Descendants

Following the Male Descendants of  Johannes Brouwer generation by generation

 

Introduction: In this section, and the associated linked pages, we follow the male descendants of Johannes and Jannetje Brouwer of Flatlands, from generation to generation, identifying Johannes as the first generation and taking a “Top Down” approach to finding the “missing links” between Johannes, and his living descendants.  This will not be a complete genealogical compilation of the family of Johannes, instead it is limited to following the male children of each generation wherein we briefly discuss their lives, time frame, and geographical locations to the extent currently known from records and compilations. For additional documentation see the  The Brouwer Genealogy Database by Chris Chester (also listed under "Resources") for an extensive source of Brouwer family data with detailed references.  You can conveniently navigate this database by clicking the link to CHARTS near the top of the page and then selecting "Jan Brouwer of Flatlands Descendants Chart" which provides a very extensive display with links to all the currently known descendants from the progenitor down to the late 19th century that will take you to detailed documented information on each descendant. 

To aid in family grouping identification, we will make note of the females and the date and location of their birth, but will not follow them forward to the next generation.  This is not because we are inherently chauvinistic,  but simply because it is the male who carries forward the Y-DNA and the family surname. 

Listed within the “Pedigrees” section of this site is the “Bottoms Up” results of genealogical research provided by the Y-DNA study participants who clearly fall into the genetic family group of Johannes Brouwer. They started from their own father and moved back in time (upwards) to their grandfather, great grandfather, etc., until they reached their earliest documented male ancestor. Each participant has had varying success in identifying their early Dutch ancestry, and in some cases this has left significant gaps in identifying the common ancestry that DNA has shown connects them to Johannes Brouwer. Hopefully, with the “Top Down” approach taken here, we can identify possible overlaps in time and location suggesting where to search further for the missing links between them and the family progenitor.

Below is outlined what is currently (2008) accepted by me as known from my own research, the Brouwer genealogy data base, and associated research records about the descendants of Johannes.  This data is subject to change as new information becomes available. In the data presented, areas of conjecture are identified and amplified under the “Speculation” tab.  All the known children of Johannes and Jannetje are identified on the “About Johannes” page.  Here, we begin with his sons:

    Jan2 Brouwer + Sara Willems

    *Pieter2 Brouwer + Annetje Jans

    Hendricus2, baptized on 14 November 1663, New Amsterdam RFD Church. Died in infancy

    Hendrick2 + Cornelia

    *Derck2 + Hannah Daws

                         Our 2d generation Male Descendants

 

     married  2 Sep 1683 to Sara Willems of New Amersfoort (Flatlands), NY

        died  between 1 Sep 1712 (will) -13 October 1712 (probate) Hempstead, Queens County, NY 

   

Children of Jan2 and Sara Brouwer

        None known, none listed in his will. Assume his Line stops here.

About Jan2 Jansz Brouwer

    Geographic Locations: New Amsterdam 1658 (became New York 1664), Flatlands (New Amersfoort), Kings County, NY. ca.1664-1683- Jamaica/Hempstead, Queens County, NY 1697 to 1712

   Jan2 Brouwer, the second child, and first son, of Johannes and Jannetje Brouwer, was baptized 26 May 1658 at the old Reformed Dutch Church within the walls of the fort at New Amsterdam. The witnesses were Nicholas Velthuysen and Grietje Jans [ref. 1]. He is referred to in documents as both as Johnanes Jansz Brouwer (meaning Johannes, son of Jan Brouwer) and Jan Brouwer (Jan is the diminutive of Johannes). About 1664 (the date is uncertain, inferred from locations of baptisms -- New Amsterdam for the children up until Hendrick’s bpt. January 1665 in Flatlands), he and his father, mother and siblings, moved from the city of New Amsterdam (Manhattan) across the East River to the village of New Amersfoort on Long Island (later renamed Flatlands under British rule).  

