Brick Walls

After years of research, there are some mysteries we just can't solve alone when it comes to our ancestors.  This page was created in hopes of getting some discussions going about brick walls we have hit while researching the Brewer line and those that tie into it.  Please feel free to comment and share your opinions.  If there is a question you would like to have listed, click the Contact Me tab and leave me a note.

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Isaac Brewer's Wives

Subject:

Isaac Brewer (1763-1852), son of Howell Brewer Jr (born 1742)

Background:

Isaac was born in the Creek and Cherokee Nation in an area that later became Wilkes County, Georgia.  He was raised in Chatham County, North Carolina along Haw River and was a Patriot in the Revolutionary War.  A few years later he moved to Georgia and resided in Hancock County and other nearby regions along the Oconee River.  A good share of his time was spent as an Indian fighter and an Indian spy there during the Oconee Indian Wars.  He eventually moved his family to East Tennessee and later to Talladega County, Alabama.  He died there 25 May 1852 in the vicinity of Silver Run.

Question #1:

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT ISAAC'S 1ST WIFE'S NAME WAS, AND HER BIRTH AND DEATH INFORMATION?

1st marriage - Nothing is known of his 1st wife, other than that they were married when he was about 30 years old. This would put their marriage in about 1793, likely in Georgia and probably in the vicinity of Fort Fidius, along the Oconee River in or near Hancock County. I suspect that her maiden name was Fletcher since their first child was given that as a middle name.  Sometimes children were named for other family members or friends.  However, of course, I can not say for sure without other evidence, and without further proof that Jacob Fletcher Brewer was, in fact, their son.  Some dispute that he was.  All that I know for sure is that Isaac married his first wife in about 1793 in the Hancock County, Georgia area and that she must have died before 1800 since, by then, Isaac had already married Sarah.

Question #2:

DO YOU KNOW THE MAIDEN NAME OF ISAAC'S 2ND WIFE, SARAH, AND HER EXACT BIRTH/DEATH DATE/PLACE, AND WHETHER SHE EVENTUALLY REMARRIED AFTER ISAAC DIED IN 1852?

2nd marriage - I know that the given name of his 2nd wife was Sarah, and that she was born in about 1770 somewhere in Georgia. She was illiterate, as was Isaac. All of this information is given on the 1850 Census for Talladega District, Talladega County, Alabama.  Isaac's pension papers include a letter she had written in her behalf, which states that she married Isaac before the year 1800.  She was still alive by about 1854, but then I lose track of her, so I figured that she either died or else she remarried, although I can find no record of either.

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Isaac Brewer's Unknown Children

Subject:

Isaac Brewer (1763-1852), son of Howell Brewer Jr (born 1742)

Background:

Isaac was born in the Creek and Cherokee Nation in an area that later became Wilkes County, Georgia.  He was raised in Chatham County, North Carolina along Haw River and was a Patriot in the Revolutionary War.  A few years later he moved to Georgia and resided in Hancock County and other nearby regions along the Oconee River.  A good share of his time was spent as an Indian fighter and an Indian spy there during the Oconee Indian Wars.  He eventually moved his family to East Tennessee and later to Talladega County, Alabama.  He died there 25 May 1852 in the vicinity of Silver Run.

Question:

I CAN ONLY ACCOUNT FOR 3 OR 4 OF ISAAC'S 7 CHILDREN.  DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO THE OTHERS ARE? 

From his Revolutionary War Pension Papers, we know that Isaac raised 7 children and 2 orphans (Littlebury and Eliza Whitecotton) who were not related to him.  In 1851, he stated that his children ranged in age from 37 to 57, so they would have been born on or between 1794 and 1814 in Georgia. 

Known/suspected children from both marriages:

1 - Jacob Fletcher Brewer - He is believe to be his oldest child.  He was born in 1794 in Hancock County, Georgia, which coincides with Isaac stating that his oldest was 57 years old in 1851. As a young man, he moved to Illinois.  He later relocated to Kentucky and eventually Benton Twp, Polk County, Missouri where he died in 1862 or 1865.  Jacob would have been from the first marriage.

2 - Nathan Brewer, who lived next door to Isaac in 1830 in McMinn County, Tennessee, is likely also one of his children. He might have been the same Nathan Brewer that moved to Kentucky and then Scott County, Missouri.  The 1830 Census shows his birth as 1800-1810, but the 1850 Census in Missouri states that he was born in 1795 in Georgia.  I can not yet prove if these two men were the same Nathan Brewer, or whether he was indeed one of the children of Isaac Brewer.  Knowing which birth date is correct would also effect which woman was his mother, since Isaac married Sarah before 1800.

3 - Elizabeth Brewer - She was definitely a daughter of Isaac and Sarah Brewer.  She gave an affidavit that proves this in 1851.  She was born in about 1809 in Georgia and died sometime after 1854, likely in Talladega or St. Clair County, Alabama.  She married Henry H Sutton, Isaac's lawyer, late in life, in 1854 in Talladega County.

4 - Joseph Brewer - He was, without a doubt, one of the children of Isaac and Sarah. He also gave an affidavit in 1851 when Isaac applied for a pension.  He was born in 1811 or 1812 in Georgia and is believe to have died in 1874 in St. Clair County, Alabama.

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