Three Forks of the Kentucky River Historical Association

Biography

Howell Cobb Brewer

From the file of Tom Barrett, great great grandson
As written by Valentine Sevier Brewer, August 13, 1885
With annotations [in brackets] by Betty Thomas Finger

HOWELL BREWER, age 94, nine months and thirteen days, was born in the state of North Carolina, Moore County, on Deep River, in the year of our Lord, October 20, 1790. Married there on the tenth of September 1810 [to Nancy Louisa Short, born 1794, NC]. Emigrated from there to Hawkins County, East Tennessee in 1814, then 24 years old.

Me and my wife had twelve children, one born in North Carolina. We lived together about 24 years and in the year 1834, April 22, she died.

Enter to the second wife [Mary Cope] the twelfth of September 1834. I had no children by her. She died June the sixteenth 1837. She lay about sixteen months of that time that she was scarcely able to walk alone.

On September 2, 1838, I married my third wife [Mary "Polly" Wolfe, born 1800 TN, died June 2, 1896 Owsley County, KY]. We had five children, four sons and one daughter [Nicholas Wolfe Brewer, b. 1838 TN, d. 1919 Owsley; John Tyler Brewer, b. 1840 TN, d. 1906 Wichita, Kansas; Valentine Sevier Brewer, b. 1842, d. 1935 Owsley; Morris Daniel Brewer, b. 1844, d. 1900 Alton, MO; Emily Juelma Brewer, b. 1848, d. 1929 Estill] and we and all of these children are still living. I raised eleven of my first children and five of my last children to man and woman hood which makes sixteen in all and I never had to part with any of them.

I joined the Missionary Baptist Church in the year 1832 and have lived in my duty most of my time. I have been in public life, civil and military, upwards of fifty years. I had two sons that volunteered in the Florida War¹ and served six months. Then I had two sons that went into the war with Mexico² and served until peace was made. At the commencement of the late war I had nine sons living and out of the nine, six entered the Federal Army, five of whom served three years. I furnished in the late war sons, sons-in-law, and grandsons, the fifth of a captains company.

I have lived to see the fourth and might say the fifth generation. I have 133 grandchildren now living, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren I might say 200.

I emigrated from East Tennessee in the year of 1848 to Owsley County, Kentucky, and have lived here since. Emigration: 1848 Eastern Tennessee to Owsley County, Kentucky.

1. The Seminole Wars, also known as the Florida Wars, were three conflicts in Florida between the Seminole-the collective name given to the amalgamation of various groups of Native Americans and African Americans who settled in Florida in the early 18th century-and the United States Army. The First Seminole War was from 1816 to 1819 (although sources differ), the Second Seminole War from 1835 to 1842 and the Third Seminole War from 1855 to 1858. [Howell's oldest sons would probably have served in the third, and maybe the second, war]. They were the largest conflicts in the United States between the War of 1812 and the American Civil War. Taken together, the Seminole Wars were the longest and most expensive (both in human and monetary terms) Indian Wars in United States history and one of the most expensive of all wars ever fought by the U.S. as a percentage of gross national product.

2. The Mexican-American War, also known as the Mexican War, or the Invasion of Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 US annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory, despite the 1836 Texas Revolution.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National Tribune, Washington, DC, July 8, 1882

A Remarkable Family

HOWELL BREWER of Traveler's Rest, Ky, now in his ninety-second year [the son of Ambrose Brewer and Naoma "Oma" Richardson], is a remarkable man. He removed from South Carolina early in his life to East Tennessee and reared one family. He there lost his first wife; married another, and she died without issue. He then married the third and removed to Owsley County, Ky and reared his last family.

He is the father of eighteen [s/b seventeen] children, all [s/b sixteen] of whom reached the mature years of man and womanhood. Mr. Brewer is the sire and grand sire of thirty Union soldiers who took part in the war of 1861. None of his descendants while in the war held a higher position than Captain of a Company. Mr. Brewer had some grandsons killed in battle; others died, and nearly all were disabled and entitled to pensions, but as yet, writes a correspondent, who furnishes the above particulars, none of them have received any.

[It appears that some of Howell's sons and grandsons did eventually receive pensions. Valentine S. Brewer, Sergeant, received a pension in 1882 for his service in Company D of the 3rd KY Infantry. John T. Brewer, Sergeant, received a pension in 1877 for his service in Company D of the 3rd & 7th KY Infantry. Ambrose Brewer, Private, received a pension in 1901 for his service in Company A of the 47th KY Mounted Infantry. Moses M. Brewer, Corporal, received a pension in 1881 for his service multiple times (Company A 3rd & 7th KY Infantry, Companies D & ? 14th KY Cavalry, and Company E of the 4th KY Mounted Infantry). Morris D. Brewer, a Sergeant in Company K of the 47th KY Mounted Infantry, received a pension in 1877, and Orville C. Brewer (b. 1831), Private, Company L, 4th KY Cavalry filed twice (1882 & 1907) and received a pension, due to age, until his death Oct. 15, 1924 in Texas. Nicholas Brewer may have served on the Confederate side. There were also many others on the Pension Index, especially the names James, William, and John.]

[Howell Cobb Brewer died four years after this article was published, on April 19, 1886. He and his wife, Mary Polly are buried in the cemetery by his name in Sturgeon, Owsley County, KY, on the R. B. McCollum farm.]