    On August 12, 1683 Jan2 Brouwer and Sara Willems became formally betrothed and registered in the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church their intent to marry. They were married on 2 September 1683, the same month and year that his mother Jannetje died. The marriage event was recorded in the church as: 1683 02 Sep; Johannes Brouwer, ym of NY liv Amersfort; Sara Willems, yd of Amersfort  ('ym'  or ‘jm’ indicates 'young man' and 'yd' young dame, the terms signify neither had been previously married.) [ref. 2] 

   

     In September 1687 he signed his oath of allegiance to the British King, as did his father and brothers, recorded for Flatlands in the "Roll of Those Who have taken the oath of Allegiance on the 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30th day of September 1687." Johannes Brouwer, native.[Ref. 3]  In 1688 he is listed as the Flatlands schoolmaster, reader in the church and chorister, leading the congregation in song. In this position he acted as the local minister's assistant and ran the school nine months of the year. [History of Long Island, Vol 1, by Peter Ross pages 314 and 269]

     In the later part of the 17th century, many Dutch residents of Kings county, which included Gravesend, Flatlands and Flatbush where most of the early Brouwer family story played out, had gradually been emigrating from Kings county to the western part of Queens County. This migration of the Dutch to Queens was a reversal of the earlier history of the region. Following this general trend, Jan2 and his wife Sara left Flatlands and moved to Jamaica, Queens County, NY some time before 1698, likely 1697. Inferred from the fact that he sold his house and garden plot in Gravesend and lot number 27 on Gisbert's Island to Stoffel Langestraat on 23 Jul 1693. He is not found on the census of 1698 in either Gravesend or Hempstead. There they remained until May 20, 1709 when Jan2 bought 8 acres in Hempstead.  He and his wife moved to the Hempstead property in the summer of '09 and he was chosen as fence viewer for Rockaway in Hempstead for the year 1709-1710.  He and Sara remained in Hempstead until his death in 1712. Apparently they had no children because his will of 1 Sep 1712, probated 13 October 1712,, states: "Johannes Brewer.  In the name of God, Amen the 1 September 1712.   I, Johannes Brewer, of Hempstead, in Queens County, being very sick, I leave to my wife Sara all homes, lands and meadows in Hempstead.  It is also my will that after my wife's decease that my brothers and 

sisters shall have my estate.  I make my wife executor.  Witnesses: Jacob Hicks, Samuel Carmen 

and Charles Abrams,  Proved October 13, 1712."  Since he was  baptised 16 May 1658, he would have been only ~54 years old at the time of his death. As his will mentions his wife Sarah and his own brothers and sisters, but no children [Ref. 4], we will not follow him forward.

See the “Resources” page for:

Ref.1  J. R. Totten, NYG&B RECORD Vol. 67 pg 219 and NYG&B V.138 2007 pg 252]

Ref.2  J. R. Totten, NYG&B RECORD Vol. 67 pg. 220 and NYG&B RECORD Vol 138 pg. 252)

Ref.3  J. R. Totten, NYG&B RECORD Vol. 67 pgs. 105,106 and NYG&B RECORD Vol 138 pg. 251)

Ref.4  J. R. Totten, NYG&B RECORD Vol. 67 pg. 220  and NYG&B RECORD Vol 138 pg. 252 ).

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2) Pieter2 Brouwer (Johannes1); bp 20 Oct 1660 New Amsterdam, New Netherland (NY).                 m. 15 Feb 1687 to Annetje Jans of Flatlands, NY. d. between 1702 and 1706 Flatlands, NY

    Children of Pieter2 and Annetje Brouwer 

        Lucretia3 12 Dec 1687 Flatbush. Kings County, NY. m. Johannes Luyster 17 Mar 1716, d.12 Apr 1771 Holmdel Twp., Monmouth Co., NJ

        *Child3  b. ca 1690  possibly a son, Hendrick, who married Rachel de Bon

        Jannetje3 b. ca. 1692 Flatlands, Kings County, NY. Married Jan Gerritz

        Catherine3  Possibly a daughter. See Chris Chester’s data base.         

