Howell Brewer (abt. 1740 - aft. 1807)

Born about 1740 in Brunswick County Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

Howell Brewer, usually referred to by genealogists as either "Howell Jr." or "Howell II," to distinguish him from his likely father, was born roughly about 1740 (because his known son Isaac was born in 1763).

Though this is not proved, Howell was perhaps a son of Howell Brewer Sr. and his wife Rebecca [Maiden Surname Unknown] who were from Brunswick Co, VA., but who had moved to Cumberland (later Moore) County and Orange (later Chatham) County, North Carolina by 1749.

('Howell' was a fairly common Brewer name and it's not by any means proved who his father was.)

The 1832 and 1851 Revolutionary War pension application depositions of his brother William "Bill" Brewer (c.1752-1835) and of his known son Isaac Brewer (1763-1852), respectively, give us a broad, general outline of this Howell Brewer's whereabouts for much of his life, and we are lucky to have this information:

Howell Brewer Jr. was very likely born in Brunswick County Virginia, around 1740, as this is where his brother William ("Bill") Brewer said he was born, circa 1752.

Around 1748 or 1749, like his brother William "Bill" Brewer said of himself, Howell, too, was no doubt "carried by [his] father" to what was then called Orange County, North Carolina. (The southern half would become Chatham County in 1771.) There he would no doubt grow to adulthood, likely residing there until at least shortly before he moved to Georgia before May,1763.

By around May 1763 (birth of his son Isaac), Howell Brewer Jr. was residing in Wilkes County, Georgia. At that time, Wilkes County proper didn't yet exist, and this area was actually Creek (Muscogee) Indian Territory. Before the creation of Wilkes County in 1777, this area was known as the "Ceded Lands".

(In passing, these facts beg the question of what on Earth Howell Brewer was doing in Creek Indian territory? And in Georgia? Was he trading with the natives? And how did he manage to keep his scalp on his head? And his wife and children safe?)

Between around 1767 and 1769, Howell was back North, in Bedford County Virginia, perhaps residing with relatives, as other Brewers are known to have been living there at the time.

By late 1769, he was back in Chatham County North Carolina, where he remained until at least 1790. (By this time, he must have been approaching his fifties.)

"Howell Brewer" (Sr) appears in a list of Orange County residents who protested high recording fees for deeds, in a petition to the Governor and Council in 1768. Also in the list were another Howell Brooer (sic) and Nickless (sic) Brewer. This other "Howell Brooer" was very likely Howell Jr.

In 1772, "Howell Brewer Sr" and "Howell Brewer Jr" both appeared in the same militia duty roster in Chatham County North Carolina, in Captain Joab Brooks's Company. (This was only one year after the disastrous 'Regulator Rebellion' or 'Uprising' had been brutally put down-- a forerunner and harbinger of the coming American Revolution -- which uprising had occurred in Chatham County, and which had resulted in the loss of property and even death for several participants.) (Researchers presume that these two men were the Howell Brewer Sr and Howell Brewer Jr under discussion here, but we could be mistaken.)

There is an undated petition from Wilkes County Georgia which, by reference to surrounding entries, seems to date from around September 1784, in which Howell Brewer was one of three men who requested of the governor the remittance of fines paid, because a witness in the case in question had been found and held unreliable. However, this tentative dating may be off by several years, and it may in fact refer to Howell's earlier circa 1763 sojourn in Georgia, because,

In 1785, Howell Brewer "Senr.", Nimrod Brewer, Isaac Brewer, Reuben Brewer, and another Howell Brewer. (inter alia), were signatories of a petition in Randolph County North Carolina to relocate the county seat and courthouse.

The "Howell Brewer Sr" in this 1785 petition could well actually be this Howell Brewer Jr himself, if his believed father Howell Brewer Sr had in fact died shortly after that 1772 militia service. I say that because if Howell Brewer Sr was indeed born around the year 1705 (or thereabouts), by 1785, he would have been a very old man indeed. (Even by 1772 he would have been quite old by the standards of the time!)

In 1790 this Howell Brewer was on the census in nearby SE Randolph County North Carolina (However, this is not proved to be the same Howell, and could be someone else, though that is unlikely in my opinion).

