The Grandsons of Adam Brouwer: (8) Nicholas Brouwer, Son of (1) Adam Brouwer

 (8) Nicholas Brouwer, youngest son, and child, of (1) Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon was baptized 16 April 1672 at the New York Reformed Dutch Church. The sole sponsor/witness was Ariaentie Scherps, an individual of whom I have no further information. Magdalena Verdon is recorded with her patronymic as, Magdalena Jacobs. Nicholas does not appear on the September 1687 Oath of Allegiance roll in Kings County, as he would have only been age 15. He is named in his father's will of 22 January 1692. On 14 May 1693, Nicolaes Brouwer and Rachel Brouwer (his sister) were recorded as witnesses at the baptism of Willemtje, daughter of (3) Mathijs Brouwer and Merritje Pieters.

(8) Nicholas married Jannetje Caljer with banns recorded 15 September 1692 by the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church at Flatbush. The banns record Nicholas as "Niclaes Berckhoven, j.m. op Breukelen," and his wife to be as, "Jannetie Callier, j.d. op Boswijke." Jannetje was a sister of Cornelia Caljer who, seven months earlier, had married Nicholas' brother, Abraham Brouwer. The two couples would own and operate, and expand the mill property at Gowanus, Long Island over the course of the next 20 years or so. [See the previous post in this series, as well as the post of November 23, 2015].

As Nicholaes Brouwer, he is found on the 1698 census of Kings County at Boswick (Bushwick) with a household of 1 man, 1 woman, 1 child, and 1 apprentice. He is recorded between William West (English) and Gabriel Sprong. His brother Abraham Brouwer is also recorded at Boswick on this census. In a deed dated 12 August 1698 (the same year as the census) Magdalena, widow of Adam Brouwer, conveyed to Abraham and Nicholas, her right in the mill property at Gowanus. An Assessment List of "Brooklands Improvable lands & meadows within ffence taken up by the assessors of said towne and peter Cortilleau surveyor December 20, 1706," includes Nicholas Brower, "mill sett down ffor" 30 acres. He is followed by Abraham Brower with 66 acres, Marya Brower with 26 acres, and Annitie Brower with 26 acres [Kings Co. Deeds 3:91]. Nicholas and Jannetje appear to have lived on the Gowanus property at least into 1712. In a deed dated 20 June 1712, Nicholas Brouwer and his wife "Jonica," of Brookland, conveyed their half of the mill property and business to Abraham Brouwer, also of Brookland [Kings Co. Deeds 4:12].

On 15 December 1714, Nicholas Brewer, of the Borough and Town of Westchester, divided a piece of meadow land with Samuel Vail of the same place. This indenture, abstracted in "Westchester County Miscellanea," New York Genealogical Record 60(1929):310, citing "Book 4, p. 146" can be found online at FamilySearch.org in Records of the Town of Westchester, v.56, book 4, p. 146. On 14 February 1715/16, Nicholas Brewer, of the Borough and Town of West Chester, sold to Clement Daniels, cooper of West Chester, two acres of land in Westchester. The deed is only signed by Nicholas [See NYGBR 60(1929):310, citing Book 4:211, which is found online here]. Apparently, (8) Nicholas Brouwer had relocated to the Town of West Chester after conveying their half of the Gowanus mill property to their siblings, Abraham and Cornelia (Caljer) Brouwer in mid 1712. In 1718 and 1719, Nicholas, referred to as of Westchester County, miller, purchased a number of properties in the City of New York [New York Co. Deeds 28:492, 494, 500, 501]. "Nicolaas Brouwer and Jannetje Coljer, his wife, of the Manor of Fordham," were listed among the members of the Refomed Dutch Church of New York City on 26 May 1719. On 1 April 1726, Mary Sinclair bought from Nicholas Brouwer and Jannetje, his wife, a lot in the East Ward of New York City.

