Researching Michael / John Michael Hawkins, Loyalist of New Jersey and New Brunswick, and his wife Eleanor / Elaney / Lanny Brower-Brewer
This blog is dedicated to the research of Michael Hawkins, also remembered in family material as John Michael Hawkins, and his wife Eleanor Brewer, whose name also appears or is remembered as Eleanor Brower, Elaney Brewer, Elaney Brower, or Lanny Brower.
Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer are the foundation of a Hawkins Loyalist family that settled in New Brunswick, Canada after the American Revolutionary War. Yet despite decades of research, their deeper origins remain unresolved.
This blog exists to bring their story out of scattered notes, family files, old records, and private research folders — and place it somewhere public, searchable, and useful for future researchers.
Why This Blog Exists
For many years, Alan Hawkins researched and preserved the descendants of Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer. His work gave later researchers a foundation to build from. Without that work, much of this family history may have remained disconnected, forgotten, or lost.
But Michael Hawkins remains a major brick wall.
Who were his parents?
Was his full name Michael Hawkins or John Michael Hawkins?
Was he born in New Jersey?
Did he come from New York?
Were George Hawkins and Martin Hawkins his brothers?
Who were the parents of Eleanor Brewer or Eleanor Brower?
Was her family connected to the Dutch Brower/Brouwer families of New York or New Jersey?
Did Michael and Eleanor know one another before New Brunswick?
Did their families belong to the same Loyalist refugee network during the Revolutionary War?
These are the questions this blog will explore.
This is not just about building a family tree. It is about restoring historical visibility to two people whose lives were shaped by war, displacement, loyalty, migration, and survival.
Who Was Michael Hawkins?
Michael Hawkins was a Loyalist associated with New Jersey who came to New Brunswick after the American Revolutionary War. Family material also remembers him as John Michael Hawkins and says he “came from New York.”
That difference matters.
Official Loyalist records may point toward New Jersey, while family tradition points toward New York. But during the Revolutionary War, those two places were not separate worlds. The area around British-held New York City, Bergen County, Weehawken, Bull’s Ferry, Fort Lee, Hackensack, and the Hudson River formed one connected wartime zone.
Families moved across this region. Loyalists fled into British lines. Refugees, guides, pilots, woodcutters, soldiers, and displaced families operated across both sides of the New York-New Jersey border.
So when family tradition says Michael came from New York, and official records connect him to New Jersey, both may contain part of the truth.
Michael Hawkins was not simply a name on a Loyalist list. He appears to have been part of the dangerous Revolutionary War world of Loyalist refugees, woodcutters, blockhouse defenders, and families forced to choose sides.
After the war, Michael came north with the Loyalist migration and settled in New Brunswick, where he became part of the early Loyalist community in the Keswick / Douglas / York County area.
Who Was Eleanor Brewer?
Michael’s wife was Eleanor Brewer, but her name appears in several forms.
The surname may originally have been Brower or Brouwer, later written as Brewer. Her given name may appear as Eleanor, Elaney, or Lanny.
These variations are extremely important for genealogy research.
A person searching only for “Eleanor Brewer” may miss records under “Eleanor Brower.”
A person searching only for “Brower” may miss later New Brunswick records under “Brewer.”
A person searching only for “Eleanor” may miss family references to “Elaney” or “Lanny.”
For that reason, this blog will use all known name variations:
Eleanor Brewer
Eleanor Brower
Elaney Brewer
Elaney Brower
Lanny Brewer
Lanny Brower
Brouwer / Brower / Brewer
The main research question is simple:
Who were the parents of Eleanor Brewer/Brower, wife of Michael Hawkins?
Answering that question may be the key to unlocking the Hawkins line as well.
If Michael came north “with the Brewers,” as family tradition suggests, then the Hawkins-Brewer connection may not have started in New Brunswick. It may have started earlier, in the New York-New Jersey Loyalist world before the 1783 evacuation.
The Hawkins and Brewer Connection
Family tradition says Michael Hawkins came out with the Brewer family.
That statement may be one of the most important clues in this entire family history.
It suggests that Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer were not random people who met only after settlement in New Brunswick. They may have already been connected through family, community, military service, refugee networks, or church ties before they arrived in Canada.
