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1.0 Summary of Facts and assumptions.
Johannes (or Jan) Brouwer born circa 1628 -1632 in Europe, possibly Amsterdam, Netherlands. A Blacksmith, he immigrated to New Amsterdam, New Netherland, America about 1657. Died after1702/03 Flatlands, New York. Married circa 1653 in Europe, possibly Amsterdam, Netherlands to: Jannetje Jans , born circa 1635, possibly Amsterdam, Netherlands. Died September 1683, New Amersfoort (Flatlands), New Netherland (New York). First child of Johannes and Jannetje: Jannetje Jansz; assumed born circa1654-56, apparently (see marriage record below) in Amsterdam, Netherlands; She was married 11 Jun 1677 in New Amersfoort to Theunis Janzsen Amack who was born 1654 Denmark.The source of birth and marriage dates listed above for Johannes and Jannetje Brouwer is J.R.Totten,"Brouwer (Brower-Brewer) Family Notes," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 67(1936):217-8. The analysis he provides therein is based on the assumption that their first child, a daughter, Jannetje Jansz, was born in Amsterdam about 1654 and came to America with them in 1657. I will look at that rationale in more detail below. This leads to the presumption that they were married by at least 1653. He then assumes that Jannetje was at least 18 and Johannes at least 21 to come up with birth dates of at least 1635 and 1632 respectively. It is of course possible that they were older, since the average age of marriage in the 17th century Netherlands was 22 for the bride and 25 for the groom, so they could have been born as early as 1631 and 1628 respectively.
In searching for the origin of Jan Brouwer in the Netherlands, whose name is written exactly as the noun ‘brouwer’, denoting the trade of one of his forefathers, who must have been a brewer: a craftsman who produces beer, and in particular when searching for DNA evidence of a genetic relationship in a contemporary individual, we will have to take into account that today there are over 26,000 Brouwers in the Netherlands with the highest concentration found in Amsterdam. There are some variations in the spelling, even with an uncomplicated name such as Brouwer, which will be found written with -au- or with -ou-, even though the name is identical with the word ‘brouwer’ (= brewer). As of 2007 the Netherlands has the following number of individuals using the name Brouwer or its variations:
Brouwer 26,200
morpho-syntactical variations: Brouwers 400, De Brouwer 2,200
spelling variations: Brauwers 47, De Brauwer 38, Debrauwer 11
The present day regional distribution of the Brouwer surname is depicted in the chart below, found at: http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php -- enter the search word brouwer. A report by Leedert Brouwer on the name and its variants is found at http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/documenten/ICOS2008-final.pdf”
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