THE ROBERT AND EMILINE BREWER FAMILY



 

 

 

Special E-book Price.....$11.99

 

Read about the remarkable family history of the Brewer Family in the E-book version of Children Go Where I Send Thee: The Brewers Uncover Their Roots. Two former slaves...Robert and Emiline Brewer reinvent themselves to become landowners, church builders and community contributors. Denied the right to read and write during slavery, they passed the value onto their children and future generations who owned, oversaw or taught at two of the famous Rosenwald Schools (now National Historic Landmarks). The Brewer descendants include a Tuskegee Airman, a leader of the first "Negro Ministers' March on Washington" and attorney's whose case was heard by U.S. Supreme Court.

 

To provide access to all those with computers, the E-book is downloadable in pdf or epub formats. With Pdf, you can easily download and read your e-book on your computer in the comfort of your home. You don't need a Kindle, Nook or other electronic media device to view. All you need to do is download Adobe Reader at http://get.adobe.com/reader/ 

Or you can also now download your epub version of the book and read it with Adobe Digital Edition (get free download for PCs at http://www.adobe.com/products/digital-editions.html or for Macs......http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/ for Macs. The book isn't available to read on the Amazon Kindle. 

For more information about Children Go Where I Send Thee and pics, click here! Specially priced at $11.99.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cousins Vanessa Brewer-Tyson and Nelda Brewer Davis found a land deed with Emiline's mark on it. Click on image for larger view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     BREWERS/WATTS IN THE NEWS!

 

The Brewers can now trace their roots back to the American Revolutionary War. Thomas Huntley, Sr. was a Patriot who generously contributed to  the war effort. His sons Robert and Thomas were soldiers. Thomas Huntley, Sr. and Zilphia Meadows were the parents of Lavinia Huntley Watt. She was the mother of Thomas H. Watts; the Huntleys were his grandparents. 

Our Tuskegee Airman...

Second Lt. Colonel Robert Clifton Robinson, Jr. was killed in action and received a "Purple Heart" posthumously.

Read more about him at Sarah Robinson

Emiline is in the news! Check out recent Unityfirst.com National e-Magazine's article about the Brewers and Watts. Cousin Revered Dr. Bill Dargan discusses his book "Lining Out the Word" in a Black History Month documentary produced online by Yahoo this week. Click here for info on Bill's book! Watch the Yahoo video here!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Look: Raising

Watch Cousin Kym in "Raising Whitley" on OWN starting April 20th at 10 PM.

 

 

Joshua Whitley at OWN studios.

 "Joshua's World" website...go to www.kymwhitley.org for Mommy Tips, Joshua's "Don't Feed" T-shirts, etc.

TV host Rachel Ray holding one of Joshua's "Don't Feed" T-Shirts.

 

 

Brewer Center for Slavery and Genealogical Research Team

Vanessa Brewer-Tyson

Nelda Brewer Davis

Dr. Arthelia Brewer

Nancy Merriman

Cynthia Porcher

Arthur V. Brewer, Jr., Esq.

Nancy Gathings Bunch

Bea Nivens, Founder

 

 

The following letter was found by Cousin Carolyn in her files. We need to know those "kids at home" who taped our late Cousin Lincoln. That info will be priceless!

 

 

Reprinted with permission from Carolyn Nivens Hughes

 

 

 

 

 


THE GREAT AND AMAZING BREWER LEGACY

Mary Emiline Watts Brewer

Mary Emiline Watts Brewer

 

 

In 1842, Emiline Watts Brewer was born a slave on Thomas H. Watts' farm in Mount Croghan, South Carolina. Robert's owner was Joel Brewer from the same town. It is said that the Brewer and Watts' farms were adjacent.

After slavery, Emiline and Robert greatly contributed to their community. They built schools to benefit others. Robert helped to build the Oro United Methodist Church when former slaves refused to sit in a white church's segregated balcony. Emiline had the Wesley Chapel Methodist Church built. 

