Bergen, New Jersey Church Records: BROUWER

 The following entries are extracted from the records of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Bergen, New Jersey as published in the Year Book of the Holland Society of New York in three successive Year Books: Baptisms in 1913, Marriages in 1914, Burials and Members in 1915. These are often referred to as "Bergen Books" Volumes 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Digital images of the Year Books can be found online at the Internet Archive. Use their website search tool.

What was the Village of Bergen in the late 1600s and 1700s is today within Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey on the west side of the Hudson River and the Upper New York Bay across from the lower portion of Manhattan Island. The Introduction found in the 1913 Yearbook tells us that the first "municipality" was created here in 1661 with an inferior court subject to the general court in New Amsterdam. In 1662 a voorleser (reader) and schoolmaster, Englebert Steenhuysen, was engaged. There is also a subscription list from 1662 (see pp. 13-15 of the 1913 Yearbook). A church in full communion begins in 1664 with records found in the handwriting of Dom. Henricus Selyins, then the minister of the church at Breuckelen, Long Island (and after 1682 of the New York Reformed Dutch Church). The existing baptism record starts with the year 1666. They end in 1788. There is a break from 1669 to 1673 where baptisms were entered in the books of the New York Church, and in years after this you will find some baptisms recorded in the Bergen records also recorded in the New York records. The published records here also include some footnotes adding information such as "first child, first son," that was included in the original record book. The introduction tells us, however, that some of this ancillary information, such as "born on Thursday at midnight," has not been included. In addition, note is made of two instances where children were born "out of wedlock" wherein the surname of the child is not given, and that these entries where omitted "because of no genealogical value" (I think that most genealogists today would dispute that). Marriages in the 1914 Yearbook begin in the year 1665 and end with 1757. In most years there are just a handful and in the earliest years just one or two per year. The 1915 Yearbook has burials that begin with 1666 and end with 1788. Since this is a relatively small congregation it is easier to identify those in this burial register than it is to do so with the much larger New York Church register, ex.: "buried a child of John Brower" (ok, now which John Brower and which child?). The 1915 Yearbook also has the membership rolls which start with 1664 and are pretty much annual through 1690 but then become more intermittent as the years progress and end with 1769. This is followed by lists of elders, deacons and churchmasters for 1785, 86 and 88. There is an index included in each of the three Yearbooks. I have extracted those named BROUWER or an obvious equivalent of that name.

Bergen Members (YBHS 1915, Bergen Book v.3)

1- [70] 5 April 1712, nos. 918-919 Adriaantje Pieters, wife of Olrig Brouwer

Bergen Burials (YBHS 1915, Bergen Book v.3)

1- [30] 12 February 1700, no. 163 Newly born infant of Uldrick Brouwer

2- [34] 19 May 1710, no. 215 Esther de Vouw, wi. of Uldrick Brouwer. Bur. May 21st. 134th with pall

3- [34] 11 January 1712, no. 225 Bur. ch. of Uldrick Brouwer and Adriaantje Pieters

4- [50] 4 May 1776, no. 483 Lea Slot, wi. of Jacob Brouwer, (d. May 3)

5- [51] 8 November 1778, no. 515 Lea, da. of Jacobus Brouwer, (d. November 7)

6- [52] 9 November 1779, no. 534 Jacobus Brouer, (d. November 7)

Bergen Marriages (YBHS 1914, Bergen Book v.2)

1- [76] 28 March 1730, no. 210 Jacob Brouwer, Y.M., born at Bergen, and Lea Slot, Y.D., born at Ackinsack, both living at Bergen

2- [76] 8 October 1738, no. 221 Uldrick Brouwer, Y.M., born and living at Bergen, and Marya Vander Vorst, Y.D., born at New York, living at Bergen

Bergen Baptisms (YBHS 1913, Bergen Book v.1)

Parents; Child; Witnesses; Text Footnote; [my notes in italics]

1- [48] No. 346. Ulrick Brouwer, Hester Devou; son, bo. Jan 7, 1700; First child and first son

2- [49] No. 357. Uldrick Brouwer, Hester de Vouw; Abraham bo. Mar 9, bp. Mar 30, 1701; Tyme Jansen Valentyn, Susanna de Vous; Second child and second son. Baptized by Do. Bertollof

