The Grandsons of Adam Brouwer: (7) Abraham Brouwer, Son of (1) Adam Brouwer

 As a reminder, the numbers in parenthesis preceding some names refers to that individual's place on the simple chart featured in the Prelude post to this series. I will keep that post as the Featured Post, to the right, during the time that I am working on the posts for this series. Each grandson of (1) Adam Brouwer will have an individual post.

(7) Abraham Brouwer, the sixth of seven sons of (1) Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon, was likely born previous to 1667. He does appear on the Oath of Allegiance taken in September 1687, as "Abram brouwer native," i.e. born in the province. From this it is safe to assume that he was at least age 21 in September 1687. Abraham, along with four of his sisters (Aeltje, Anna, Sara and Rachel) were certainly born during the ten year period between the recorded baptisms of their brother (6) Adam (baptized 6 May 1662) and brother (8) Nicholas (baptized 16 April 1672). 

Marriage banns for (7) Abraham Brouwer and his wife Cornelia Caljer are found in the Flatbush Reformed Protestant Dutch Church records, and dated 6 February 1692. The record reads as, "Abraham Brouwer Berks, young man at Brooklyn, with Cornelia Halsijen, young lady at Bushwick." So, here is another example of the use of the Berckhoven suffix to the Brouwer surname (in this case recorded as "Berks"). Cornelia's surname is probably mis-transcribed. The H may have been a mistake for a K as in "Kaljer" or "Kaller," as the family surname is sometimes recorded. She was a daughter of Jurian Caljer and Lysbeth Cornelis Van der Hoeven of Boswijck (Bushwick), Long Island. A record of her baptism does not survive. Her father was reportedly living in the area of Kinderhook (now in Columbia Co., New York State) during the time she would have been born (we estimate her birth as about 1677). Jurian Caljer was residing at the "Flatts" at Kinderhook in 1682, and only relocated to Boswijck in the early 1690s. He is not found on the Oath of Allegiance roll of Kings County in September 1687. During the 1670s the Kinderhook area would have been serviced by the Albany Reformed Dutch Church. Both Jurian and his wife are found on the members roll of the Albany Reformed Church in 1683 and 1687. Baptism records for that church prior to 1683 have not survived. Seven months after their banns were published, Cornelia's sister, Jannetje Caljer married (7) Abraham's younger brother (8) Nicholas Brouwer. The two families would together operate and expand the Gowanus mill property from the time of (1) Adam Brouwer's death until about 1710. The given name Jurian, also seen as Jurge, Jeury, Jurry and a bit later as Jeremiah, originates with the two Caljer sister's father, and is found exclusively among the descendants of (7) Abraham Brouwer and (8) Nicholas Brouwer through at least the colonial period. If that name is found in your ancestral Brouwer line (during the colonial period) you are near certainly a descendant of either (7) Abraham or (8) Nicholas.

As mentioned, Abraham is found on the September 1687 Oath of Allegiance roll at Brooklyn. He is found on the 1698 census at Boswijck (Bushwick) in Kings County, with a household of 1 man, 1 woman, 2 children and 2 apprentices. He is recorded between Humphrey Clay (English) and Alexandre Coquer (French) who in turn is followed by Abraham's father-in-law, Jurian Coljer (2 men, 2 women, 3 children). Abraham is named in Adam Brouwer's will of 22 January 1692. On August 1698, Magdalena, widow of Adam Brouwer, conveyed to her two sons, Abraham and Nicholas, her right in the dwelling house, mill houses and creeks in exchange for an annual payment of 300 guilders, 10 skipples of wheat, two of Indian corn and two loads of hay. From this point on we find a number of deeds by which the children of Adam Brouwer, and their heirs, convey rights in the Gowanus mill property to Abraham and his brother (8) Nicholas. By about 1710, Nicholas in turn conveyed his share in the properties to Abraham, leaving Abraham, and subsequently his heirs, as the owners of the Gowanus mill property throughout the remainder of just about the entire 1700s. See the post of November 23, 2015, "Documenting the Gowanus Mill Property" for specifics. Abraham Brouwer is on an assessment list at Brooklyn, dated 20 December 1706, with 66 acres.

