Dear all,

The Will of William Brewer (a gamekeeper in Tingrith, Bedfordshire) left the residue of his estate to be divided between his seven children. One of those children (Robert Brewer) had “many years ago” gone to America and had “not been heard of for some time”. When William died on 19 June 1870 the trustees of the Will were given three years in which to establish if Robert was alive or dead and the Will made provision for covering the costs of advertising etc., in so doing.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how I might be able to retrace the steps taken and establish if Robert was alive and well in America or whether the trustees drew a blank? Within the UK, there are key newspapers that you might advertise in (e.g. the Times) but what newspapers might have been used for a search in America? Has anyone solved a similar problem and if so, how did you do it?

Robert was probably born between 1817 and 1822 in Clophill, Bedfordshire and had clearly gone to America some years before his father's Will was written in 1859. And that is about all I know of Robert Brewer.

I know that it’s a long shot (especially with so little information to go on) but many heads are better than one when it comes to problems of this sort.

Mike.

This link has very early ships coming to North America. You might get lucky! :-)

http://www.immigrantships.net/

Good luck!

Wow, what a website. Many thanks for the really prompt response.

It'll take a fair bit of work but whether I get lucky or not, it'll be really interesting searching.

Thank you again.

Mike.

Hi there!

I did not find a passenger list for your Robert Brewer, but I think these listings may be your Brewer family, beginning with the father's death:

England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991
Name: William Brewer
Gender: Male
Burial Date: 22 Jun 1870
Burial Place: Tingrith, Bedford, England
Source Film Number: 1066961

England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
Baptism/Christening Place: CLOPHILL,BEDFORD,ENGLAND
* Father's Name: William Brewer
* Mother's Name: Hannah
1) Name: Robert Brewer Baptism/Christening Date: 17 Oct 1813
2) Name: Mary Brewer Baptism/Christening Date: 28 Apr 1816
3) Name: Charles Brewer Baptism/Christening Date: 14 Sep 1823
4) Name: Henry Brewer Baptism/Christening Date: 30 Dec 1827
Source Film Number: 1279077

* the above are from the LDS (FamilySearch) website.

======================================================

found a Robert Brewer in Philadelphia, PA ... not sure if he's "yours" though:

1850 United States Federal Census
Pennsylvania > Philadelphia > Manayunk Lower Ward > (image21)
Name: Robert Brewer
Age: 38
Birth Year: abt 1812
Birthplace: England
Home in 1850: Manayunk Lower Ward, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (multi-family residence??)
Gender: Male
Family Number: 152
Household Members: Name Age
Robert Brewer 38 (b. Eng) occ: Spinner
Ann Brewer 42 (b. Eng)
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8054&pa...

1860 United States Federal Census
Pennsylvania > Philadelphia > Philadelphia Ward 21 > (image271)
Name: Robert Brewer
Age in 1860: 48
Birth Year: abt 1812
Birthplace: England
Home in 1860: Philadelphia Ward 21, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (multi-family residence??)
Gender: Male
Post Office: Leverington
Household Members: Name Age
Robert Brewer 48 (b. Eng) occ: laborer
Ann Brewer 55 (b. Eng)
http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=...

could not find Robert Brewer (or Ann) in the 1870 or 1880 US Census .... could be he went back to England when his father died (?)

If this is your Brewer family, I found 4 more children on another FHL Film #:

England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
All Baptism/Christening Place: CLOPHILL,BEDFORD,ENGLAND
with Father's Name: William Brewer & Mother's Name: Hannah (unknown)

Name: James Brewer, Baptism/Christening Date: 20 Oct 1805
Name: John Brewer, Baptism/Christening Date: 01 Feb 1807
Name: William Brewer, Baptism/Christening Date: 21 May 1809
Name: James Brewer, Baptism/Christening Date: 29 Sep 1811
** Source Film Number: 599350

Name: Robert Brewer, Baptism/Christening Date: 17 Oct 1813
Name: Mary Brewer, Baptism/Christening Date: 28 Apr 1816
Name: Charles Brewer, Baptism/Christening Date: 14 Sep 1823
Name: Henry Brewer, Baptism/Christening Date: 30 Dec 1827
** Source Film Number: 1279077

You probably already have these-they were easy to find on LDS. :-)

And a link to some newspaper archives ...
http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/oltitles.html

Hi again,

And many thanks for your further help. I didn't have the date of William's funeral, so many thank you for that.

You have the right family, although the 1813 Robert was buried a few weeks later - on 5 December. So, as with their son James, the name Robert was re-used some years after the first child to bear the name passed-away.

There are three more children to this marriage for whom I have yet to find a baptism record: Joseph (1818-1885); Ann (1826-1890) and of course Robert II. I am also fairly certain that Henry died in infancy but have no proof as yet.

Thank you for the link to the newspaper archives - I will have a bit of a browse.

I really think I need an eureka moment for this one, if I am ever to get to the bottom of it. Any further thoughts, gratefully received.

Cheers.

Mike.

Found this marriage record.

Groom's Name: Robert Brewer
Groom's Birth Date:
Groom's Birthplace:
Groom's Age:
Bride's Name: Ann Johnson
Bride's Birth Date:
Bride's Birthplace:
Bride's Age:
Marriage Date: 06 Mar 1849
Marriage Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Groom's Father's Name:
Groom's Mother's Name:
Bride's Father's Name:
Bride's Mother's Name:
Groom's Race:
Groom's Marital Status:
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:
Bride's Race:
Bride's Marital Status:
Bride's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M00481-7
System Origin: Pennsylvania-ODM
Source Film Number: 381276
Reference Number:
Source Citation
"Pennsylvania, Marriages, 1709-1940," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org