Adam Jacobus Brouwer, (Brewer)

Biography

Adam Jacobs Brouwer was born on March 27, 1696 in Brooklyn, Kings, New York Colony, British Colonial America and was baptized on March 29, 1696 there. His parents were Jacobus Adams Brouwer and Annetje Brouwer (Bogardus).

Adam married Deborah Brower (Allen) on July 13, 1717 in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. Together they had the following children:
Margaret Brewer (Brower);
Hannah Lefetra (Brouwer);
Elizabeth Morris (Brewer);
William Brower (Brouwer);
Rachel Lippincott (Brouwer);
Mary Brouwer;
George Brewer;
Elazerus Brewer;
Deborah Pearce (Brouwer);
Magdalena Brewer;
Nicholaes Brouwer.

Adam married Mary Brewer (Davis) on August 28, 1761 in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States.

He died on March 10, 1769 in Farmingdale, Monmouth, New Jersey, United States and was buried on March 15, 1769 in Brewer Cemetery, Squankum, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA, Squankum, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States.

A Copy of the Will of Adam Brower

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8P8SDh4F1Wuc0dqVUFFc2pPUms/edit

A copy of the Will of Adam Brower of New Jersey dated 1768. 

ADAM BROWER'S WILL

In the name of God

This twenty second day of August in the year of our lord God one thousand seven hundred and sixty eight I, Adam Brower, of Squancome in the township of Shrewsbury in the County of Monmouth and the eastern .division of the province of New Jersey, being weak of body but of perfect mind and memory, thanks be given unto God, do make and ordain this my last will and testament

Viz Imprimis it is my will that all of my lawful debts and funeral charges be fully paid and levied out of my estate.

Item: I give devise and bequeath unto my son William Brower all that tract of Bogg meadow which I bought lying in a Bogg called Marches Bogg lying easterly by James Morris,to him the said William Brower, his heirs and assigns forever also all of my' wearing apparel and also all of my propr,etors rights which I have by me at this time.

Item: I give and bequeath to my dearly beloved wife, Mary Brewer, all of her rights, profits and advantages whatsoever by the rights of her thirds doweries or otherwise which she obtained or shall obtain by the death of her former husband, John Curtice, disceased (deceased) and also the whole use and benefit of the one half of all my lands cleared land and timber lands and the liberty of her choice to have that part whereon the house stands which I now dwell in except one acre of land whereon the mill now stands as long as she doth remftn my widow and also all of my provisions '. such as meat, bread, butter, cheese and all sorts of grain and all other sorts of provisions which is for the present use of my fam- ily and also the best bed and furniture that I have and also two of my best cows, all of which to be hers and her heirs forever.

Item: I give and bequeath to my son, George Brouwer, the one half of all my lands lying on the east side of Mingemohole Brooke and also the one half of my grist mill to him and his heirs and also it is my will that after the marriage or decease of my wife, Mary Brower, all of which lands she doth possess I give and bequeath to my son George Brower his heirs forever to remain and continue in the name of the Browers as long as any of the name of Brower of that family shall be found.

Item: I give and bequeath unto my son, Elazerus Brewer, all of my lands and intrest in lands lying on the west side of Mingemo- hole Brooke except one acre of land Brewer Cemetery which I reserve for the use of a burial burying ground where the burying yard now is which I give to him and his heirs forever and also the one half of my grist mill and one half acre of land about it which I give to him and his heirs and after the decease of my son Elazerus Brower I give and devise to my grandson Adam Brewer, son of Elazerus Brower, all of the above mentioned lands lying on the west side of Mongemohole Brooke and mill and burying yard and half acre and half about the mill which I give to him and his heirs and assigns forever.

Page 2 of:  A copy of the Will of Adam Brower of New.Jersey dated 1768. 

Continued: Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter Magdalena Brouwer the sum of one hundred pounds money at 8 SP (pounds sterling) or ag (silver) to be levied out of my estate and paid to her whenshe shall to be the age of twenty one years old and my will is the above mentioned hundred pounds shall be put out to interest while she shallto the age of twenty one years old which interest togo towards her maintenance or bringng up.

