New, New Netherland History Page of Links

 Here is a new page of links to pages and websites that cover varied aspects of the history of New Netherland and early New York. This list was sent to me by Jennifer Fuller who is a history tutor. One of her students, Thomas is his name, came across a webpage with where these (and a few other) links had been posted. That site is a commercial website for a law firm (Parker/Waichman LLP) which also included links for legal services, and because of that fact I'd rather not provide a direct link here (but you, the reader, can certainly search for it if you so desire). At any rate, I looked through and selected many for inclusion on the new page, "History of New Netherland" links. Some pages are more scholarly, more in depth than others. Some are rather basic, and a couple are just fun. Many are pages within larger websites and certainly those websites may be of interest to many as well. 

Thank you Jennifer, and Thomas, (and Parker/Waichman LLP).

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Sketches of 17th Century Hollanders

Sketches of 17th Century Hollanders is a website housing the "original research projects" of Cor Snabel and Elizabeth A. Johnson.

Among the original research projects are transcripts of various church records from Amsterdam and Cologne, as well as family sketches of seventeenth-century immigrants from the Netherlands to New Netherland, New York, the South (Delaware) River, and Virginia.

The website is created using a collaborative online workspace created by PBWorks. The Navigator pane on the top right corner is the place to start. It serves as an index and links to the various projects that have been added to the site.

Both Cor and Elizabeth are excellent, and careful researchers, and you will find the work on their site to be among most reliable and credible genealogical research found online today. Over the past couple of years the two have discovered ancestries for a number of immigrants to New Netherland that had previously been unknown. Check the index to see if you might find something new regarding one of your New Netherland ancestors.

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Date of Death Found for Sarah (Kip) (Crane) Scudder; 1755-1836

Sarah Kip, baptized 9 March 1755 at the New York Reformed Dutch Church, daughter of Dirk Kip and Jannetje Parsell, was married twice. She first married Joseph Crane and her second husband was Capt. William Scudder. Sarah Kip is a descendant of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island.

In 2007, Diane Crane Benelli published, "Sarah (Kip) Crane Scudder and Her Revolutionary-War-Officer Husbands," in volume 138, no. 4, of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. A few years back I had placed online, Diane's original unedited copy of the published article, which includes additional information on Sarah's ancestry, her extended family, and the lives of her Revolutionary War Officer husbands.

In 2007, when the original article was published, Sarah's date of death was not known. She had been located, as Sarah Scudder, on the 1830 U. S. census in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia), when she would have been aged seventy-five. Greenbrier County property tax assessment rolls list Sarah Scudder's estate in 1844, so all that was known was that she died sometime between 1830 and 1844. Until now.

This past week Diane e-mailed me with the date of Sarah's death which was discovered in two New York newspapers of that period. Sarah's death notice ran in The New York Commercial Advertiser, December 22, 1836 (page 2, column 6), and in The Spectator, December 27, 1836 (issue 46, p. 1, col. 7). It read:

"In Virginia, on the 10th of November, Mrs. Sarah Scudder, in the 80th year of her age, widow of Captain William Scudder of the Revolutionary War . 

She was tenderly beloved by her children and acquaintances, and by them her death is much regretted."

Sarah (Kip) (Crane) Scudder, died on 10 November 1836 in Greenbriar County, Virginia (now West Virginia). The location of her burial has not been located, but Diane believes she was buried in a "very old Crane burial ground in West Virginia," located off "Scutter" Road, which has several unmarked graves. 

As for details on Sarah Kip's life - I'll leave that to Diane's original account which can be viewed here.

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Changes to the Family of David Brewer and Jane Woodward

David Brewer is a great-grandson of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, Long Island. He was a son of Elias Brouwer/Brewer and Phebe Lucas, and was baptized on 23 January 1774 at the Dutch Reformed Church at Schaghticoke, New York. Scott Kraus, one of the authors of the 2007 article titled, "DNA Analysis: Adam Brouwer Berckhoven, Elias Brouwer of New Jersey, and John Brewer of Ohio," published in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 138, no. 4, has researched and updated the family of David Brewer.

David Brewer was married to Jane Woodward, probably in 1794, and they lived at Kortright and Davenport in Delaware County, New York, and at Oneonta, Otsego County, New York. Using land records from Delaware County, New York, now available as digital images online at Family Search, Scott has been able to confirm one, previously supposed, son of David Brewer, and has been able to identify three others.

Previously, a Peter Brewer was suspected as a son of David Brewer and Jane Woodward. That suspicion has now been confirmed with a deed dated 9 January 1837, in which Peter Brewer of Davenport, New York, sold to Jonathan Brewer, also of Davenport, a portion of the home lot that once belonged to David Brewer (since deceased). In the deed, Peter Brewer, describes himself as a son of David Brewer. (Delaware Co., New York Deeds, v. 19, pp. 625-626).

Three other deeds located by Scott, identifies three additional sons for David Brewer. They were named Ensign, Jarius and Phineas. On 16 August 1837, Ensign Brewer, of Davenport, sold to Emeline Blanchard, of Davenport, his rights, title, interest, etc., in the real and personal estate of his late father, David Brewer, of Davenport. (Delaware Co., NY Deeds, v. 41, p. 58). Emeline was a daughter of David Brewer, who had married Erastus Blanchard. On 20 September 1838, Jarius Brewer, of Davenport, sold to Erastus Blanchard, of Davenport, his rights, title, interests, etc., in property of his late father, David Brewer. (Delaware Co., NY Deeds, v. 41, 59-60). And, on 5 March 1842, Phineas Brewer, of Franklin, Delaware Co., NY, quit claimed to Erastus Blanchard, of Oneonta, his interest in the property of his late father, David Brewer. (Delaware Co., NY Deeds, v. 82, p. 536).