        *Hans3 Brouwer bpt 30 Oct 1698  Flatbush, Kings County, NY m. Nelke Goulder

        *Child3 b. ca 1698 assumed to be Jan3 Brouwer (Pieter2, Johannes1) who married Helena Van Cleef

        *Pieter3 Brouwer b. ca 1706

Male children marked by (*) are discussed further on the page “Pieter’s Line” and may provide a link to the John Brewer (1733) who married Elsie Lewis (Dunbar). See “Speculation”

About Pieter2 Brouwer

    Geographic Locations: New Amsterdam 1660- (became New York 1664), Flatlands (New Amersfoort), Kings County, NY ca.1664-1706. Served with militia detachment at Albany, NY 1690

    Pieter2 was the third child, and second son, of Johannes1 and Jannetje Brouwer. He was baptized 20 October 1660 at the old New Amsterdam Reformed Dutch Church. The sponsors were Thomas de Karmen, Sara Sanders. He worked with his father as a blacksmith in Flatlands. His mother Jannetje died in September of 1683. In September 1687 Pieter  signed his oath of allegiance to the British King, recorded for Flatlands in the "Roll of Those Who have taken the oath of Allegiance on the 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30th day of September 1687." He married that year Annetje Jans of Flatlands. Their marriage was recorded in the church as:  1687 15 Feb; Pieter Brouwer, ym of N. Amersfort; Annetie Jannsen, liv N. Amersfort. 

   

     Dubbed "King William's War" by the colonists, the New York Colonial Muster Rolls  for the period show Pieter (Brouer) from Kings County was sent to Albany under Jochim Stass, commander of Fort Orange during the 1690 expedition against the French. [Ref 1] New York Colonial Muster Rolls 1664-1775, Vol I,Second Annual Report of the State Historian of the State of New York, transmitted to the Legislator Feb 22, 1897 Appendix H (page 404) and  (index) Vol II,Third Annual Report, ibid. transmitted March 1Baltimore,  Maryland, 2000  page 923

    

The census of 1698  shows in Flatlands: 

        Jan Brouwer 2 men, 1 woman, 5 children, 1 slave 

        Thomas Jantz Amak  1 man, 1 woman, 5 children 

        Hendrick Brower 1 man 

    Amak, recorded between Jan and his son Hendrick, is almost certainly Jan's son-in-law Thuenis  Janszen. As Jan1 (Johannes) was a widower at this time with no young children, and his son Pieter2 is missing from the census, it is probable that the second man and the woman and  5 children in Jan's household were actually Pieter's family. Johannes1 is to be maintained by his son Pieter2 as of April 1700. On April 22, 1700 we find  "John Brouwer of Flatlands, smith, deeds to Peter Brower all his tools, woolens, etc. after his decease. signed by mark and witnessed." On April 23, 1700 we read  "John Brouwer of Flatlands, smith, deeds to Peter Brower of the same place, land there bounded by that of Jan Hensen and Peter Nevius; another lot bounded by Cornelius Coerte and Martenus Schenck; another lot bounded by Roeloff Martinse and Martinus Schenck -- all now in the possession of said John Brower.  Signed by mark. Witnessed by Henry ffilkin and Johannes Symonse."   "Acknowledged November 19, 1702.  Recorded same day by Henry ffilkin, Registrar." in Brooklyn Wills and Deeds 

REC.54:244 Nov 17, 1702 " John Brower of Flatlands, is to be maintained by his son Peter, as per bond dated April 22, 1700.  John Brower acknowledges satisfaction.  Signs his mark. Witnesses: Henry ffilkin and Edward ffolwell. Recorded November 17, 1702 by Henry ffilkin, Registrar"  

    

    The Brouwer Genealogy Database points out that Pieter2  probably died between 17 November 1702 when deeds of maintenance were confirmed with his father, and 20 December 1706 when "Antye Browers," (presumably Peter's wife) was on the assessment list in Flatlands with 23 acres. The assessment lists generally list the males of a household, unless he is deceased.  In addition, the Freehold-Middletown (Navesinks) Dutch church in Monmouth County, NJ shows Antie Browers was received by certificate (GMNJ 22:4) and appears to be Pieter’s wife (widow). There is no further record of Peter2 Brouwer nor his father Jan after the Nov 1702 deed confirmation. It is very likely that Peter and his father Jan both died of yellow fever, a disease imported from St. Thomas into New York City after May of 1702. The inhabitants of Manhattan fled the city to the Long Island shores, carrying the infection with them. Nearly everyone coming down with it died within a few hours. 

