the 1800 U.S. census, where he is age "over 45." In 1810 and in 1820 he is at Tompkins, Delaware Co., New York, his age given as "over 45" on both census. He is not found on the 1830 census and is presumed to have died before then. A record of probate has not been found. A biography of Richard's son of the same name, Richard Brewer (also Derick Brewer), baptized in 1795 at the Helderbergh Reformed Church at Guilderland, Albany Co., New York, died in 1890 at Florence, Erie Co., Ohio, and published in "Firelands Pioneer" by the Firelands Historical Society in 1878 states that the elder Richard had fourteen children, and that the younger Richard was the youngest. We've been able to account for six of the fourteen. If Richard was the youngest, then the unknown eight had to have been born prior to 1779 which might push Richard Brouwer and Mary Blann's marriage back another 14 or more years to 1765 or earlier. Since Richard is over age 45 in 1800, he was at least born by 1755. If married by say 1765, he could have been born in the decade of 1735-1745, and in 1820 would have been 75 to 85 years old. We have not found any new information since the 2015 review was published. One direct male descendant has taken a Y-DNA test (he is a descendant of the younger Richard Brewer). Unfortunately he has only tested at the initial 37 STR marker level, which does confirm that he is a descendant of Jan Brouwer, but does not provide enough data to analyze and search for any closer relationships within the group. An upgrade to the BigY-700 is recommended. Pieter Brouwer who follows was also found at Duanesburgh, as was his father, Abraham Brouwer (No. 25). Abraham's younger brother, Dirck (No. 26) who was baptized in 1743 at Readington, could be Richard Brouwer, who did name a son, Petrus (Peter). An alternative could be that he is Dirck (No. 27) who was baptized in 1737. All things considered, the former of these two possibilities is favored. An a BigY-700 test could very well confirm this possibility.

Pieter Brouwer (pages 14-15) mentioned just above, probably was born between 1755 and 1763, married Catrina Chrisler (Crisler and other spellings) bef 1783, their first child, son Abraham being baptized 25 June 1783 at Schenectady. Pieter Brouwer is also recorded as Peter Brewer, Peter Brower and Pieter Broer. We find Pieter on the U.S. census in 1790 and in 1800 at Duanesburgh, New York. He is on an 1802 tax roll at Princetown, New York, and in 1803 at Duanesburgh. I have not identified him after 1803. Pieter and Catrina had six known children baptized between 1783 and 1792 at the Reformed Churches at either Schenectady or Schoharie. Since the 2015 review, the Brewer DNA Project has seen the original Y-DNA tested descendant upgrade to the BigY test, and two additional descendants have joined, one being a son of the original participant. The father and son pair are descendants of Pieter's son Abraham who was baptized in 1783 at Schenectady. The third participant is a descendant of Pieter's son Lewis Brewer, baptized as Ludewig, son of "Pieter Broer and Cath.," at Schoharie in 1789. As mentioned in the new Summary (see Abraham, No. 25), the BigY-700 tests have given us a unique identifying SNP for this line, I-FT210419. As mentioned above, the tested descendant of Richard Brouwer would benefit by upgrading to the BigY-700 to see how the results would match those of Pieter Brouwer. We can confidently say that Pieter Brouwer is a fifth generation descendant of Jan Brouwer (a great-great grandson), and that his father was Abraham Brouwer (No. 25). The ancestry of this previously unplaced genetic descendant has been solved.

Embody (pages 15-16). As stated in the 2015 review, we do know the Y-DNA tested descendant's Embody ancestry back to Henry Embody, born in Berks Co., Pennsylvania in 1745 and later of Minden, Montgomery Co., New York. We also know that genetically the participant is not related through his paternal line to other male descendants of Henry Embody, but is instead related to male descendants of Jan Brouwer. Since the 2015 review, the participant has upgraded to the BigY-700 test and his results place him in the sub-branch I-FT135755, along with the descendants of John Rose and a descendant of a Richard Brower who was born about 1804 in New York, and lived in Oneida County, New York, 1830, '40, '50, '60, and then in Oswego County, 1865 and 1870. See the June 20, 2019 post. As with John Rose in the March 28, 2022 post, the Embody descendant is going to find his Brouwer link among the descendants of Pieter Brouwer (No. 9) who was at Bridgewater, New Jersey in 1753. 