We know of seven children of Nicholas Brouwer and Jannetje Caljer, five sons, two daughters, born between the years 1693 and 1707, at which time the couple lived at Gowanus, Long Island. Baptism records for sons (29) Adolphus, (30) Jurge, and (33) Nicholas, as well as daughter Lysbet (Elizabeth) are found in the records of the Old First Dutch Reformed Church of Breuckelen. Son, (32) Cornelis was baptized at the New York Reformed Dutch Church. Records of baptism are not found for daughter Magdalena nor for son (31) Nazareth. Magdalena, who married in 1725, Joost Vredenburgh, and so was likely born between 1700 and 1705, give or take a year. (31) Nazareth, who married Anne Rozell by 1730 would have been born during the first decade of the 1700s. [We will cover each of the sons in future posts]. The children of Nicholas Brouwer would have come of age while their parents lived in Westchester County, apparently at Fordham Manor, and would have reached adulthood between 1714 and 1730 or so. The couple's first known grandchild was born in 1714 and the youngest grandchildren appear to have been born in the late 1730s. It should be noted that today Fordham Manor is within the Bronx, which is now a borough of New York City (which is coextensive with Bronx County). Also note that the 1698 census (mentioned above) records Nicholas with but one child. That would have to be the son Adolphus who was baptized in 1693 and who we know reached adulthood and left descendants. Daughter Lysbet was baptized in 1699, after the 1698 census, which leaves a six year gap between the first and second child. With only one child recorded in 1698, we'd have to assume that if any children were born to Nicholas and Jannetje during this six year period, they did not survive to 1698.

We do not have dates of death, nor of burial, nor estate settlements or wills for either Nicholas or Jannetje. I'd like to search for more land records, but as of this writing, the last record that we have for both Nicholas and Jannetje is the deed of 1 April 1726 mentioned above. But again, I'd like to do some searching here. In a 2007 email from the late William B. Bogardus, I was told, "there was apparently an old bible of Nicholas and Jannetje supposedly at the "Old Stone Dutch Church in NY"; Nicholas, son of Adam, died "in or about the year 1749" and "at the time of his death left no child him surviving, but left his heir-at -law one grandchild, Hannah Brouwer, then the wife of Edmund (not Edward) Turner." Finding documented evidence to confirm this approximate date of death has to date not been successful. 

Contemporaries: Neither Willem Brouwer of Beverwijck, nor Jan Brouwer of Flatlands named sons Nicholas. None of (1) Adam Brouwer's other sons gave the name Nicholas to any of their sons. (8) Nicholas did name a son Nicholas. He was born in 1707. Thus far in my research I have not encountered any records regarding (8) Nicholas that might be confused for records regarding his son (33) Nicholas. As far as I have been able to determine, the given name Nicholas, within the descendants of (1) Adam Brouwer, is only found among the descendants of (8) Nicholas Brouwer, during the colonial period.

Genetic genealogy: As of this writing, and by my count, the Brewer DNA Project has 19 members who are either proved descendants of (8) Nicholas Brouwer, or are certain descendants by virtue of their Y-DNA test results, which match the provable descendants in the Project. More members represent (8) Nicholas Brouwer in the Project, then do any of (1) Adam Brouwer's other sons. The runner up, (2) Pieter Brouwer, has ten descendants in the Project. Of the 19 participants, eight have taken an advanced BigY test. While the test results of the eight have yet to identify a SNP that would separate all male descendants from the other descendants of (1) Adam Brouwer, FTDNA and YFull have identified three SNPs (E-BY52668, E-BY173116, and E-FT90657) that identify sub-branches whose common ancestor is (8) Nicholas Brouwer. We hope that more of the Project's current participants who are descendants of (8) Nicholas Brouwer, upgrade to the BigY-700 test so that an even more complete picture of the genetic descendants can be seen.

William J. Hoffman covers Nicholas Brouwer and his family in "Brouwer Beginnings," at TAG 24(1948):161-5. He mentions the numerous errors found in published accounts and manuscripts covering his children. The son (29) Adolphus is also covered on pages 165-9. Hoffman does not mention the son (31) Nazareth. He apparently was unaware of him.

Nicholas Brouwer and Jannetje Caljer were covered in the pages of this website back on December 14, 2012. Their profiles on the Brouwer Genealogy Database provide source citations.

BGB 736

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