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.