        

    We follow forward the third generation male children of Pieter2 on the link labeled  “Pieter’s Line”

    Citation: The Brouwer Genealogy Database, by Chris Chester referred to at the top of this page. See the link to Pieter Jansz Brouwer.

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3) Hendrick2  Brouwer (Johannes1); bp 14 Jan, 1665 Flatlands, Kings County NY;

      m. 1) Maratie (Magteltd) before 1689: assumed his wife as she and he were listed as sponsers at the baptism of his sister Jannetje’s 3d child, 21 April 1689 (Totten pg 224 and Bergen pg.53)  

        m.  2) Cornelia (Barnes or Barentsen?)  after 1698

            d.  ca 12 Sept (will)/ 4 Oct (proved) 1738 Hempstead, NY

    Children of Hendrick2  and Cornelia Brouwer 

        None identified. None mentioned in his will. Assume his Line stops here.

About Hendrick2 Brouwer

    Geographic Locations: New Amsterdam 1660 (became New York 1664), Flatlands (New Amersfoort), Kings County, NY ca.1664-1706. Served with militia detachment at Albany, NY 1687-88. Resided Jamaica/Hempstead , Queens County, NY ca.1714-1738

    Hendrick2 was the fifth child, and third surviving son, of Johannes and Jannetje Brouwer. He was born in Flatlands, Kings County, NY (assumed) and baptized 14 Jan, 1665 at the Reformed Dutch Church in Flatbush that served Flatlands, Flatbush and Gravesend, N. Witnesses Albert Leenartszen and Ariaentie. When he was about eighteen years of age, September 1683, his mother, Jannetje, died. During King William's War, Hendrick was sent to Albany in 1687-88 to serve in a horse troop under (then Lieutenant) Peter Schuyler (Hendrrik Brower Vol I pg. 395 (1687-1688 Albany expedition,  New York Colonial Muster Rolls 1664-1775, Vol I,Second Annual Report of the State Historian of the State of New York, transmitted to the Legislator Feb 22, 1897 Appendix H (pp 373 - 976) ). Hendrick  returned from Albany and was living in Flatlands s during the last five days of September, 1687, when he, his brothers, and his father signed the oath of allegiance to the King of England. Again in Flatlands on April 21, 1689 when he and his sister Maratie registered as sponsors at the baptism of the fifth child  of his sister Jannetje and brother-in-law Theunis Amak. 

He was single in 1698 as shown in Flatlands census for that year: 

    Jan Brouwer 2 men, 1 woman, 5 children, 1 slave 

    Thomas Jantz Amak  1 man, 1 woman, 5 children 

    Hendrick Brower 1 man 

    He helped finance the purchase of property with his brother Derck in Jamaica between 1698 and 1700 (Derck was recorded in the Flushing census of 1698). In the fall of 1700 it is recorded in Queens county that "Dirrick Brewer of Jamaica and Hendrick Brewer of Flatlands" sold for 116 (pounds sterling) a house and 75 acres on the borders of Hempstead, Jamaica, and Flushing (in the modern vicinity of Queens Village). The deed of purchase is not recorded, but the deed of sale was dated 22 September 1700 and acknowledged by Derrick and Hendrick on 6 May 1701. (Queens Co Deeds A:180-1). 

    

    By 20 April 1714, Hendrick had moved to Jamaica where on that date he executed a deed as a resident of that town, selling the same 8-acre lot that his brother Johannes2 Jans Brouwer had acquired in 1709 (Q Co Deeds C:47-9).  He appears as a resident of Hempstead recording his earmark there 30 December 1719 (HTR 2:226). 

    

    Hendrick Brewer of Hempstead wrote his will 12 September 1738 (proved 4 October) when he was “very sick and weak” specifying his wife Cornelia was to get his household goods and moveables, and the use of his farm ”till my cozen [i.e. Nephew] John Brewer son of John Brewer comes to be twenty two years old”. It is conjectured that the nephew’s father John is the first born son of Hendrick’s brother Derck2 , that is Jan3/John3(Derck2 , Johannes1) who died in 1732. The nephew John4  (Jan3 , Derck2 , Johannes1) would have been 12 when Hendrick2  wrote his will. The younger John4 Brewer had been named as executor but was under age, so Cornelia was named in his stead (NY Wills 13:189-90).

