"Tracing A Branch of the Brewer Families of Colonial Virginia to North Carolina and Beyond"

 David V. Brewer, a co-administrator of the Brewer DNA Project and responsible for the "Lanier-Brewer" Group has just published online his latest book of research focused on the Brewer families descended from or closely related to George Brewer of Brunswick County, Virginia. And so, in David's words as posted to the Brewer DNA Project's Activity Feed on September 5th:

"I’ve now completed a book entitled Tracing A Branch of the Brewer Families of Colonial Virginia to North Carolina and Beyond, which follows the historical path of a numerous branch of Brewers who migrated from England to Virginia in the 17th Century. That branch is identified as Haplogroup I-Y15300, subclade I-Y21524. We currently have 10 members in the Brewer DNA Project who are confirmed for this subclade through BigY/700 testing. We also have several other members who haven’t tested at the Big Y level yet probably are members of this extended family group. 

 For the most part, the book covers the period between the late 17th Century and mid-19th Century, which constitutes the primary “brick wall” era for many people with roots in the Colonial and Early American South. The record evidence suggests to me that the most recent common ancestor for those tested in subclade I-Y21524 probably was born in England or Virginia in the latter 1600’s. Specifically, the book concludes that this group probably descends from a family that lived in Surry/Sussex Counties, Virginia between the late 1600’s and early 1750’s, through men named Thomas Brewer and John Brewer and their possible father, another John Brewer. It’s sometimes asserted that the above mentioned Thomas Brewer might have been a direct descendant of John Brewer I, the so-called Ancient Planter of Jamestown, through his probable descendant Thomas Brewer of Nansemond County, Virginia. The book concludes that available record evidence doesn’t support that hypothesis but further concludes that the two lines nevertheless might be related. 

 The book follows the path of the members of subclade I-Y21524 from southside Virginia to Edgecombe and Halifax Counties, North Carolina, from there to Rowan and Surry Counties, North Carolina, and from there to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, with respect to one sub-branch, from Rowan and Surry Counties to Indiana (some via Tennessee) and from there to other midwestern states, with respect to a second sub-branch, and from Halifax County to Tennessee, then to Mississippi and later Texas, as to a third sub-branch. By the mid-19th Century, this family group had dispersed throughout the Midwest and Southern states, following a similar path to that of many Colonial Virginia families. 

The book also covers in detail several other distinct branches of the Brewer families of the Colonial and Early American South, including among others the descendants of John Brewer I of Jamestown, John Brewer I’s probable descendant Thomas Brewer of Nansemond County, William Brewer of Isle of Wight County, Virginia, Nicholas Brewer of Prince George County, Virginia, John Brewer of Southampton County, Virginia, Robert Brewer of Nansemond County, Virginia, the John Brewer family of Nansemond County, Virginia, the Moses Brewer families of Halifax and Wayne Counties, North Carolina, the Joseph Brewer family of Granville/Bute/Warren Counties, North Carolina, and the Sackfield Brewer and Sackford Brewster lines in Virginia. In addition, the book considers several men that have not been broadly discussed, including one or more (possibly overlapping) men named John Brewer who, in the early 1700’s, owned land on Assamoosick Swamp, Virginia, in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, and in Prince George County, Virginia, another John Brewer from Halifax County, North Carolina, and William, John, and Robert Brewer of Martin County, North Carolina. 

 My approach was to start with the most reliable available record evidence, which almost always is found in more recent generations. This requires a reverse chronological approach. When I hit a logjam, I tried to remember four things: (1) many records have been lost or destroyed, especially from the pre-Civil War South where we are focused, but that doesn't mean that more finds won't be unearthed in the future, especially with improved digital access to old records; (2) many of our ancestors didn’t read or write, so they left a much smaller written legacy than we would like; (3) having an open mind and being willing to revisit previous opinions is important; and (4) like it or not, this line of Brewers constantly recycled first names, generation after generation, which has created an obstacle for researchers trying to sort out individuals, even within the same generation and geographical area. Of course, our ancestors couldn't have cared less about that, but we certainly do. 

 This book is a work in progress, meant to be supplemented, corrected, and superseded, where appropriate, by the fruits of further research. I will accept all comments and suggested edits with a positive spirit. The identities of individual members of this subclade have been screened to protect their genetic privacy rights. Whether they choose to waive those rights in the course of future dialogue is strictly up to them. I’m pleased to share the book with members of the Brewer DNA Project through the following Google Drive share link: Tracing A Branch of the Brewer Families of Colonial Virginia to North Carolina and Beyond. I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Once I compile comments and make corrections, I’ll add an index and circulate the book more broadly. In the meantime, you can key word search the draft by using your standard pdf search method. Thanks for your interest. Dave Brewer."

And to the above I will just add that in a comment to the post of August 20, 2022, "Edmund Brewer of Robertson County, Tennesee: A Correction to the Brewer-Lanier Database," David mentions that Edmund Brewer is briefly discussed on page 132 of the book and that it is possible that he was originally from Martin County, North Carolina.

Thanks David, I am sure that this work will be of great interest and help to those researching this very large group of Brewer families. And once again, I very strongly encourage those researching their Brewer family ancestry, to contact the administrators at the Brewer DNA Project, through email links available on the Project's website, and join the project by having a close male relation (if you are not one yourself) take a Y-DNA test. 

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