New Netherland Settlers

 In 2024 The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society announced the launch of a new project named New Netherland Settlers. Rather than describe this new project I will simply direct you to the webpage which describes the project's purpose and scope and profiles the current key researchers. Last month the first sketches of individuals who settled in New Netherland prior to 1664 were published online. It does appear that they are accessible to non-members of the NYG&B Society, and so I would encourage all those interested in the persons who inhabited the short-lived colony of New Netherland to make use of this new resource. The available Search tool will search within the various individual sketches. In other words you can find individuals in this collection who are not the subject of a sketch themselves.

The format of the sketches is very much similar, perhaps even based upon, the format used by the late Robert Charles Anderson in his Great Migration Study Project which is hosted at American Ancestors, the website of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The components of the New Netherland Settlers sketches can be found at the bottom of the New Netherland Settler sketches page. 

The introduction tells us that a complete list of known residents for whom sketches are planned will be released in the Fall of 2025. In addition it is stated that in time the sketches will be published in printed volumes.

As it is early in this project I was not surprised to find that, as of this post, sketches are not yet available for any of the New Netherland residents with the surname Brouwer, most of who are found on the Brouwer Genealogy Database website. While we do not yet have a sketch for Adam Brouwer, one has been published for his wife, Magdalena Verdon's maternal grandmother, Aeltje Braconie. The sketch identifies for the first time a previously unknown son of Aeltje Braconie and her first husband Thomas Badie, himself named Thomas and baptized 24 October 1614 at the Roman Catholic church, Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts in Liège, in present day Belgium. My own sketch of Aeltje Braconie was published online on the Brouwer Genealogy Database some years ago. The post covering Aeltje's daughter Maria Badie was posted August 24, 2012. And so thirteen years later we now know of a brother of Maria Badie.

Much thanks to the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society for initiating the New Netherland Settlers project. I'm certain that readers of Brouwer Genealogy will be looking forward to the sketches of Adam Brouwer, Jan Brouwer and Willem Brouwer, all of whom left descendants who are with us today.

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New Book By David Brewer: Brewer Families of Moore, Chatham and Randolph Counties, North Carolina

 David Brewer, a co-administrator for the Brewer DNA Project (Family Tree DNA) has just published a new book, Brewer Families of Moore, Chatham and Randolph Counties, North Carolina: In Search of the Descendants of George Brewer of Brunswick County,Virginia. 

A description of his new book in David's words:

"In 2018, I wrote a book about the Brewer families from Moore and Southwest Chatham Counties, North Carolina. A lot has happened since then, both on the DNA and record fronts. So, I've completely rewritten the book, adding much more material and keeping track of current DNA advances. The new book more broadly focuses on the Brewer families who lived in Moore, Chatham and Randolph Counties, North Carolina in the period between 1750 and 1850. It compiles and integrates existing research with newer information, including current results of YDNA genetic testing of male descendants of the Brewers from this tri-county region. One of the conclusions the book reaches is that three sons of George Brewer of Brunswick County, Howell I, Lanier I, and John, (and their descendants) were present in northern Moore, southwestern Chatham, and southeast Randolph Counties between 1750 and 1850. 

Unlike the first version, this book also discusses in detail the Haw River Brewers, including George Brewer's probable sons Henry, Oliver, and Nathaniel Brewer, as well as probable descendants of George's son Nicholas Brewer, and several other possibly related Brewer families from northern Chatham County, including the families of John, Samuel and Abel Brewer. The book also discusses in detail descendants of these Brewer families who moved to Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina in the early decades of the 1800's. 

The book begins with a chronology, based on publicly recorded data, of early Brewer presence in the region and then turns to a more detailed discussion of particular individuals. Subjects of extended discussion include Lanier Brewers I and II, the Howell Brewers, Ambrose Brewer, men named Drury Brewer, Harmon Brewer, the Willis Brewers of Moore County, Kentucky and Ohio, Sampson Brewer, Micajah (Cager) Brewer, Nicholas Brewer of Bear Creek, the Tick Creek Brewers of southwest Chatham County, the Haw and New Hope River Brewers of Chatham, and the William Brewer family of Randolph County, North Carolina and Morgan County, Indiana, among other lines. 

With that peek under the hood, I've published the new book with Kindle Direct Publishing in both e-book and paperback formats. The e-book is less expensive and more reader-friendly, with an interactive table of contents and hot linked end notes. This makes it easy to navigate. The paperback version is priced at $15. The e-book is priced at $4.99. You can find both versions online at Amazon. I look forward to your comments and questions."

 

 

David can be contacted through the About us page on the Brewer DNA Project website. This book we be of interest to anyone working on tracing their Brewer ancestry to one of the numerous Brewer families whose origins are found in the southeastern U.S. states, whether they are descendants of George Brewer of Brunswick County, Virginia or otherwise.

Thank you David. I'm looking forward to reading the book.

BGB 756