Henry Brewer Family Papers

Collection

Identifier: A-0011

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Henry Brewer Family Papers consist of business and family correspondence; land grant and title papers; deeds, field notes, and plats; tax receipts; accounts, promissory notes and receipts; resolutions; Baptist Church session minutes and other publications; the Brewer Family Bible [too fragile to handle]; and genealogical materials.

Dates

Creation: 1820-1987
Event: Donated in 1963

Creator

Brewer, Henry (Person)

Language of Materials

The collection is in English and Spanish.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Biographical or Historical Information

According to a family tradition, Henry Brewer first arrived in Texas in 1816, three years after the Magee-Gutierrez Expedition. Settlers from the United States were just beginning to venture back into East Texas, having been driven across the Sabine by the Spanish in 1813. The Nacona Indians had a settlement northwest of Nacogdoches near the base of Flowery Mountain and it was near this peaceable tribe that Henry Brewer supposedly located. However, no supporting documentation for Henry Brewer's presence in Texas has been found prior to 1833, when he bought a tract of land from Joseph Durst.

The 1850 Census for Nacogdoches County indicates that both Henry Brewer and his wife, Susan Mitchell, were natives of North Carolina. They resided for a number of years in Hinds County, Mississippi, where several of their children were born, and a Henry Brewer appears there on a census as late as 1830. His first wife died in 1853, and Brewer married Mrs. Sarah Jane Smith on August 13, 1854. His son, Henry Mitchell Brewer, participated in the Battle of Nacogdoches in 1832 and the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Henry Brewer died in Nacogdoches County on January 23, 1865, and was buried in the Brewer Cemetery.

(White, Mrs. Perry L. "Brewer, Henry Family." Nacogdoches County Families. Dallas: Curtis Media Corp., 1985. pg.178; "Henry Brewer Family Papers." East Texas Research Center, Ralph W. Steen Library. Stephen F. Austin State University).

Extent

1.80 Cubic Feet

Additional Description

Arrangement

The bulk of this collection consists of 610 items described in 77 folders. These materials were originally housed in four clamshell boxes. All four boxes were consolidated into a single banker's box. The original folder numbering remains in place.

The collection also has 13 oversize items described in three folders and housed in two bundles.