Letters from Our Ancestors

Our family has collected letters written by our ancestors in the 1850s and 1860s.  Those letters have been transcribed, and they are much easier to read.  The majority of these letters were written by members of the Stout family, a significant branch of our ancestors.  By reading them, you’ll learn much about both our family and our nation’s history.  Particularly of interest are the letters concerning the Civil War and how attitudes changed during that period.
 
To read the letters, click on this link:  Letters from Our Ancestors.  You’ll see a series of folders by the various writers.  Click on any folder to read the individual letters by that writer.  You should not need any particular software on your computer.   In each file you’ll see two transcriptions.  The first section is a literal transcription of the letter.  The original language, misspellings, and errors were included.  The second section is an interpretation of what we believe was the author’s original intent.  Be sure to cursor down the page to see both sections.

We have electronic scans of each original letter although they often are challenging to read.  If you’d like to see scans of one or more of the original letters, let us know.

There likely are more letters written by our ancestors in the homes of our family’s descendants today.   By making these transcriptions available to everyone, we hope more descendants will share the letters in their possession .   Your original letters will not be harmed or modified in any way, and they will be returned to you.

Thanks go to Sandy Brewer, wife of Bill Brewer, and to Susan Moore, wife of Jim Moore, for the transcriptions and to Preston Brewer for electronically scanning the original letters.   Their work represented a monumental effort.

 

Harron Bidwell Brewer

Harron Bidwell "Bid" Brewer (1892-1951), son of Jerry Milton Lee Brewer, holds his grandson, Lonnie Watkins Brooks III.  In about 1916, Bid and his family made the move from Alexander County, NC to Lunenberg, VA.  This photo, made in about 1945, is the only photo we have of Bid.  

The following article is from the Statesville Daily Record appearing on June 25, 1951.  Bid died two days after the article was printed.  We hope his brothers were able to visit Bid before his passing.  

Bid Brewer and his wife, Mattie Jane Herrin Brewer (1894-1978), had seven children.  Below is Bid's and Mattie's sole surviving child.  Lessie Lucille Brewer Wagstaff (b. 1924) and her husband Cleveland Wagstaff, Jr. (b. 1922) still live not too far from the homestead of her father in Virginia.  She not only is the most senior member of that branch of the family, Lucille is the most senior member of our Brewer family whom we've identified. 

Our cousin, Nancy Brewer Sloop, made a trip in June 2015 to the area where Bid and Mattie settled in Virginia. She visited with Lucille and her family.  Read about Nancy's experiences by clicking here

Lucretia Stout Brewer's Antiques

Below is an article, dated September 1905, from the Statesville Landmark concerning historic artifacts owned by Lucretia Stout Brewer (1828-1922) wife of Wiley Brewer.  Lucretia and Wiley are ancestors of most of the people reading this blog.  It would be wonderful if we knew where these artifacts, particularly the vest, are today.  We assume Lucretia was speaking of the Stout side of her family.  There have been suggestions the Stouts have a Revolutionary War Patriot in their ancestry. 

Brewer Lane, Mooresville, NC

Most towns have streets named after respected citizens. In Mooresville, NC, Brewer Lane was named by our family! Michael Gene Brewer and Frances Earlene Cockrell, both grandchildren of James Robert Brewer (1886-1956) and Bessie Dean Shoemaker (1888-1964), live in sight of the sign.  Mike named the street when he moved there, and he runs a store near Brewer Lane.  Our Nancy Dianne Brewer Sloop (pictured below) stopped by after the reunion and purely by chance discovered the homes of Mike and Earlene.

2012 Brewer Family reunion

We had another wonderful Brewer reunion at the Covenant AR Presbyterian Church in Statesville on Saturday, June 9, 2012.  Our numbers were small this year likely due to conflicts with high school graduations, but we plan to find a solution for the 2013 reunion.  Below are our family members grouped by ancestry.  Click on any photo for a larger view.

Family of Dewey Samuel Brewer, Sr.:  Standing:  Michael Shannon Brewer, Brent Brewer, Bill Brewer, Bobby Brewer, Willa Dean Brewer Sigmon, Ronald Hill.  Seated:  Vallie Brewer Rogers, Freddie Brewer, Judith Brewer Lance, Gentry Brewer.

Family of Orlando Roy Brewer:  Standing:  Pamela Jean Templeton Collins, Janet Templeton, William Preston, Brewer, Jr.  Seated:  Roy Brewer, Jean Brewer Templeton,  William Preston Brewer, Sr., Rosemary Brewer Ramsey.

Family of Joe Sephus Brewer, Sr.:  Mike Kent Brewer, Sr., Mike Kent Brewer, Jr.

Family of Ora Una Brewer:  Barbara Mayberry Hawks.

Family of Thomas Benjamin Wiley Brewer:  Nancy Brewer Sloop.

Jerry Milton Lee Brewer (1861-1903), husband of Mary Elizabeth Willet and son of Wiley Brewer and Lucretia Stout.  This is the only portrait we have of Jerry.  Nancy Brewer Sloop rescued and scanned the original portrait.  Susan Johnston Moore (wife of James Reid Moore) restored the portrait.  You'll see two versions:  the original damaged graphic and the restored graphic after Susan worked her magic.  We hope you'll find and share such photos or paintings of our ancestors.  Susan would be happy to restore them as she did with Jerry's portrait.  The original versions of your photos or portraits will not be affected.  Send me an e-mail if you have any of these important components of our family's history.

Obituary of Jerry Milton Lee Brewer from 1903 newspaper article:

Death of Mr. Brewer, of Alexander. Corrspondence of The Landmark. Mr. J. L. Brewer, near Grade, Alexander county, died October 8th, 1903, of chronic indigestion. He had been confined for some time. He was about 40 years, was born and raised in a half mile of where he died. He leaves a wife and six children, a mother and one brother--J.P. Brewer, of Grade--and three sisters to mourn their loss. He was buried at Pilgrim church, where he was a member. Grade, N.C., Oct. 14, 1903.