Howell Brewer: males over 16 - 3 white females - 8 total in household - 11

(Randolph County was created in 1779)

Around Dec 1793--Jan 1794, there was a petition in Moore County, North Carolina, to form Alfordstown as the County Seat for Moore County. Signatories included: Ryal [X] Brewer, Willis [X] Brewer, Ruben [X] Brewer, "Howel" [X] Brewer, and William Brewer (who signed his actual name). This Howell probably was Howell Jr., and not Sr.

By mid-1794, Howell Brewer Jr. was back in Georgia again, on the Hancock County Georgia tax list.

Howell, Isaac, Nimrod and John Brewer were all listed in Sanford's District tax list of Hancock County (Georgia) for 1795.

In 1801, like his son Isaac, Howell Brewer Jr was in nearby Jackson County, Georgia, on the tax list in Capt. Wm. Lloyd's district. He was taxed for 170 acres, 3rd quality land, on the waters of Barber's Creek (Jackson County). Originally granted to Marbury, and adjoining Connor. Howell Brewer Jr was taxed 52 cents. He owned no slaves.

The last known reference which can reasonably and confidently be assigned to this Howell Brewer (Jr) was on 19 Aug 1807 in nearby Warren County, Georgia, when he witnessed a deed between Thomas Bohanon (seller) and Daniel Grantham (buyer). (Bk. C, p. 97.)

Thereafter, we have no further reliable record of the whereabouts of this Howell Brewer, save that his son Isaac Brewer, many years later, said that his father Howell had died "in Western Tennessee". No doubt this was in Lawrence or Wayne County, Tennessee, where Howell's known son George (Washington) Brewer (1784-1853) was then residing. (A probable son, Cornelius Brewer, was also living there.)

The Howell Brewer who showed up in the 1810 Federal Census of Moore County North Carolina may or may not be him. We simply lack real evidence either way. I myself think it probably was him, but I can't prove it. It may have been 'Howell Cobb Brewer', a familial (though not biological) relative. (DNA testing has proven that this Howell Cobb Brewer's family came from a different DNA lineage altogether, and were not biologically related to these Brewers.)

Likewise for the Howell Brewer who showed up in the 1816 Mississippi Territorial Census, and 1820 Federal Census of Mississippi, in Wayne County. We simply don't know who this man might have been.

Children

This Howell Brewer's wife or wives are unknown, although his son Isaac did say that he (Howell) had taken a second wife at some point.

The known or probable children of this Howell Brewer may include (but not be limited to) the following:

1) James Brewer (c.1760-c.1812) (A probable male descendant of his has tested into the DNA Subclade of this Howell Brewer, I-Y23708.)

2) Isaac Brewer (1763-1852) (See later) (Two living male descendants -- one proved and the other indicated by DNA -- have tested into the Howell Brewer DNA Subclade, I-Y23708, with an additional matching DNA Subclade I-FT17180, which only they two share. The proved descendant goes back to Isaac's known son Joseph, whereas the indicated descendant goes back to hypothesized son Jacob Fletcher Brewer [1794-1866], born in Georgia, but who, like his probable uncle and cousin, the two Nimrod Brewers, also migrated with the Bankstons and Crockers to Southern Illinois.)

3) Nimrod Brewer (c.1766-c.1820) (He went to Southern Illinois and then perhaps to Southern Missouri, where a likely namesake son, another Nimrod Brewer, born c.1791 in Georgia, had settled. At least one known descendant of this younger Nimrod Brewer has also tested into the Howell Brewer DNA Subclade, I-Y23708]

4) Reuben Brewer (1768-1855) (He went to Clinton County, Ohio.)

5) Livicy Jane Brewer (1770-1874) (Wife of Wm. Hunsucker Jr, she remained behind in Moore County NC.)

6) Jacob "Jake" White ("Jr") (c.1772-c.1861) (My ancestor) (Along with many of his Chatham County NC neighbors, he went to Franklin County Georgia, later moving to DeKalb County, Georgia. Five of his known and proved male descendants have also tested into the Howell Brewer Jr DNA Subclade, I-Y23708, indicating their probable descent from this Howell Brewer Jr.) (In that regard, see Terry White's proofs of the DNA descent of the Whites from Howell Brewer Jr, consisting of two photos, posted on the Wikitree page for George Brewer Sr [c.1670-1744].)

7) Frances Brewer (1776-1850). (She married Reuben Tripp and also moved to both Lawrence County Tennessee and Pope County Arkansas, as did her probable brother George [Washington] Brewer.)

