Adam Berkhoven or Brouwer
1625-1692
Born: New York, New York, New York, USA
Died: New York?
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1625-1692
Born: New York, New York, New York, USA
Died: New York?
<p>Book states that he received a petition on a house & garden Feb 7, 1647 from Hendick Jansen. His name was on the Brooklyn Refromed Church in 1677</p><p>His name was Adam Brouwer with the name of the place in Holland added "Berkhoven" will check on spelling! </p>
<p>Adam's most enduring legacy was of course the mill he built at Gowanus, initially in partnership with Isaac de Foreest (who likely supplied the financial backing). Adam probably had the mill built in the early 1650's on land that had been patented to Jan Everts Bout on 8 July 1645. In May 1664, along with other inhabitants of Gowanus, Adam Brouwer petitioned the Governor and Council to have the canal between Red Hook Island and the mainland dredged. This was the first action in what would eventually create the "Gowanus Canal," which today borders the neighborhoods of Red Hook and South Brooklyn on the west and Gowanus/Park Slope on the east. "Brouwer's Mill" is thought to have been the first water mill built in Brooklyn (Breukelen) and the first to have operated in New Netherlands. It appears that the rights to the property were secured by Adam's children as a claim of a "gift" from Jan Everts Bout only after both Adam and Jan Everts Bout were deceased. Some decades before, Adam became the sole owner of the mill business when he bought out Isaac de Foreest's interest for 2,400 guilders payable in grain (wheat and rye at 4 glds., buckwheat and maize at 2 glds. per skepel) with the remaining 400 glds. in wampum. Full rights to the mill property were purchased in 1698 by his two youngest sons, Abraham and Nicholas, from Adam's other heirs. The deed for this purchase is certainly the most useful document found for constructing the family of Adam Brouwer. The deed was not recorded but was later found in the possession of descendants of Garret Brouwer, and has been noted by the early Brouwer family researchers, Bergen, Totten, and Hoffman. Dated 12 Aug 1698 it names Pieter, Matthyas, William, Jacob and Adam Brouwer, Barent Van Tillburg, Matthys Cornelisse, Jesaias Dreax, William Nazareth, William Hilton, Thomas Knight and Peter Hendrix, "all sons and sons-in-law of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus." The above named convey to Abraham Brouwer and Nicholas Brouwer, their two brothers in consideration of £270, the plot on which the mill stands, and the Neck of land and meadows therunto belonging. On the same day, Adam's widow, Magdalena, conveyed her interest in the mill property to Abraham and Nicholas for a separate consideration. During the first decade of the 1700's sons, Abraham and Nicholas, together expanded the mill property and built a second mill, which was then referred to as the "New Mill." In 1706 the two brothers signed an indenture certifying their joint ownership in the mill and other properties. In 1709 the "New Mill" was built, and by two indentures in 1710, the brothers decided to split the properties into separate ownership with Abraham possessing the "Old Mill," and Nicholas, the "New Mill." On 20 June 1712, Nicholas conveyed his mill property to his brother Abraham for the sum of £1200, and by 1719 Nicholas had moved his family from Gowanus, relocating to Fordham Manor, and leaving Abraham as the sole Brouwer still in the milling business at Gowanus. In September 1737, Abraham conveyed to his son Jurie (Jeremiah) Brouwer, the "Old Mill" property, and by a separate conveyance sold to his son Abraham, the "New Mill" property. The mill property remained in the possession of these two brothers through the American Revolution, and in August 1776, the Battle of Long Island, or more appropriately, the Battle of Brooklyn was fought on the mill's doorstep. It was here, and at the neighboring "Old Stone House," that William Alexander (a.k.a. Lord Stirling) and his Marylanders held off the British invasion long enough for Gen. Washington to begin the evacuation of his troops from Long Island. The mill and its stores were ordered to be burned during the retreat. A partially destroyed mill anchors Alonzo Chappel's, 1858 painting, Battle of Long Island. In November 1785, Adolphus Brouwer (son of Jurie [Jeremiah] Brouwer, grandson of Abraham, and great-grandson of Adam) purchased the mill property, as well as all the timbers that had been collected to build a mill, from the remaining heirs of Jeremiah Brouwer. Adolph apparently rebuilt the mill, and on 4 May 1798, Adolph sold the mill and property to John C. Freeke of New York City, for a considerable profit over his own purchase price. One hundred and fifty three years after the property on which the mill stood was patented, Brouwer's Mill became Freeke's Mill. In November 1818, Mary (Elsworth) Brower, widow of Abraham, and descendants of Jeremiah Brower petitioned the U.S. Congress for reimbursement of losses suffered on the mill property during August 1776. They were denied their claim with the reasons that the petitioners waited too long, and that they applied to the wrong jurisdiction (they were told to petition New York State)</p>