Family of Willem Brouwer and Lysbeth Drinkvelt

Willem Brouwer, is one of the three principal progenitors of families named Brouwer who are found in New Netherland and who left descendants. His wife was Lysbeth Drinkvelt and their son Hendrick was baptized on 9 May 1652 at the Oude Kerk (Old Reformed Church) at Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He was in New Amsterdam by the fall of 1655. On 11 October 1655, at New Amsterdam, Willem Brouwer was among those summoned by the Court Messenger to come forward for the voluntary contribution and taxation required by a resolution passed that same day. William was listed as excused. William J. Hoffman, in his Brouwer Manuscript Notes (formerly held by the NYGBS) states that "Willem Hendrickz Brouwer with his wife and three children arrived in de Waegh, August 13, 1655, to act as comforter of the sick and reader. Hoffman cites Colonial Manuscripts XIV:324. I have been unable to confirm this. A reconstructed online account of this ship's voyage can be found on the Olive Tree website (Waegh), but no mention of Willem Brouwer is found on this page. Willem is mentioned in legal proceedings at New Amsterdam in 1655 and 1656 and in 1657 he was in the vicinity of Beverwijck (now Albany, NY) when he bought a brewery at Greenbos (Greenbush) from Cornelis Cornelisz and Jan Witmond, which he sold to Cornelis Van Nes and Jan Oothout in 1664. He is mentioned in the Fort Orange (Albany) records on three occasions in 1660 and in a case of default in November 1660 at New Amsterdam. On August 31, 1661 at Beverwijck, Goosen van Oort bound himself to work for Willem Brouwer as a journyman shoemaker. During the period of 1664 through 1666, Willem Brouwer can be found in the accounts of the Deacons at Beverwijck, receiving charity in the form of small amounts of money and staples such as beans, butter and lard. In 1666 he pawned his stockings to repay a debt. He died in late July or early August 1668. On August 3, 1668, the Deacons at Beverwijck paid for his burial, and on December 29 1668, his widow, Lysbeth Brouwer, petitioned the court asking to be excused from paying her husband's debts.

Willem Brouwer's parents, and his origins in Europe, have not been discovered. He is often assigned the patronymic, "Hendricksz" (as William Hoffman did in his manuscript notes) but there is nothing yet discovered that would confirm his father's name as Hendrick. The fact that Willem named a son Hendrick, and that a man named Philip Hendricksz Brouwer appeared in Beverwijck at about the same time as Willem, is not proof that Willem had a father named Hendrick.

The picture that we take from the above is that Willem Brouwer had a rough go of it during his relatively short time of about thirteen years in New Netherland. He was in possession of a brewery for some years, although he apparently knew the trade of a shoemaker. He tried his hand at trading, apparently without the authority to do so (lawsuits brought against him in 1660), and appears as a defendant in a number of suits regarding debt. During the last years of his life he was receiving assistance from the Church at Beverwijck.

Of his wife, we know her name as Lysbeth Drinkvelt from the baptism record of her son Hendrick, and from an occasion in 1695 when she appeared as a sponsor at the baptism of her son Hendrick's daughter, Elizabeth. She was burdened with her husband's legacy of debts after his death, and Lysbeth herself is found in the Deacon's accounts receiving assistance. She remarried to Jan Rinckhout, a baker, and widower of Eva Jeurians. Apparently her luck with Jan was no better. He is stated to have become a recluse, who died alone in a hut on his farm in Schenectady. On September 4, 1697, "Elisabeth Brinckfelt," wife of Jan Rinckout, with letter from N. Albany, joined the Reformed Dutch Church at New York. In 1702, Lisabet Rinkhout, was a sponsor at the baptism of Johannes, son of Symon Groot and Geertruy Janse Rinkhout (possibly her daughter from her second marriage) at Schenectady. This is the last record we have of Lysbeth.

Willem Brouwer and Lysbeth Drinkvelt are believe to have had four children. Of them, only Hendrick is confirmed with a record of baptism (see the March 3, 2012 post). Daughter, Elisabeth, who married Claas Andriesz de Graaf, and daughter, Maria, wife of Isaac du Trieux (Truax) are most probably daughters, but son, William Brouwer, who married Rebecca Vedder and was an early settler of Stone Arabia, New York, and was first assigned to this family by Jonathan Pearson in 1873, is less certain. All three will be covered in future posts.

A Family Group sheet for Willem Brouwer and Lysbeth Drinkvelt is online. Source citations for the statements found above can be found in the profiles of Willem Brouwer, Lysbeth Drinkvelt and Jan Rinckhout at the Brouwer Genealogy Database website. Look them up in the index or access Willem from the Progenitors page.