We know of six children of (7) Abraham Brouwer and Cornelia Caljer, four daughters and two sons. The eldest, Elizabeth, was baptized at the New York Reformed Dutch Church in 1695. Baptism records for daughters Magdalena (1697) and Marytje (1699) as well as youngest child (28) Abraham (1706) are found in the Brooklyn RDC records. No records of baptism survive for daughter Jannetje who was likely born between 1700 and 1705 at Gowanus as she was married (to Johannes Burger) by 1725, and for son (27) Jeury who was also likely born during the years of 1700 and 1705 (he married in 1726). 

In the later part of 1732, (7) Abraham Brouwer married Elizabeth Gerritsen, who appears to be a daughter of Jan Gerritszen and Elisabeth Gysberts, and was a widow of Nathaniel Britton of Staten Island (will dated 1 June 1729, proved 11 November 1729). Elizabeth was Nathaniel's second wife and mother of six of his fourteen children. Abraham and Elizabeth engaged in a marital agreement dated 1 September 1732 and recorded in Kings County Deeds Lib. 5, p. 95. On 5 May 1734, Abraham sold a 135 acre farm on Staten Island to Peter Hagewout (Richmond Co. Deeds, Lib. D:157-161). The deed states that Abraham had acquired the land from Daniel Shotwell and Elizabeth, his wife, by deed dated 7 May 1722. The 1734 deed was not recorded until 7 October 1745, at the request of Peter Hagewout, and was acknowledged at that time by Daniel Corsen, one of the witnesses to the 1734 deed. 

As with his brothers before him, no date of death or burial, and no will or probate file has been found for (7) Abraham Brouwer. In September 1737 he did convey the Gowanus mill property in two separate deeds to each of his two sons (27) Jeury Brouwer and (28) Abraham Brouwer. The last record we have for both (7) Abraham Brouwer is dated 18 February 1739, in which he and his wife, Elizabeth, stood as sponsors/witnesses at the baptism of Abraham, son of (28) Abraham Brouwer and Sara Kimber, at the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church at New Utrecht. The last record we have for Elizabeth (Gerritsen) (Britton) Brouwer is dated 30 November 1743 when she consented to the marriage of her son, William Britton.

Contemporaries: Neither Willem Brouwer of Beverwijck, nor Jan Brouwer of Flatlands gave sons the name Abraham. The Abraham Brouwer closest in age to (7) Abraham would be (10) Abraham Brouwer, son of (2) Pieter Brouwer, who was born about 1675 (married in 1700). The later may have only been about ten years younger than his uncle. The given name Abraham is found not only among the descendants of (7) Abraham, but also among the descendants of (2) Pieter and (5) Jacob Brouwer. Confusing records between a number of various Abraham Brouwers becomes a problem with later generations (I count seven Abraham Brouwers born between 1701 and 1730, and many more throughout the remainder of the colonial period). However, there should be no problem in confusing (7) Abraham Brouwer with any other individual of the same name.

Genetic genealogy: Y-DNA testing (Brewer DNA Project) has given us the clearest picture of a Y-DNA signature for descendants of (7) Abraham Brouwer when compared to that of descendants of his brothers. Three descendants of (7) Abraham, two being descendants of (28) Abraham and one a descendant of (27) Juery have taken advanced BigY tests. The comparative results has allowed the Project to identify the SNP E-BY6312 as a SNP that is unique to descendants of (7) Abraham Brouwer, and not found among descendants of his brothers. If your Y-DNA test results are positive for E-BY6312, then you are a descendant of (7) Abraham Brouwer. We hope that with more participation and future testing the Brewer DNA Project will be able to identify unique SNPs for other sons of (1) Adam Brouwer as well.

(7) Abraham Brouwer was covered by William J. Hoffman in "Brouwer Beginnings" at TAG 24(1948):97-102. He covers some of the conveyances mentioned. 

You can find sources for the above on the Brouwer Genealogy Database profile of (7) Abraham Brouwer, and in this website in the post of December 4, 2012, "Abraham Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island."

BGB 735

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