Willem Hendrickse Brouwer

  Noted events in his life were:

• Immigration, Bef 1665. The motto on the Brower coat of arms is : Vrij vochten nederlandt

Brower is a surname of Dutch derivation, coming from the word brouer, meaning a brewer. The name was early represented in the New Amsterdam (New York) Colony by Willem Hendricks Brouwer, who came over from Holland before 1665.

• Residence, 1657, Beverwyck, Albany County, New York.

• Property, 1655. ⁵¹³ BROUWER, Willem, in 1655, owned property in New Amsterdam; was in Beverwyck in 1657; and was buried Aug. 3, 1663, when the following entry is made in the deacon's book: "Tot die begraevenisse van Willem Brouwer, 40 guilders 15 (stuivers)." His son Hendrick settled early in Schenectady and it is not known that he left any other children

WILLEM, (Hendrickse ?), perhaps brother of the last, in 1655 owned property in New Amsterdam; was in Beverwyck in 1657, and was buried there Aug. 3, 1668, when the following entry was made in the deacon's book: Tot die begravenisse van Willem Brouwer 40 guilders 15 (stuivers). His two sons Hendrick and Willem settled early in Schenectady, and a dau. Maria m. Isaac Truex. 3 Residence: 1657 Albany, Albany County, New York 4 Residence: 1657-1668 Beverwyck, Albany, New York 1

• Misc: had a son Hendrick who married Maria Borsboom. Pieter Jacobse Borsboom left albany for Schenectady in 1662 becoming one of the first 15 proprietors. His daughter married Hendrick Brouwer.

Hendrick Brouwer early settled in Schenectady, New York and established an extensive fur trading business with the Indians.

He erected this substantial old mansion. It is located at 14 North Church Street and although it is two hundred and fifty years since it was built, it is in a fine state of preservation and bears mute testimony of the lore of days long gone by, when Hendrick Brouwer brought his bride Maria Peterse Borsboom to live in it, and it is there that they continued to live their life time and rear their large family.

This mansion was once surrounded by spacious grounds. It now contains a museum of Indian curios and it is often referred to as the Roosa House as the property passed into that family by marriage.

There are also many stories of secret passage ways, but that they were not needed as protection in case of Indian raids is borne out by the historical fact that this house was the only one left standing intact following the massacre and burning of Schenectady by the Indians under Chief Great Mohawk and the French under m. D'Iberville, February 8, 1690. Hendrick Brouwer and his property were spared by order of Chief Great Mohawk because of the just and friendly relations with his Indian customers in the fur trade. He died in 1707 and his widow continued in his business of Indian trading until after 1724.

Anonymous [View Citation] [Table of Contents] Old homesteads and historic buildings, genealogy and family lore : architectural-pictorial-historical exhibition Parsons, Kan.: Commercial Pub. Co., 1930 pgs. 49-50

Hendrick Brouwer's home is a historic site in Schenectady, It is located at No. 14 North Church Street. It was built in 1700. The house was sold to James Roosa in 1795 who made the alterations which changed the house so that it looks like a colonial type from the front. From the rear you can see the original steep Dutch roof. Hendrick and Marie had eight children, so you can readily see that the original house twenty feet square was inadequate for his family. The basement of the first addition was used as a kitchen, as it had a large fireplace and a Dutch Oven. In the house are secret hide-aways, large enough to hold two people, which could be entered by lifting a floor board. They led to the cellar and probably connected with a passage to the river. There are traditions that many of the old houses near the river had underground passages leading to the river. This was for protection from the Indians who might attack and perhaps it was a way to receive furs from the Indians, as all trade was secret for a number of years.

Hendrick Brouwer was a fur trader and was kind to the indians, so they were friendly to him. It is possible that the house was standing at the time of the massacre in 1690, and the building was spared on this account. The houseing committee members think it was built on the foundation of a house burned at that time.

We have record of Mr. Brouwer's will, and according to that, he built the first addition about 1700. He died in 1707, so we know that the house antedates that year. The third addition was built long after the second, one can be pretty sure, for the outer wall which formed one side of the wing had been painted a great many times.