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Published Brouwer Family Accounts: Prof. Jonathan Pearson

Two of the earliest published accounts of Brouwer families found in New Netherland/New York are available in two works by Jonathan Pearson, Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany from 1630 to 1800 (first published in 1872), and Contributions for Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Patent and City of Schenectady, from 1662 to 1800 (first published in 1873). An online version of the later can be found at Genealogies of the First Settlers of Schenectady. In addition, the NEHGS has at their website, American Ancestors, a searchable database of this volume titled, First Settlers of Schenectady, from 1662 to 1800.

Jonathan Pearson was born in 1813 at Chichester, New Hampshire and died in Schenectady, New York in 1887. He graduated from Union College at Schenectady in 1835, and was a Professor of Chemistry and Natural History there for most of his adult life. The history and genealogies of the families of the Schenectady and Albany, New York area were subjects that he devoted a tremendous amount of his time to. He was an early contributor to both the New England Historic and Genealogical Register and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. In addition to the above two mentioned works, he published numerous other volumes on the early records and histories of Schenectady and Albany. For a short biography, written during his time, see Sketch of the Life of Professor Jonathan Pearson, by Rev. George Alexander. A another account is found in "Necrology," NEHGR vol. 43 (1889), page 437.

In the first of his two works, First Settlers of Albany (to shorten the title), Pearson's summaries of the BROUWER families can be found on pages 27 and 28. He profiles the following: Phillip Hendrickse Brouwer, brewer; Willem Brouwer; Hendrick Willemse Brouwer of Schenectady; Jacob Brouwer and Maria Bovie; Nicolaas Brouwer and Marytie Boom; Matheus Brouwer and Annatie Ouderkerk; Cornelis Brouwer and Elizabeth Visbach; Nicolaas Brouwer and Sarah Drake; Johannes Brouwer and Maritje DeWeaver; Cornelis Brouwer and Cathalyntje McManny; Gerrit Brouwer and Antje Seger; Willem Brouwer and Mary Marschalk. The accounts are very brief and it should be noted that (as with many early published accounts of Colonial families) there are errors. With the exception of mentioning that Hendrick Willemse Brouwer was a son of the Willem Brouwer profiled immediately before him, Pearson does not make any attempt to link these various Brouwer couples. Among this list are descendants of both Willem Brouwer of Beverwijck and Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, L. I.

In his second work (which we'll call First Settlers of Schenectady) Pearson again covers Phillip Hendrickse Brouwer, brewer; Willem (Hendrickse?) Brouwer, referred to as "perhaps brother of the last" (meaning Phillip Hendrickse); Hendrick Brouwer, "son of last" (meaning Willem); then adds, Willem Brouwer, "son of Willem of Albany"; Cornelis Brouwer, "son of Hendrick"; Hendrick Brouwer, "son of Hendrick"; Pieter Brouwer, "son of Hendrik"; Harmanus Brouwer, "son of Willem" (meaning the second Willem profiled); Hendrick Brouwer, "son of Cornelis"; Gillis Brouwer, "son of Pieter"; Richard of Albany and Mary Blann (Blean); Pieter of Albany and Catrina Chrisler; William of Albany and Mary Marschalk (also profiled in First Settlers of Albany); Matheus of Albany and Sarah West; Cornelius, "son of Hendrick" and Jannetje Demorest; Rev. Thomas Brouwer, third minister at Schenectady; Pieter, "son of Gillis" and Ann Catharine Stevens; Gillis, "son of Pieter" and Ellen (Helen) Vrooman; Abram Giles, "son of Giles," graduate of Union College, 1859. These profiles are found on ages 27-29. In addition, there are a number of female Brouwers, who can be found in the profiles of their various husbands, listed under their husband's surnames (use the indexes to locate them).

As with all published accounts of colonial period families, I use works such as Jonathan Pearson's First Settlers of Albany and First Settlers of Schenectady as "guides." I take down the information as presented by the author, and then look to confirm or contradict it by consulting the actual baptism, marriage, death and burial, probate and estate records, and land records that might be available.

Jonathan Pearson (1813-1887)

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Atlantic Canada Links

Many families found in Colonial New York and New Jersey at the time of the American Revolution had members who remained Loyal to the British Crown. And many of them settled in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia at the end of the war. Tracing descendants and searching for ancestors in Canada can be a challenging experience for us living in the U. S. Here are some links for websites I've found useful for research in the Atlantic Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have been added to the links column at the right. Scroll down, they're just below "Book Sellers."

Sites for Ontario (Upper Canada) and Quebec (Lower Canada) to be added in future posts.

The sites added:

Black Loyalists of Nova Scotia

The New Brunswick Land Company, Settlement of Stanley and Harvey, N. B.