8) Nancy Brewer (1780-1850) (She married the Reverend Jacob Bankston Jr. [1762-1838] in Clarke County, Georgia, on 5 October, 1808, and they later moved to Washington Parish, Louisiana. The Bankstons had many ties to the Brewers of this immediate family, including several Bankstons who followed some of these Brewers to Illinois.)

9) Simon Brewer (c.1781-after 1853) (He was a sworn witness to his brother Isaac's pension application depositions, but has otherwise been very hard to trace.)

10) Cornelius Brewer (c.1782-c.1875) (He also moved to Lawrence and Wayne Counties, Tennessee, and at least one male descendant of his has also tested into the Howell Brewer DNA Subclade, I-Y23708.)

11) George Washington Brewer (c.1784-1853) (He moved, as previously stated, to Lawrence and Wayne Counties, Tennessee, and thence to Pope County, Arkansas. His brother Isaac stated that George was at one time in possession of their father's family bible. This would be well worth trying to track down.)

12) Elizabeth "Betsy" Brewer (c.1787-after 1860) (She married Leslie Coates Bankston in Clarke County, Georgia, on 18 August, 1808, and they also moved to Washington Parish, Louisiana.)

13) Sarah Ann "Sally" Brewer (1792-1875). (Said to have been born in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, she married Simeon Coates Bankston in Clarke County, Georgia on 16 February, 1817, and they also moved to Washington Parish, Louisiana. She died in Roseland, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, on 9 September, 1875.)

[The above was compiled by Terrence " Terry" White]

Genetics

• Y-DNA testing (FTDNA Big Y 700) of Terrence White (Kit 177950/YF06846).

DNA test, Family Tree DNA, kit #177950. YF06846. Big Y 700. Terminal SNP I-Y23708. (Haplogroup I-Y15030 > I-Y182422, direct male descendants of George Brewer Sr. died 1744 of Brunswick County Virginia). Direct Y-DNA match for kit #296620 (Brewer). Genetic Distance of 4/111. Confidence of shared MRCA at 8 generations is 36.37%. 91.76% at 12 generations. 99.16% at 16 generations.

Sources

• "The Brewers of Southeast America", Foy E. Varner, Jr., ebook. Available online, at https://brouwergenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/02/updates-to-brewer-families-of-southeast.html?m=1

• "The Brewer Family of Moore County, NC -- Miscellaneous Records", compiled by Morgan Jackson. Available as a pdf at "Moore County Wallaces", https://moorecountywallaces.com/histories/Brewer.pdf

• "The Family of George Brewer of Brunswick County, Virginia", by Chris Chester, at https://brouwergenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-family-of-george-brewer-of.html?m=1

• "Brewer-Lanier Database: A Resource for Researching the Descendants of George Brewer and Sarah Lanier of Brunswick County, Virginia", complied, annotated, and edited by Chris Chester, at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~brouwergenealogydata/BrewerSouth/index.htm

• "The Brewer Researcher", by James Herbert Brewer, at http://brewerresearcher.blogspot.com/2010/02/howell-brewers.html

• "Brewer DNA Project", at Family Tree DNA, at, https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/brewer-dna/about

• "Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters": Pension Application of Isaac Brewer R1185, transcribed by Will Graves. Available as a pdf at, https://revwarapps.org/r1185.pdf

• "Isaac Brewer's Revolutionary War Pension File," annotated by Chris Chester, at, https://brouwergenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/08/isaac-brewers-revolutionary-war-pension.html?m=1

• Isaac Brewer Revolutionary War Pension File, at, https://photos.app.goo.gl/N5abthdTQCLWoPQf9

• "Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters": Pension Application of William Brewer S3085, transcribed and annotated by Will Graves. Available as a pdf at, https://revwarapps.org/s3085.pdf

• "Timeline -- Isaac Brewer (1763-1852)", by Mary Andersen, at https://isaacbrewer-familyhistory.blogspot.com/2015/01/timeline-isaac-brewer-1763-1852.html?m=1

• "An Atlanta 'First Family': the White Family of DeKalb and Fulton Counties, Georgia", by T. J. White, at, https://www.scribd.com/document/94363394/An-Atlanta-First-Family-the-White-Family-of-Dekalb-and-Fulton-Counties-Georgia