Item: It is likewise my will that all the remainderpart of my . movable estate shall be equally divided between my son William Brower and his six sisters namely Hannah Lefetra, Elizabeth Morris, Rachel Lippincott, Mary Brouwer, Margaret Brouwer and Deborah Pearce which I aive to them and their heirs forever and it is likewise my will that my wife, Mary Brower, sh~ld keep all of her wearing apparel and it is likewise my will that there shall be no vendue (sale) made of my moveable estate but to divide it equally amongst themselves and likewise I constitue, make,~-) ordain and'apPoint my son in law James Lefetra, my executor and my living wife, Mary Brower.

END

This was copied from a handwritten copy. I have corrected some of the spelling and up dated some wording from that of the handwritten copy. I cannot find who Magelene Brower is from the familytree I . possess. I find that the copierwho made the handwritten copy did misspell the last name manytimes throughout the will,writing Brewer instead of BROWER.

Adam Brower was born on March 29, 1696 and since the will is dated 1768 was 72 years old written originally.

There was a Magdalena born March5, 1704 a sister of Adam but she would already be over 21 years of age in 1768 if still living. I find no Magdelene Brower among the children of Adam or his children's chIldren. A word seems to be left out before the name Magdelene Brower in the first item at the head of this page. Result of this is that she is an unknown.

Kenneth Lambert Wiltzf(son of Lambert Otto Wiltz and Nelle Martha Pearce) Nelle IS a relatIve 0 Adam s oaugnter eboran W 0 marrIed JeremIah pearce~ made this typewrittencopy of.the handwritten copy on Thursday, Decembe r 11, 1986.

http://brouwergenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/copy-of-will-of-adam-b...

This document, "A Copy of the Will of Adam Brower," is from the William B. Bogardus Collection (Box 5 WIL WW-86). It is described by the correspondent of Bill Bogardus as a "typewritten copy of a handwritten copy" made in 1986. The will belongs to Adam BREWER of Monmouth County, New Jersey, who wrote is will August 22, 1768 and was proved March 15, 1769 in Monmouth County. I do not have an original copy of Adam's will to compare this "copy" to, so I cannot verify it's accuracy. My own account of Adam Brewer's will comes from the abstract published in Calender of New Jersey Wills, Administrations, Etc. vol. 4, 1761-1770 (Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, First Series, Vol. 33 [1928]). An original of this will does need to be located.

What I would like to point out about this copy is the copyist's statement (on the third page) that he "corrected some of the spelling," noting that (in his belief) the surname of the testator had been misspelled as BREWER instead of BROWER. This leads to two points that need to be expanded upon.

First, when "copying" or transcribing an original document, it is essential that the the transcriber refrain from "correcting" any spelling or punctuation errors. The original must be transcribed just as it appears. Researchers who later use the transcription can interpret the "errors" as they see fit, often by incorporating their own wider experience with other records from the same place and time. When transcribing, do not "correct" the original document.

The second issue has to do with the evolution, as I prefer to see it, of surnames, and the copyists conclusion that the surname (in this case BREWER) was incorrect. In this specific case the testator of the will was known as Adam BREWER. He lived in Monmouth County, New Jersey in a community that was dominated by the English. During the period in which Adam lived it was persons of English ancestry who ran the courts and who recorded the records. They consistently recorded Adam's surname as BREWER. To my knowledge there is no record referring to Adam, during his adulthood, in which he is called anything other than BREWER. In addition, his descendants who continued to live in Monmouth County and surrounding counties in New Jersey, are consistently called BREWER in all records in which they are found. Looking back, we can only conclude that Adam's "correct" surname was BREWER. If the copyist in this case were to spend time searching out other records that pertain to this Adam Brewer, he would no doubt reach the same conclusion.

What I have just stated above is also relevant to my statement about the "evolution" of surnames. Adam was a grandson of Adam BROUWER of Gowanus, Long Island. In the past I have often heard from correspondents the statement, "my ancestor changed the surname from, Brouwer to Brewer," (or from ___ surname to ___ surname, you fill in the blank with whatever family name you've had this experience with). In fact, very few, of our ancestors consciously, or deliberately, changed their surnames. Records from the period in which Adam lived, were not written by Adam. They were recorded by others (court clerks for example). It was not so much that Adam called himself, BREWER, as it was that others, called (and recorded) him as BREWER. As time progressed more and more records accumulate in which Adam is called BREWER. Soon, his children and grandchildren are also recorded as BREWERs. With time, the original surname of the progenitor ancestor, in this case BROUWER, is lost, and possibly even forgotten. Adam Brewer didn't abruptly change is surname. Over time, court records and other documents changed it for him. The name "evolved," for lack of a better word, and descendants today are largely found with the surname BREWER. Much later on, twentieth century family researchers discover the progenitor's surname and make the assumption that somewhere along their line of descent an ancestor "changed" the family name. This didn't happen.