   

     Since he left his property to his nephew, it does not appear he had any surviving children to carry on his line, and therefore will not be followed forward.

Again, see The Brouwer Genealogy Database, by Chris Chester, to view the page on Hendrickr2   Jansz Brouwer   

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     married 6 Oct 1694 to Hanna Deas (Daws) of Gravesend, Kings Co., NY  

     died ~ 1702/3, Jamaica, Queens County, NY

    Children of Derck2 and Hannah Brouwer 

        *Jan3 ca. bp. 9 June 1695 Flatbush, Kings Co., NY. m. Aegje Sprong 

        *Elias3    b. ca. Jun1698 Flushing, Queens Co., NY m. Lena Willemse

        *Derick3  b. ca. 1699  Flatbush, Queens Co., NY

        *Pieter3   b. ca. 1700  Jamaica, Queens Co., NY m. Susanna Tietsoort

        *Jacob3  b. ca. 1702 Jamaica, Queens Co., NY  m. Marike [--?--]

        *Samue3 b. ca. 1702/1703 Jamaica, Queens Co., NY m. Margrita [--?--]

        

Male children marked by (*) are discussed further in the page marked “Derck’s Line”

About Derck2 Brouwer

    Geographic Locations:  Flatlands/Gravesend, Kings County, NY ca. 1670-1698. Served with militia detachment at Albany, NY 1691-92. Resided Flushing/Jamaica/Hempstead, Queens County, NY ca. 1698 - 1702/3

    Derck2 (Dirck) Jans Brouwer, the sixth child, and fifth son of Johannes and Jannetje Brouwer of Flatlands, was born after 1666 -- my preference is 1670.  His birth and baptismal records are missing. I presume he was baptised in Kings County at Flatlands Reformed Dutch Church (organized 1654 - the baptismal records are spotty) because his brother Hendrick was baptised earlier in Flatlands (1665).  He would have been 16 or older when he took the oath of allegiance to the crown in 1687 ( I favor 17). He bought land in Gravesend in 1694 and married Hannah Daws 6 October 1694 when he would (under my preference) be 24 or older and she was 18. She was born 1676-7 as she was age 4 to 5 when she was  baptized in the Flatlands RFD church, 18 September 1681.   My preference for 1670 is based partially my predilection for him to be closer to Hanna's age yet too young to be called up for a 1687 militia detachment to Albany. His brother Hendrick2 at 22 was called up, but Derck was not. Perhaps because he was only 17. Yet in 1691, now 21 or older, he was detached to Albany. Perhaps age played the deciding role in 1687? 

    

    The early  militia in Colonial America was drawn from the able-bodied men of a community and all males between sixteen and sixty were required to train annually. Only ministers, students, professors and conscientious objectors were excused from duty. For short-term emergencies, some of the men were drafted from the ranks of those eligible to serve and were sent off, or detached, to serve in the particular region under threat. Such an emergency was the threat of a raid by the French on the isolated settlements along the frontier at Albany in 1691-2.  In 1691-2, Derck (Dirk) Brower from Kings County was one of those men detached from various militia companies to serve during the campaign against the French led by Major Peter Schuyler of Albany.  By summers end, 1692, having received replacement militia units from New Jersey, Major Schuyler released the veteran New York militiamen from duty to return home.  Derck and his friends from Kings county returned to Gravesend by the fall of 1692.

    On September 25, 1694, Derck2, together with Cornelis Willimse, both of Gravesend, bought 

two land allotments on Gisbert's Island, No’s 8 and 12. As an aside, it is noted that they bought these lots from Peter Corson of Cape May, New Jersey. Peter Corson and his wife Deborah, on October 23, 1693, sold their dwelling-house and building plot on lot No. 3 of Gravesend Neck and moved to Cape May, New Jersey. The next year Corson sold the Gisbert's Island lots to Derck2 and Cornelis. Peter and his brother John Corson, who married Hanna's sister Maria Eliase Daws in 1680, had earlier purchased the Gisbert's Island allotments from William Goulding who had himself earlier sold out and obtained properties in Monmouth County, New Jersey.  This reflected a beginning to what later became a widespread trend;  Dutch families moved to New Jersey to escape religious controls imposed on them by the English governors.