William Brewer (pages 16-18). Born 4 September 1826 in Louisiana, died 30 May 1886. He married Caroline Hillebrandt, 3 January 1850 in Jefferson County, Texas. As mentioned in the 2015 review, finding William Brewer's ancestry back to Jan Brouwer is probably the most challenging and that has really not changed. We do have two descendants of William Brewer who have taken Y-DNA tests, one of which has now upgraded to the BigY-700 test. The identifying SNP here is I-Y7214, the same that identifies the entire Jan Brouwer group. No unique matches have been found with the other participants who have taken the BigY, and so we have no new leads from the genetic data. We also have no new traditional genealogical research to pass on. The most important clue here is the 1880 U.S. census at Precinct No. 3, Kimball Co., Texas, where it is recorded that William's father was born in New York, and his mother was born in Louisiana. How old he might have been, or in which year he came to Louisiana is still anyone's guess. A canvassing of BREWERs in Louisiana, in the decade of William's birth might be a place to start, but that could be a time consuming task with no guarantee of yielding results. Another clue mentioned in 2015, is that William did name a son Elias L. Brewer, and as we know, Elias is a common name among the descendants of Jan Brouwer. I also pointed out that travel to Louisiana in the early decades of the 1800s was by river, westward on the Ohio, then south on the Mississippi, and could be accomplished from as far as western Pennsylvania without ever having to step on land. Mentioned there too is that Samuel Brewer (b.1790, Pennsylvania) was known to have been a riverboat operator on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and did spend long periods of time from home. He had a brother Elias Brewer born in 1795. The brothers Samuel and Elias are sons of David Brewer who is covered on the March 28, 2022 post. I'd also point out that it is prudent to remember that the 1880 census claim that William's father was born in New York, could be incorrect, but I don't doubt that he was not born in Louisiana, and the fact that we know that William must be a genetic descendant of Jan Brouwer, tells us that if he was not born in New York, he was certainly born in either New Jersey, or western Pennsylvania/northern Virginia. Hank Graham, administrator of the Brewer DNA Project, adds that values at a pair of STR markers (DYS523=15->16, and DYS19=15) tells us that William Brewer is a genetic descendant of Elias Brouwer (No. 8) through one of his sons, either Dirck (No. 21) or David (No. 22), BUT NOT from Elias (No. 23). There are probably two generations between either Dirck (No. 21) or David (No. 22) and William. The possibility suggested above, that William, may be a son of Elias Brewer (b. 1795), would fit with this genetic evidence. An upgrade in the Y-DNA testing of the descendant of David Brewer (March 28, 2022 post), would help clarify this possibility. 

Elias E. Brewer (pp. 18-19) and Isaac Brewer (pp. 19-20) are going to be covered in one paragraph here. Elias E. Brewer was born about 1783 in New Jersey (1850 U.S. census, Marlboro, NJ) and died in 1855 at Marlboro/Marlborough. The middle initial, "E," is probably a patronymic rather than a middle name in the way middle names are given out nowadays, and the obvious guess is that Elias E.'s father was also named Elias. An Elias Brewer is found on a muster roll dated 29 December 1775 under Capt. Elias Longstreet's Co., First Regt., New Jersey Troops (in Monmouth County). Elias E. Brewer's father, Elias, is considered to be a brother of Isaac Brewer who was married by 1794 (Styntje Van Brunt), and was born in the decade of the 1760s (age 60-70 on the 1830 U.S. census at Freehold, NJ). Y-DNA tested descendants of both Elias E. Brewer and Isaac Brewer have upgraded to the advanced BigY test, and this has yielded an identifying SNP for this line, I-Y87452. Although we do not have hard traditional genealogical evidence, we place the two (presumed) brother's as sons of Elias Brewer and Elizabeth Palmer (see No. 20 in the new Summary). Outside of the appearance of some new evidence that might contradict this placement, we'll stick with it.

The next post in this series will look at the newer unplaced genetic descendants of Jan Brouwer that have been discovered (only with Y-DNA testing) since the original 2015 review was published.

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