The New Netherland colony of the 1600s included three families with the surname BROUWER who left descendants that continue today (Adam of Gowanus, Jan of Flatlands, and Willem of Beverwijck). Generally through the 1600s we see their names recorded as BROUWER. As the 1600s gave way to the 1700s and as settlers grew in numbers and found new communities we begin to notice the evolution of the name from BROUWER to BROWER or BREWER. And if we take the time to analyze just what is going on we can see that the later two names were not the result of deliberate changes by one ancestor. What we see is that those families (descended from the three progenitors mentioned above) who remained in the immediate vicinity of the original New Amsterdam (now lower Manhattan in New York City) continued to be found with the surname BROUWER even into the twentieth century. New Amsterdam was the heart of Dutch culture and many of the original families of this area retained their "Dutchness" for a considerable period of time. Those who wrote the records largely used the Dutch variation of the surname, which is BROUWER. Into the 1700s we can see that those families who settled in the areas of northern New Jersey (Bergen County), in the Hudson Valley of New York, the area around Albany and the Mohawk River Valley to the west, and in Kings and Queens Counties, Long Island, all areas that were still dominated by Dutch families, areas where many of the clerks were still Dutch, and where many people still spoke Dutch (or German). In these areas we find that the surname is primarily recorded as BROWER. During this same period other families moved into Monmouth County and the other counties of southern and western New Jersey, where English families were more numerous, and where those who governed and wrote the records were English, and where the primary language was English. Those who settled in towns dominated by English families (as Adam Brewer did) see their family name recorded as the English variation, BREWER. After the American Revolution and into the 1800s, as settlers moved westward and the ties to their ancestors of the 1600s were weakened, and as they became "Americans," and as English became the primary language of the expanding nation, we can see that the surname BREWER is overwhelmingly favored by those who wrote the records. Today, if you are a descendant of one of the three original BROUWER progenitors, and if your ancestors were among those who left the original New York/northern New Jersey area for places west early on (late 1700s to early 1800s) you will likely have the surname, BREWER. If your ancestors remained in the immediate New York/northern New Jersey area, then you will more likely have the surname, BROWER. These present day names were not the result of onetime, deliberate, name "changes" by some ancestor. They were the result of the choices ancestors made in the locations in which they migrated to and settled in. The BROUWER, BROWER and BREWER names found today owe their existence more to the surrounding environment in which ancestors settled then they do to anyone ancestor himself.

http://brouwergenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/jacob-brouwer-and-anna...

Adam, baptized March 29, 1696 at Brooklyn, was the sixth child and fifth son. Sponsors at the baptism were Cornelis Fiele (Viele) and Katrijna Bogardus (the child's aunt and her husband). Hoffman covers Adam Brouwer at TAG 24 (1948): 27-28, and states, "Most authorities consider him the founder of the Monmouth Co., N. J. branch, and I believe he is." Coming from William J. Hoffman, this statement is odd. Hoffman developed a terrific reputation as a critical reviewer of previously published genealogical claims and was adept at correcting them. One of his primary tools was considering naming patterns and known family relationships found among baptismal sponsors. Hoffman spent a good deal of time using these techniques to correct numerous errors in prior accounts of the descendants of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon (see my earlier post on William J. Hoffman). However, with Jacob Brouwer's son Adam, Hoffman uncharacteristically takes a pass. His statement above implies that he made no effort to confirm the conclusions drawn by earlier "authorities" (in some of the work of these same "authorities," Hoffman had found other errors). If Hoffman had applied the same standards to Jacob's son Adam, as he did in many other cases, it is very possible that he would have come up with a different conclusion. The claim that Adam Brouwer, baptized March 29, 1696, son of Jacob Brouwer and Annetje Bogardus, is the Adam Brewer of Monmouth County, New Jersey, is not certain.

