DANIEL BREWER III
from Our Brewer Ancestors by Utilis L. Russell
Daniel Brewer III, was born on January 13, 1765 to Daniel, Jr. and Ruth Strickland Brewer, at Portland, Middlesex County, Connecticut.
Daniel III married Lydia, the daughter of Simeon and Mary Bowers Penfield, on October 2, 1791 in Chatham, Middlesex County, Connecticut.
In this period of time there was great unrest among the young men, who were searching for a place to establish themselves. Many young couples had migrated from Middletown northward, and settled in the vicinity of Hartford, where tobacco was being introduced to the farmers. This crop proved to be a great financial gain for many people. Daniel and his bride felt this same unrest, along with others, but they choose to seek their fortune elsewhere, and instead of joining with the tobacco growers, they were directed, perhaps by Divine Intervention, to the frontiers of the west. Daniel and Lydia turned their backs from their native Connecticut Valley home and bade farewell to their near kinsmen, to Ago west
In the year 1800 the U.S. Census recorded them living in the town of Rochester, Ulster County, New York, with two small children. The census of 1830 finds them in Neversink, Sullivan County, New York. Neversink is a small settlement high in the mountains west of Rochester. It is heavily timbered and wild life was found there in great numbers. Deer were more numerous than were sheep, and there were plenty of moose. The wolves roamed freely about, which often gave the inhabitants great trouble. The number of trout caught in the streams seems almost fabulous. While the mother prepared breakfast, her son often took several pounds of trout from the stream outside the kitchen door.
The William Wheaton family was living in Neversink and Daniel Brewer and his family became neighbors and good friends. William and his sons were coopers by trade. They worked with the Brewers and taught them this trade. Daniel and his sons became fine artisans in this field, and it is said the Brewers could make anything from wood. They could fashion anything Afrom a wagon to a wedding ring.
Not only was this friendship existing between the two families beneficial from a trade point of view, but it was here in Neversink that Lewis, the son of Daniel III and Lydia, found the love of Bethenia, the daughter of William and Orpha Wheaton, their marriage then uniting these two great frontier families.
The most far reaching event, however, that came into the lives of these two families, while living in Neversink, was the coming of a young Mormon missionary, Jedediah Morgan Grant. He was called by the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., to the Southern Mission, but on his way to the South, he stopped and preached to this band of eager listeners. The Wheaton and Brewer families accepted the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and began immediately their preparation to gather with the Saints.
In the year 1850, the U.S. Census finds Daniel and Lydia Brewer, with three unmarried children, in Elmira, Chemung County, New York. Their branch, in Woodhull, where William and Orpha Wheaton lived, was presided over by one of the sons of William Wheaton.
Daniel died in 1850 and Lydia died in 1857.[2]
. Dates and pla
[2] . Years of death were found in Ancestral File, no month, date or place of death was listed
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