The knocker on the original huge dutch door, which ws in two parts is now in the Schenectady Co. Historical Society rooms where you may see it.

Veeder, Millicent Winton, [View Citation] [Table of Contents] Door to the Mohawk Valley : a history of Schenectady for young people Albany, N.Y.: Cromwell Printery, 1947 pg 150-151

• Misc: family history. Willem Brouwer and his wife Lysbeth Drinkvelt Brouwer came from Qerland, Holland. he was a property owner as early as 1655 in New Amsterdam and moved to Beverwyck Albany in 1657 where he died and was buried in 1668.

• Sued, 1657. Foppe Barensen, plaintiff, against the officer and Willem Brouwer, defendants. The Plaintiff complains that the officer took him into custody without cause. The officer maintains that he took the defendant into custody on the complaint of Willem Brouwer, who claimed that the defendant had committed violence in his own house.

Willem Brouwer maintains that the compalint is true.

The plaintiff replies that he has committed no violenc in the defendant's house, but that on the contrary Willem Brouwer forcibly drove him out of the house with a broomstick, because he demanded payment for a pair of boots which he had sold to him, or wanted to take the measurements for a pair of new ones.

The court orders the plaintiff and Willem Brouwer, the defendant to prove their statements.

Anonymous [View Citation] [Table of Contents] Minutes of the court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck Albany: The University of the State of New York pg 245

Phillip Pietersen plaintiff, against Willem Brouwer, defendant.

The plaintiff says and complains that the defendant has preumed to send brokers into the woods.

The defendant denies that he sent out any brokers.

Lourens Van alen, Cornelus Bogardus and Daniel jansen declare that they saw the boy of Willem Brouwer coming down the hill with two Indians who had beavers with them and say that they went into Willem Brouwer's house about ten o'clock in the evening.

The defendant purges himself by oath.

Anonymous [View Citation] [Table of Contents] Minutes of the court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck Albany: The University of the State of New York pg264

Johannes La Montage officer against Willem Brouwer, defendant.

The plaintiff says complains that the defendant, contrary to the latest ordinance, ahs sent his servant into the woods and employed him there as a broker to get indians with their beavers.

The defendant says that he sent his servant into the woods because Rutger Jacobsen told him at the house of Jurriaen Teunesen that he had been at the oficer's who said that he did not wish to have anything to do with the matter. Also, that the defendants wife again went to the house of Rutger Jacobsen and asked whether the going into the woods was free? he answered: "I have already sent my servant into the woods. You can do as you like. Go to the officer and find out." He says further that he did not send his servant to get indians, but only tosee where his two indian brokers were. The plaintiff persist in his demand and maintains that the defendant's excuse is not valid and that Rutger Jacobsen had no authority to give him permission contrary to the ordinance of the honorable court. AS to the final excuse that he sent his servant into the woods to look for the Indian brokers, he requests that the defendant purge himself under oath and that in case of refusal he be condemned according to the ordinance, for the sake of expediting justice, as provided by the ordinances of the city of Amsterdam.

The honorabale court grants the defendant time until the next court day to purge himself under oath.

Anonymous [View Citation] [Table of Contents] Minutes of the court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck Albany: The University of the State of New York pg 279-280

Daniel Verveelen, plaintiff against Willem Brouwer, defendant.

the plaintiff demands of the defendant payment of fl.6 in beavers and fl. 12 in seawan.

the defendant's wife, appearing before court, admits the debt.

The honorale court order the defendant to pay the plaintiff the sum demanded within the space of 14 days.

Anonymous [View Citation] [Table of Contents] Minutes of the court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck Albany: The University of the State of New York pg 289

Willem married Elizabeth Arnoldusdr Drinckveld, daughter of Arnoldus Drinckveld and Unknown, in 1648 in Breda, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. (Elizabeth Arnoldusdr Drinckveld was born about 1636 in Albany County, New York and died after 1697 in Albany County, New York.)