    The wedding of Derck amd Hannah Daws took place on  6 Oct 1694. The ceremony was performed by Justice Rulef Martense Schenck.  After the marriage, the couple settled in Gravesend and less than eight months later their first child, a son,Jan3 was born and baptized  on  9 June 1695, in the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church. Derck's father Johannes1, together with Derck's sister Jannetje Teunis, attended the Baptism, with Jannetje being the stand-in for Derck's mother who had passed away. The baptism is recorded there as "Jan son of Dirck Brouwer and Hanna Daas. Sponsors: Jan Brouwer and Jannetje Teunisse. "  Being the first son, and following Dutch custom, he was named for his paternal grandfather, Jan1 (Johannes) Brouwer.

    Following his elder brother Jan2, Derck2 moved his family to Flushing and by May of 1698, Derck and Hannah are listed as inhabitants of Flushing, Queens, NY.   The census of that year was designated: "An Exact List of All Ye Inhabitants Names Within Ye Towne of fflushing and P’cincts of Old and Young ffreeman & Seruants White & Blacke &c. 1698."  In that "Exact List" under the specific category of Dutch Inhabitants was recorded: 

Derick Brewer; Hannah, his wife, 1 child. The total number of inhabitants of Flushing was given as 530 with 113 Negroes counted separately. 

    Some time after May of 1698, the date of the census, perhaps by June, Derck and Hanna had their second child, Elias3 Brouwer, named after Hanna's father Elias Daws, the child's maternal grandfather.  The birth of Elias3 was followed by their third son, late in 1699, whom they named Derick3 after his father. At the turn of the century, Derck2 and Hannah had their fourth child, probably in December 1700, and they named him Pieter3, after his uncle. Sometime within the prior two years Derck and the family had moved from Flushing to the village of Jamaica, where his elder brother Johannes2 and wife Sara lived, and Derck2 and his brother Hendrick2 sold the property they had jointly purchased when Derck first moved to Flushing.  In the fall of 1700 it is recorded in Queens county that "Dirrick Brewer of Jamaica and Hendrick Brewer of Flattlands" sold for 116 (pounds sterling) a house and 75 acres on the borders of Hempstead, Jamaica, and Flushing (in the modern vicinity of Queens Village). The deed of purchase is not recorded, but the deed of sale was dated 22 September 1700 and acknowledged by Derrick and Hendrick on 6 May1701.  (Queens Co Deeds A:180-1). 

    By 1702, in Jamaica, it is possible, though not certain, that a fifth son of Derck2 and Hanna is born and named Jacob3, and a sixth son Samuel3 is conjectured to have been born late in 1702 or early 1703.  It is probable that Derck died soon after, either late 1702 or early 1703. Since there are no further records of Derck after the acknowledgement of the land sale in May 1701, it is possible that he  succumbed to this 'great sickness' of 1702 that was also mentioned as a possible cause of the death of his father Johannes and his brother Pieter Brouwer.  It was reported in the New York Gazette: 

"In 1702 the assembly sat at Jamaica on account of a terrible sickness in New York City.  The 

Small Pox is pretty much spread in New-York city; 12 having died in one week.  In a few months 

after, it got into and about Jamaica where 160 persons have been inoculated and none have died but Foster Waters, who had taken the infection before, and fell sick the day after he was inoculated.  On the other hand, one half died of those who took it in the natural way.  The small pox is spreading in several parts of the province." [ Booth p 274 & N.Y.Gazette, Sep 2, 1731, "Queens County in Old Times";in "Long Island and New York in Olden Times -- being Newspaper Extracts and Historical Sketches" by Henry Onderdonk Jr.,Jamaica L.I.,1851] 

    In the section “Derck’s Line” we will follow the lives of Hanna and Derck's children in 

Monmouth, New Jersey.  After Derck's death Hanna and the children go to live with her sister 

Patience Daws Cowenhoven and possibly as early as 1703 Hanna is remarried.  Her new husband is a widower named Joseph Golder with a five year old daughter named Nelke Golder. 

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