Sunday, March 7, 2010

The Howell Brewers - Part II

This is the second part of the Feb. 1 Blog and concentrates on Howell Brewer Jr.
As in the preceding article, the late Mrs. Janice Reddin’s writing is in boldface type.

Howell Brewer, Jr. was born in Brunswick County Virginia in the early 1740s. His parents were Howell and Rebecca (____) Brewer. A statement in the estate settlement of his grandfather, George Brewer, showed that Howell Sr. had left the state leaving Rebecca behind which was likely because there were young children. At the very end, she had evidently joined him for “said Howell Brewer and Rebecca Brewer though solemnly called came not but defaulted.”

This statement does not prove she joined him. I have never found a trace of Rebecca in North Carolina.

We have no clues to the wives of Howell, Jr. But his son, Isaac, said that his father had married a second wife and had had children by her. He died in “West Tennessee” so Isaac said.

Several researchers have written that Howell Sr. died in West Tennessee. I have never found a shred of evidence of this. This was just another case of mistaking Sr. for Jr.

We find no account of Howell Jr. and his family in North Carolina for their first years there, but as shown in the account of his father, they were in Chatham County in 1768. Howell, [Jr.] was in the militia of that county in 1772 and served some (time) in the Revolution along with his son, Isaac. He was in Randolph County in 1789 to sign a petition for the centering of the county’s public buildings. He was there in the 1790 census with three males over 16 and eight females.

Fortunately, the Revolutionary War pension application, NC R-1185 of his son, Isaac, accounts for much of the period before 1768. Isaac said he was born in May 1763 in what is now Wilkes County, Georgia - it was formed from Washington County in 1777. When Isaac was about four years old they went to Bedford County, Virginia where they resided for about two years. From Bedford County they went to Chatham County, NC, where they were for a number of years.

Note that there is year or so difference with the date of the time she previously said he moved to Chatham County. According to Isaac, they would have moved to Bedford County ca 1767 and to Chatham ca 1769.

In 1795, Howell Jr. was in the tax returns of Hancock County, Georgia with a number of Brewers, including his son, Isaac.

Since daughters are very difficult to trace, we found not one of them. [Livicy and Ann are possibilities.] There were no doubt many more sons, but we could find only the following sons of Howell, Jr.:

1. Isaac Brewer. According to his pension application, Isaac was born in the Now Wilkes County, Georgia on 15 May 1763. He died in Talledega County, Alabama 25 May 1852. He married first Elizabeth (Betsy) Strong in Alabama when he was about 30 years old. She was born to Johnson Strong and his wife Mary. Isaac’s second wife was Sarah who survived him.

By the two wives he said he had seven children, but only two, Joseph and Elizabeth, were mentioned in the application records. In addition he raised two orphans who gave depositions in the records.

2. Reuben Brewer. b. Ca 1768 in Chatham Co. NC. Lived in Highland and Clinton Counties, Ohio.

Isaac’s pension application also identifies Simon of Coosa Co. AL and George of Wayne Co. TN as his brothers and, thus, as other sons of Howell Jr.

CONCLUSIONS:

From the foregoing information (including my Feb. 1 blog), one can conclude that Howell Sr. was the son of George and Sarah Lanier Brewer and left Brunswick Co. VA for NC soon after his father’s death. In all likelihood, he left behind his wife, Rebecca, and children including teen-aged son, Howell (Jr.). In Bladen Co. NC, Howell received land grants in what was later Orange Co. While in Orange Co .he married Marian (probably May). He was living in Orange Co. in 1768. Another Howell was there who was probably his son, who had evidently joined him. By 1772, Howell and probably Howell Jr., were in Chatham Co. NC and later in Randolph Co. This “county-hopping” could be caused by the formation of new counties and not from moves. No record of Howell is known to exist after he signed a petition in Randolph Co. Known children of Howell (Sr.) were Howell Jr., William, John and possibly Ann.

Howell Jr. Was born in Brunswick Co. VA in the early 1740s. He evidently joined his father in Orange Co. NC some time later. We do not know whom he married and he moved around quite a bit. He married a second time, moved to West Tennessee and died there. His known children were Isaac, Reuben, Simon and George.

This line still has a lot of unanswered questions and needs some concentrated research to dispel all the myths and incorrect information that exist.