Using other records, including U. S. Army Enlistments and an Index to Guardianships, found on Ancestry.com, Scott had been able to provide approximate birth dates for Ensign and Phineas. Ensign was born in about 1815, and Phineas about 25 February 1821. Jarius Brewer was born about 1818 as he was aged 32 on the 1850 U. S. census at Oneonta, New York.

In addition, a son named Albert, had previously been included in the family of David Brewer. This was based upon undocumented family trees found online. No record has been discovered of this son Albert, and therefore he has been removed from the family. Also, a look at the 1810 and 1820 U. S. census records for David Brewer (at Kortright in 1810 and Davenport in 1820), indicate that there were other members of the household who have not yet been identified. Whether these unidentified individuals are children of David, or whether they are other persons, cannot be determined from the limited information that the census records of 1810 and 1820 provide.

The next update of the Brouwer Genealogy Database (which will not take place for a few months) will reflect the changes mentioned above. In the meantime, both the descendant chart, and the journal report for Jan Brouwer have been updated. (Jarius Brewer is found in the current edition of the BGD, although he is not linked to any parents, as none were known prior to Scott Kraus' research).

The discoveries mentioned above are illustrative of the value in searching land records for evidence of family relationships in locations where no direct birth or baptism records are available. In this case, the deed books for Delaware County, New York are now available online at Family Search. There is no search engine for the images. Specific pages have to be located by browsing through each deed book. The process can be a bit tedious, but having the images available online, at any computer, is certainly better than ordering a film from Salt Lake City and waiting for it to arrive for viewing at a local Family History Library center. I'm looking forward for even more records and images to be made available online by the FHL.

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New York History Blog

I haven't written many, or possibly even any, posts in which I've recommended other blogs. The truth is I really don't spend much time reading or searching out many others. There is a very small handful, however, that I do follow. One is the New York History Blog, and I strongly recommend it for those interested in the history of the State of New York (which I would think many New Netherland Brouwer family descendants would be interested in).

I'm bringing the New York History blog up today because the post that they ran yesterday, July 15th, titled New Online Resources for New York History. The blog post does a nice and concise job of describing the three and so I'm not going to attempt to improve upon it.

Three new sources are mentioned here, and I took some time last night to explore each of them. Elephind has links to many newspapers of the past, and right of the bat, searching with the rather broad term, "Brower" I found the September 14, 1917 obituary of Richard Brower of Hempstead, Long Island in the Sun, published online by the Library of Congress.

The Founders Online site provided something of interest too. Look under "Author" for the George Washington Link, and click on the very first item, "A Journal of my Journey over the Mountains." Many of use who are trying to connect Brewers who settled in western Pennsylvania and the Ohio River Valley area to their ancestors in New Jersey and New York, are familiar with the route taken through the areas now known as Berkeley and Frederick Counties, West Virginia. George Washington was of course the first to survey these areas. In just looking at the first page of the journal, I noticed some familiar names.

Hopefully some of you will discover some important new information or leads using these websites. Good luck in your searches.

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"The Paper Trail of Elazarus Brewer"

A few weeks back I received a copy of the May 2012 (vol. 23, no. 5) issue of The Monmouth Connection, a publication of the Monmouth County (New Jersey) Genealogical Society. Of interest in this publication is an article researched and written by Lawrence Lippert titled, "The Paper Trail of Elazarus Brewer." The editor of The Monmouth Connection, and the author of the article have generously given me permission to make it available through this website.

Elazarus Brewer was born in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey, the son of Adam Brewer and his first wife, Deborah Allen. The date of his birth varies depending on the source considered. I've seen both 23 June 1730 and 23 May 1731 as dates for his birth. No record of baptism exists for Elazarus (his parents were members of the Society of Friends). He is a great-grandson of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island.

The article was published by the Monmouth County Genealogical Society in four parts, in their newsletter, The Monmouth Connection, beginning with volume 23, no. 5 (May 2012), and continuing in volume 23, no. 6 (July 2012), volume 24, no. 1 (September 2012) and ending with volume 24, no. 2 (November 2012). The four parts have been arranged into one PDF for convenience. Descendants of Elazarus Brewer will certainly be interested, and those researching other Monmouth County, and particularly Shrewsbury families, will likely find the article to be of interest as well.

"The Paper Trail of Elazarus Brewer," by Lawrence Lippert, The Monmouth Connection vol. 23, no. 5 (May 2012). The article begins at the bottom of the right hand column and is preceded by a brief profile of the author.

Thanks to Rick Geffken for bringing this article to my attention, to Judy Bretzger, editor of The Monmouth Connection and to Lawrence Lippert, the author for their permission to make the article available, and to Liz Johnson for creating the PDF.

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Peter's Blog and His List of Surname Websites

A few days back, Peter from the Netherlands, sent me links to his blog pages and a request to include "Brouwer Genealogy" on his list of blogs devoted to Dutch surnames. The list is quite long, and many of the bloggers are from the U. S. and Canada. You may well find blogs for other Dutch names that you are researching on this list. It looks to be a convenient way to contact others with the same research interests and so I though it was deserving of a mention here. Since "Brouwer Genealogy" was added to the list, just a few days ago, I have received a few inquiries from persons in the Netherlands. My hope is that some Brouwers in the Netherlands, Germany and elsewhere might be motivated to join the Brewer DNA Project. Perhaps one of these days we can present day descendants whose DNA profile matches that of some of our Brouwer descendants living in the U. S. and Canada.

The links are arranged alphabetically by title, but there is a brief description which lists the surnames that each blogger is researching, so take your time when going through it.

Dutch Ancestors at Peter's Blog

Peter's Home Page (lots of other interesting stuff)

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