To their credit, these ex-slaves left a lasting legacy for future Brewers by stressing the value of education and doing well in one's profession. These lessons were well learned by their 11 children... Vinnie, William, Joseph, Lula (Huntley), Isaiah, Effie (Nivens), Robert, Sarah (Robinson), Thomas, Houston and Jabey who passed on the legacy to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Subsequent generations of Brewer children began excelling in many fields. They passed this great legacy on to their children and grandchildren who have graduated from college/graduate/professional schools. Today, they are doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, writers, a television producer, a puppeteer, filmmaker, singers, educators, ministers, actresses, teachers, computer specialists, a former US Army colonel, government workers and other professionals. 

 

Oro United Methodist Church that Robert helped build with William Brewer, his brother.

 

 

Robert Brewer's grave (click on picture for larger view)

(Click on image for more information)

Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church...site of our second historic meeting between the Brewers and Watts. When asked by Emiline, his mother to build the church, Isaiah took lumber from his saw mill and began the task.

 

Isaiah Brewer, Emiiline and Robert's son and twin to Effie

 

Center Colored School, School District No. 51, Chesterfield County

 

 

 

 

Members of the Wesley Chapel Chuch also built the Wesley Chapel School, one of the 5,300 educational institutions known as the famous Rosenwald Schools (1917-1932). At the request of Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald who was the president of Sears, Roebuck provided matching funds for the building of these schools throughout the rural South. In South Carolina, there were approximately 500 built. And it is reported that over one-third of all African-American children in the South in the first half of the twentieth century were educated at a Rosenwald school.

 

Thomas and Nannie Brewer oversaw the Center Colored School in Guess (Mt. Croghan), making the Brewers the overseers, owners and teachers at two Rosenwald-funded schools. Vashit Brewer Dargan taught in the school; some of the Brewer children attended it.

 

Today, the Rosenwald Schools are recognized by the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. We are proud to be affiliated with such historic sites.

 

Excerpt from Children Go Where I Send Thee: The Brewers Uncover Their Roots.

 

 

 

OUR TUSKEGEE AIRMAN

Lt. Robert C. Robinson, Jr. (see more at Sarah Brewer Robinson) killed in action and buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He is standing next to "Tuxedo Junction," his plane (picture from the Craig Huntly Collection). Click Here for more information.

 

Remembering Reverend Thomas Elliott Huntley

 

 

(Lula's son was the leader of the 1948 Negro Preachers' “Negro Ministers Prayer March” on Washington). Reverend Huntley was an associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His letters to Dr. King are located at the King Center's Archives. See below..... 

http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-thomas-elliott-huntley-mlk-0

 

See Brewer Achievement in Action!!

 

 


 

Thomas Coleman Brewer, Jr. was also killed in action during the Viet Nam War. For more information, click here.

 

 

 

For their service to our country, both Lt. Robert Clifton Robinson, Jr. and Thomas Coleman Brewer, Jr. received Purple Hearts.

 

 


Brewer Family Member's Trips to Africa and Other Countries

Thomas Nivens, Host of the first Brewer Family Reunion with children in Ghana, West Africa. Thomas and his wife traveled to 10 countries in Africa as well as China, Japan, Korea, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Alaska. 

 

 

Learn about your African roots!

 

 

For more Brewer photos...click here

 

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Web Site design and concept by Beatryce Nivens. Writers include the late Lillie Brewer Atkinson, Arthur Brewer, Jr., Dr. Arthelia Brewer-Wright, the late Vashti Brewer Dargan, Vanessa Brewer-Tyson, and Beatryce Nivens. The Brewer Crest was designed by James and William Whitley. This web site is dedicated to the late Thomas "Snooks" Nivens who organized the first Brewer Reunion, the late Joyce Whitley who wrote the first Brewer Reunion Book and Dr. Arthelia Brewer-Wright who brilliantly carried on the tradition.

Thanks to Arthur Brewer, Jr. for the Brewer pictures.

Copyright Beatryce Nivens 2001-2012

 

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