New Brunswick Provincial Archives

The 1851 New Brunswick Census, a searchable webpage

Nova Scotia Archives

The Upper St. John River Valley

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New York State Archives Website

The New York State Archives was established in 1971. The physical archives are in Albany, New York, and they also have a Website.

The Archives are home to more then 200 million documents related to the history of New York State from the 1600s to the present. Needles to say, there is a tremendous amount of genealogical information to be found in these records. They have also partnered with Ancestry.com to provide free access to various New York State records (users will have to create a free account at Ancestry.com). See Ancestry.com New York.

The Document Showcase page is a feature that highlights specific topics and changes with time. It is accessible with a link from the Home page. The current topic is American Indians in Colonial New York. Among the digital documents that can be accessed is a 1644 declaration of Cornelis Cornelissen, Jan Hageman, and others testifying how the Indians set fire to and destroyed the house of Jochem Petersen Kuyter.

I have also used the Pathfinder Tool  which is a very helpful guide on how to locate naturalization and probate records.

There is a lot to explore on this website including photographs, an online catalog for the e-Library and much more.

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Additional Links

You will now find in the column of links on the right side of this webpage, a new category titled, "Additional Links." This is just a catchall grouping of links that were formerly found on the old Brouwer Genealogy Research Links webpage, which as mentioned last year, will disappear in a few short months. The links are for websites that are varied in nature, all of which I have found useful and/or interesting. In future posts I may take the time to highlight some of them.

Scroll down, the grouping is towards the bottom.

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Hendrick Brouwer of Schenectady, New York, Will, 1706

Digital images of the will of Hendrick Brouwer of Schenectady, New York, are available online.

Hendrick Brouwer's will was dated 12 December 1706. In the will he calls himself, Hendrick Brower of Schaennectady; names his wife, Maritje, who is to receive all of his estate; mentions his wife's son, Benjamin, by a former marriage; and mentions his son, Johannis, the eldest son, who is to receive ten pounds for his birthright. The other children of Hendrick Brouwer are not named. The will was brought before the Inferior Court of Common Pleas in Albany, New York on 8 June 1710 by Philip Livingston on behalf of Maritje Brower the widow of Hendrick Brower, deceased. It was proved at the New York County Surrogate's Court on 20 May 1711. The images found online are from the Albany Court's files. The original was written in Dutch, and the the last (fifth) image is a typed English translation (obviously done many years later). The images were taken from FHL film #0824735, Albany Wills AB:6. It can also be found in New York Co. Wills, v.8, page 618 (FHL film #0874517). The abstract that is found in Abstracts of Wills on File in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York, Vol. II, 1708-1728, Collections of the New York Historical Society (New York: the Society, 1893), page 57, might leave you with the impression that Benjamin was a son of Hendrick. He was not. Benjamin was a son of Hendrick's wife, Maritje Pieterse Borsboom, and her first husband, Teunis Carstensen. Benjamin was later known as, Benjamin Van Vleck.

Hendrick Brouwer was baptized on 9 May 1652 at the Oude Kerk (Old Reformed Church) at Amsterdam. He would have come with his parents to New Netherland as a small child. History of the Schenectady Patent in Dutch and English Times (Albany: 1883), page 100, states that he owned a lot on the east side of Church Street, beginning at a point 108 feet north from the church lot and extending probably to Front Street. Pearson, in First Settlers of Schenectady, page 27, states that the will was proved (first?) on 16 February 1707/08, and states that he was deceased before 10 March 1707.

Hendrick Brouwer and Maritje Pieterse Borsboom had eight children whose records of baptism can be found in either the Schenectady or Albany Reformed Dutch Church records. Of them, daughter, Elizabeth (1695-1783) never married. Daughter, Eva (1702-1747) married Johannes Dellamont and had eleven children. Son, Pieter (1697-1758) was married to Lena Fonda and had three known children. Son, Cornelis (1704-1765/67) married Cornelia Barheit and had three known children. Son, Hendrick (1706, living in 1765) married Elizabeth Van Eps and had four known children. Son, Jacob was baptized in 1700 and was murdered in the spring of 1730, "at the falls on the Oswego river, by an Onondaga Indian," leaving no known family. The sons, Johannes (bapt. 1693 and mentioned as eldest in his father's will) and Willem (bapt.1704) have not been identified in later records as adults. It is possible that they died at early ages, prior to marrying or having families, or it may be that some of the records pertaining to men named Johannes/Jan/John Brouwer or Willem/William Brouwer found in the first half of the 1700s, belong to these sons. The existence of possible descendants for both Johannes and Willem, remains open.

Family Group Sheet for Hendrick Brouwer and Maritje Pieterse Borsboom

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