3- [50] No. 373. Uldrick Brouwer, Hester de Vouw; Isaack bo. between Jan 29 & 30, bp. Apr 5 1703; Thomas Fredrickse, Y.M., Jannetje Steynmets, Y.W.; Third child and third son

4- [53] No. 404. Uldrick Brouwer, Hester Du vouw; Jacob bo. Sept 11, bp. Oct 8, 1705; Jacob Swan, Annetje Jacobs, wife of William Day; Fourth child and fourth son 

5- [63] No. 517. Jacob Brouwer, Lea Slot; Johannis bo. Feb 6, bp. Apr 14, 1731; Johannis Pietersen and his wife; First child. Baptized. in New York by Do. Dubois

6- [66] No. 548. Jacob Brouwer, Lea Slot; Coobis bo. Sept. 30, 1735 [My notes: Coobis, or Cobus, is a diminutive for Jacobus. Only his date of birth was recorded. No date of a baptism. No witnesses recorded. William J. Hoffman in his manuscript notes wrote down a baptism date of October 13, 1735 at Bergen, but a record of this has not been found in either the Bergen or New York church records].

7- [69] No. 577. Uldrik Brouwer, Marya Van de Vorst; Johannes bp. June 18, 1739; Jacob Brouwer, Leja Slot, his wife; First son

8- [71] No. 605. Uldrick Brouwer, Maria van de Vorst; Abraham bo. July 26, bp. Aug 29, 1743; Abraham Brouwer, Eliesabet Ackerman, his wife

9- [72] No. 618. Uldrik Brouwer, Maria Vos; Thomas bo. Feb 3, bp. Apr 21 1746; Thomas Vos, Catharina Buis, his wife

10- [79] No. 683. Pieter de Groot, Hester Brouwer; Leya bo. June, bp. July 15, 1759; Jacob Brouwer, Leya Slot, his wife; First child

11- [81] No. 713. Johannis Brouer, Catrina Walderon; Jacop bo. Apr 13, bp. Apr 18, 1762; Jacop Brouer, Eva Slot

12- [83] No. 727. Johannis Brouer, Catrientie Walderon; Josep bo. Sept. 16, bp. Sept. 18, 1763; Josep Walderon, Antie Diederix, his wife; Second son

13- [85] No. 748. Johannis Brouer, Catrientye Walderon; Leeya bo. Dec. 25, (1765) bp. Jan 19, 1766; Pieter de Groot, Hester Brouer, his wife

14- [90] No. 808. Jakobes Brouwer, Jannetye van Saen; Yannetye bo. Dec 30 (1770), bp. Jan. 20, 1771; Ysack van Saen, Jannetye Ackerman

15- [91] No. 821. Hendrick van Winkel, Jannetye Brouwer; Catrina bo. Jan 26, bp. Mar. 1, 1772; no witnesses recorded

16- [101] No. 944. Jacop Brouer, Jannetye van Saan; Jacobes bo. Aug. 7, bp. Sept. 31(sic), 1783; no witnesses recorded

17- [105] No. 983. Benyamen Eth (or Etli), Pekkee Brouyer; Keetye bo. Mar 1, bp. June 4, 1786; no witnesses recorded; [You will not find these names on the BGD. This is the first that I have seen of this record. I am unsure if Brouyer is meant for Brouwer, or some other name]

Final note: All of those, with the exception of numbers 15 and 17 in the baptisms, are known to be descendants of (9) Uldrick Brouwer (son of Pieter Brouwer, grandson of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L.I.) and his two wives, Hester De Vouw and Adriaentje Pieterse. Jannetje Brouwer, the wife of Hendrick van Winkle (no. 15) is a daughter of Jacob Brouwer and Maria de Lanoy, and a great-great granddaughter of Adam Brouwer through his son, Jacob Brouwer. The last entry (no.17) is a curious one, I had not seen it before and I'm not certain that the name here, Brouyer was meant to be Brouwer (with the y a mis-transcription of a w). I am not familiar with this couple. I do not have a confident guess as to what the name Pekkee might refer to. Could it be Peggy, a diminutive for Margaret?

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Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society at FamilySearch.org

 The Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society was a twice a year publication of the New Jersey Historical Society which began in 1845 with Series 1, Volume 1 and ended in 1966 with Volume 84. While somewhat difficult to access in the past, the volumes are available on the FamilySearch.org website through their online catalog under the title, "Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society." Digital images of the various volumes can be accessed and viewed on a home computer without the need to travel to a local Family History Library Center. While FamilySearch.org does not charge for a subscription, you must register with an account in order to access digital images.