5 comments:

  1. I have excerpts from Johnson Strongs will where he mentions his daughter Elizbeth & son-in law Isaac Brewer. He also states where he moved to MO by 1818. Now to 1850 Hardeman Co. TN. Isaac Brewer Sr. 87 yrs old from NC married to Elizabeth 74 years old from VA. Next to them Isaac Jr 30 years old born in MO. So now we have(2)Isaac's, One 87 from GA in Talladega AL in 1850 married to Sarah and the other married to Elizabeth with son Isaac Jr born in MO same time Johnson Strong lived there. I think information from these 2 over the years got lumped into 1. Almost as mixed up as the 2 Howell's. Also Eliabeth Strong was said to have been born in VA C1776. Have no idea who the Issac from NC was a descendant of. We know the 1 in AL was son of Howell Jr. Any thoughts? Rob Brewer

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    1. I totally agree with you. I, too, no longer believe that Elizabeth Strong was married to the Isaac Brewer who was born 15 May 1763 in Wilkes County, Georgia and died 25 May 1852 in Talladega County, Alabama. I believe she was married to the other Isaac Brewer of similar age who lived in Hardeman County, Tennessee. I think you're exactly right that people have gotten the two Isaac's mixed up or thought they were the same man, which they are not.

      At the time of Johnson Strong's will(which I assume was written around 1846 or a little before), when the one Isaac Brewer was still married to Johnson's daughter Elizabeth, the other Isaac Brewer was living in Alabama with his 2nd wife Sarah who clearly states in Isaac's pension papers that she had married before 1800. The Isaac Brewer who died 25 May 1852 could not have been married to Elizabeth Strong and to Sarah at the same time.

      Also, there is the transfer of slaves between Johnson Strong and his son-in-law Isaac Brewer. The Isaac Brewer who died in Talladega County, Alabama in 1852 was dirt poor and could not have afforded to support any slaves, nor did he have enough land to need them, nor did he mention any slaves in his list of dependents in his pension papers. He said that he had an old wife Sarah and a sickly old daughter Elizabeth. In affidavits of others, it was said that Isaac was always poor and did not have any desire for riches, so I can't see him ever having any slaves to better himself economically.

      Isaac Brewer (1763-1852) who died in Talladega County, Alabama is my 5 greats grandfather. He had a will posted there according to his widow. If anyone has a copy of it I would be grateful if you could email it to me at mncandersen@hotmail.com . I tried to get someone at the Talladega County Courthouse to look it up for me, but to no avail.

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    2. I now believe that the elusive Howell Brewer Jr. may have actually died in MISSOURI. And this belief is supported by new DNA evidence. Christopher "Kit" Brewer from Missouri, the Brewer DNA Project's newest member, is an EXACT 67-marker match to myself and my 4th cousin Roger White? Kit Brewer even shares the same unique mutation which Roger and I have (but which 99% of the other Brewers do NOT have.) What this probably means is that Kit, Roger, and myself all probably go back to a fairly RECENT common ancestor. Kit's earliest provable ancestor was a Nimrod Brewer of Madison Co. Mo, who was born in GEORGIA, circa 1791-1794. Estate records from the estate of a Howell Brewer who died in Madison Co. Mo in 1828, list that Nimrod Brewer as his executor and (most likely) next of kin. In 1794 and 1795, the Howell Brewer (Jr.) who was the father of Isaac Brewer (1763-1852) who left us the well-known Rev. War pension application, was residing in HANCOCK COUNTY, GEORGIA. These two Howell Brewers, in Georgia and later Missouri, were probably the same man, and thus Isaac born 1763 and Nimrod born ca. 1794 were probably brothers (and also probably half-brothers to my own ancestor Jacob "White," born ca. 1772, Chatham Co. NC). My ancestor, Jacob White, therefore, now appears likely to have been an illegitimate son of that Howell Brewer, Jr. who lived from circa 1740 to 1828, as it now appears. Howell Jr., though still not proven, appears to have been a son of Howell Brewer, Sr., and thus a grandson of George and Sarah Lanier Brewer. The 1772 militia list for Chatham County, NC, shows two men named "Howell Brewer," who were most likely father and son.

      Certainly, 'Kit' Brewer's DNA results make him a relative/descendant of George and Sarah Lanier Brewer, adding strength to my hypothesis as stated here.

      Terry White
      tjwhite1963@gmail.com

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  2. Any idea how I can get The Brewers of Southeast America, Foy E. Varner, Jr., ebook. I tried Varner's e-mail, but it doesn't work.
    Thanks
    Ken

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  3. I have a copy of Foy Varner's e-book which I can share, as well as an Excel spreadsheet made by me comparing the results of all the known y-DNA tests (to date) of living Brewer males from this extended family (of whom I am one, despite the change of surname). Contact me, Terry White, at tjwhite1963@gmail.com

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