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Dec 4 2020, 17:31:01 UTC
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Dec 4 2020, 19:22:44 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Dec 4 2020, 19:30:12 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 8 2021, 15:34:15 UTC

Son of Jacobus Adams Brouwer and Annetje Brouwer (Bogardus). He was born in New Amsterdam, New York in 1696 and settled in Monmouth, New Jersey where he married Deborah Allen. He died in 1769 and left in his will the land around Brewer Cemetery. It is uncertain, but likely that he was burred in the cemetery although there is no marker for him.

A copy of the Will of Adam Brower of New Jersey dated 1768.

In the name of God
This twenty second day of August in the year of our lord God one thousand seven hundred and sixty eight I, Adam Brower, of Squancome in the township of Shrewsbury in the County of Monmouth and the eastern .division of the province of New Jersey, being weak of body but of perfect mind and memory, thanks be given unto God, do make and ordain this my last will and testament
Viz Imprimis it is my will that all of my lawful debts and funeral charges be fully paid and levied out of my estate.
Item: I give devise and bequeath unto my son William Brower all that tract of Bogg meadow which I bought lying in a Bogg called Marches Bogg lying easterly by James Morris,to him the said William Brower, his heirs and assigns forever also all of my' wearing apparel and also all of my propr,etors rights which I have by me at this time.
Item: I give and bequeath to my dearly beloved wife, Mary Brower, all of her rights, profits and advantages whatsoever by the rights of her thirds doweries or otherwise which she obtained or shall obtain by the death of her former husband, John Curtice, disceased (deceased) and also the whole use and benefit of the one half of all my lands cleared land and timber lands and the liberty of her choice to have that part whereon the house stands which I now dwell in except one acre of land whereon the mill now stands as long as she doth remftn my widow and also all of my provisions '. such as meat, bread, butter, cheese and all sorts of grain and all other sorts of provisions which is for the present use of my fam- ily and also the best bed and furniture that I have and also two of my best cows, all of which to be hers and her heirs forever.
Item: I give and bequeath to my son, Geroge Brower, the one half of all my lands lying on the east side of Mingemohole Brooke and also the one half of my grist mill to him and his heirs and also it is my will that after the marriage or decease of my wife, Mary Brower, all of which lands she doth possess I give and bequeath to my son George Brower his heirs forever to remain and continue in the name of the Browers as long as any of the name of Brower of that family shall be found.
Item: I give and bequeath unto my son, Elazerus Brower, all of my lands and intrest in lands lying on the west side of Mingemo- hole Brooke except one acre of land which I reserve for the use of a burial burying ground where the burying yard now is which I give to him and his heirs forever and also the one half of my grist mill and one half acre of land about it which I give to him and his heirs and after the decease of my son Elazerus Brower I give and devise to my grandson Adam Brower, son of Elazerus Brower, all of the above mentioned lands lying on the west side of Mongemohole Brooke and mill and burying yard and half acre and half about the mill which I give to him and his heirs and assigns forever.
Page 2 of: A copy of the Will of Adam Brower of New.Jersey dated 1768.
Item: I give and bequeath to my (unkr10wh)Magdel ene Brower the sum of one hundred pounds money at 8 SP (pounds sterling) or ag (silver) to be levied out of my estate and paid to her whenshe shall to be the age of twenty one years old and my will is the above mentioned hundred pounds shall be put out to interest while she shallto the age of twenty one years old which interest togo towards her maintenance or bringng up.
Item: It is likewise my will that all the remainderpart of my . movable estate shall be equally divided between my son William Brower and his six sisters namely Hannah, Elizabeth, Rachael, Mary, Margaret and Deborah which I aive to them and their heirs forever and it is likewise my will that my wife, Mary Brower, sh~ld keep all of her wearing apparel and it is likewise my will that there shall be no vendue (sale) made of my moveable estate but to divide it equally amongst themselves and likewise I constitue, make,~-) ordain and'apPoint my son in law JamesLefettero (a James L~fetrac~~ married Adam's daughter Harrah, ~'-eeef}'-f-FenraPf'ev-ffitfs ffiarF~~r my Executor and my living wife, Mary Brower.
END

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Aug 10 2022, 5:37:07 UTC