I have not been able to locate the existence of a cumulative table of contents for the entire series, and I doubt that one has been created. The individual issues, which can be accessed from the page linked above, do include a table of contents for that issue, and fortunately, the individual issues can be searched, one at a time, with a search tool provided by FamilySearch. For example, here is Series 1, Volume 1, and you will find in the bar above the image, that familiar magnifying glass icon that represents a search tool. You will have to conduct a search on each volume separately. There is no search tool that encompasses the entire collection. And, to my knowledge, there is no published collective index, or list of article titles. Update to this paragraph: As mentioned in the Comment of July 19, 2022 found below, an index to the issues of the Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society HAS been created by Donald Sinclair (1996). See this webpage at the NJHS Proceedings Wikipage. The index is cited as, Sinclair, Donald (comp.) An index to the magazine New Jersey history: Through 1966 called Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society : volumes 1 through 110, 1845-1992. (New Jersey Research Series, volume 4) (Newark Public Library, Upland Press, 1996) Apparently out of print, but available at libraries. In addition there is an online table of contents available for New Jersey History, which is a NJHS publication that picks up on the discontinued Proceedings. See no. 14 at "Publications of the NJHS".

Scattered among the articles within the eighty or so volumes are vital records. This is what brought my attention to this resource. While many New Jersey vital records, I'm thinking colonial period Dutch and German church records here, were published elsewhere and for many years have been accessible, those of the Baptism records of the New Brunswick First Reformed Dutch Church have not been. In the past I relied on online transcriptions compiled by others. While most of these are reliable, I still prefer to see, first hand, the source that they were transcribing. The New Brunswick First Reformed Dutch Church Baptisms, 1717-1820 were published in New Series Volume 11, no. 2 (Apr 1926) and begin at page 205 of that volume. You can download the entire volume in PDF form which does make it easier to work with on a lap top or desk top computer.

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Research in New Jersey - An Update to Links

 Some years ago I established a "New Jersey Documents" page on this website. A number of the documents here were housed online at RootsWeb's Free Pages which had problems in the past and it appears that some of the documents placed there cannot be accessed any longer. Below are some new links for the documents.

Bridgewater Inhabitants, 1777, SCHQ v. 1 (1983)

Church Records in the SCHQ, 1912-1919 

Counties of New Jersey

Brouwer-Brower-Bewer Found in New Jersey Calendar of Wills

Early Hunterdon County Deeds 

The individual documents for the 1753 Freeholders at Bedminster, Bridgewater, Eastern Precinct, North Precinct and Western Precinct, Somerset County, are lost. These lists were published in the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, vol. 17 (1942) which includes North, Bedminster, Bridgewater and Western Precinct and in vol. 18 (1943) which includes the Eastern Precinct. All are found in this one PDF.

Hunterdon County Tax Payers, 1778-1797 (Wm. B. Bogardus Collection)

Hillsborough RDC SCGQ v.1 (1983)

Raritan Baptisms, SCHQ v.2 (1913)

Raritan Baptisms, SCHG v.3 (1914)

Raritan Baptisms, SCHQ v.4 (1915)  

Somerset County Freeholders, 1790

Somerset County Historical Quarterly (SCHQ) Contents (Wm. B. Bogardus Collection)

The Somerset County Historical Quarterly was published from 1912 to 1919 by A. Van Doren Honeyman. Digital copies are available online at the Internet Archives site.

Recently Hank Graham, Administrator of the Brewer DNA Project, sent me links to searchable databases at the New Jersey State Archives website. These include Birth, Marriage and Death Records; Land, Probate and Court Records; Military and Wartime Records; and Photograph Collections. Copies of individual records do have to be purchased from the State Archives, however, the index entries do provide, in many cases, enough information. The Early Land Records, in particular, give a good deal of information and the search results are not limited to just grantors and grantees. Results also include mentions of a name when it appears within a deed as an adjoining land owner or witness. Supreme Court Case Files, 1704-1844, show 115 results for the surname BREWER, 36 for the surname BROWER, 29 for BRUER/BRUERE and even 2 for the surname BROUWER. Some are from the colonial period, including one for an Eldrick Brower in Hunterdon County in 1761, a name at this location and time that was heretofore unknown to me (could this be an Uldrick Brouwer?). Poke around, you might find something of interest.

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