The surname Brewer may also connect back to the Dutch surname Brower or Brouwer, which appears in New York and New Jersey records. This matters because the Revolutionary War world of New York, Bergen County, Westchester County, and New Jersey included many Dutch families whose surnames changed spelling over time.
So when researching Eleanor, it is necessary to search not only New Brunswick records, but also:
New York records
New Jersey records
Dutch Reformed Church records
Brower / Brouwer genealogy
Brewer family records
Loyalist claims
land petitions
military records
family Bibles
old letters and compiled genealogies
Eleanor Brewer should not be treated as a footnote to Michael Hawkins. She may be the central clue.
The Loyalist Context
Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer lived through one of the most disruptive periods in North American history: the American Revolutionary War.
For Loyalist families, the war was not abstract politics. It affected homes, farms, churches, property, safety, inheritance, identity, and migration.
Many Loyalists were forced to leave their communities. Some entered British lines around New York City. Some served in military or semi-military roles. Some worked as woodcutters, guides, pilots, refugees, suppliers, or defenders of strategic posts.
After the war, thousands of Loyalists evacuated to what became New Brunswick.
Michael Hawkins was one of them.
Understanding Michael and Eleanor requires understanding this world. They were not simply early settlers. They were part of the Loyalist migration that reshaped New Brunswick after 1783.
The Main Research Questions
This blog will focus on the following questions:
- Who were the parents of Michael Hawkins?
- Was Michael Hawkins also known as John Michael Hawkins?
- Was Michael born in New Jersey, New York, or somewhere else?
- Were George Hawkins and Martin Hawkins his brothers?
- Who were the parents of Eleanor Brewer / Brower?
- Was Eleanor connected to the Brower/Brouwer families of New York or New Jersey?
- Did Michael and Eleanor know each other before New Brunswick?
- Did Michael Hawkins come to New Brunswick with the Brewer family?
- What was Michael’s exact Loyalist service?
- Can Hawkins yDNA help identify Michael’s deeper paternal line?
These questions will guide the research posted here.
Why Michael Hawkins Deserves More Attention
Michael Hawkins should not remain a forgotten Loyalist ancestor buried in scattered records.
He was part of the generation that lived through the American Revolution, chose the Loyalist side, left the old colonies, and helped build a new life in New Brunswick.
He represents a larger story: the story of families caught between New York, New Jersey, and New Brunswick; between British and American loyalties; between old homes and new settlements; between family memory and official records.
His wife, Eleanor Brewer, deserves equal attention. Too often in genealogy, wives are reduced to uncertain names and approximate dates. But Eleanor may be the key to understanding where Michael came from, who he traveled with, and what family network surrounded him.
This blog will treat Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer as a couple, a family, and a historical research problem worthy of serious attention.
A Note to Hawkins, Brewer, Brower, Brouwer, and Loyalist Researchers
If you descend from Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer, or if you have any records connected to this family, I would be grateful to compare notes.
I am especially interested in:
- Michael Hawkins
- John Michael Hawkins
- Eleanor Brewer
- Eleanor Brower
- Elaney Brewer
- Elaney Brower
- Lanny Brower
- George Hawkins
- Martin Hawkins
- Hawkins families of New Jersey
- Hawkins families of New York
- Brewer / Brower / Brouwer families of New York or New Jersey
- Loyalist Hawkins families
- New Brunswick Hawkins families
- Keswick / Douglas / York County Hawkins records
- Ward’s Refugees
- Bull’s Ferry
- Bergen County Loyalists
- Weehawken Loyalists
- Hawkins yDNA
- Hawkins Big Y DNA
- I-Y20202 Hawkins line
If you have family notes, old letters, land records, church records, Bible entries, DNA results, or anything that may connect to Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer, please reach out.
Purpose of This Research Project
The goal of this blog is simple:
To make Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer searchable, visible, and impossible to forget.
Alan Hawkins spent decades preserving this family history. This blog continues that work by bringing the research into a public space where descendants, genealogists, DNA testers, and historians can find it.
Michael Hawkins and Eleanor Brewer were real people who lived through a dangerous time, made difficult choices, crossed borders, and helped create a family whose descendants are still searching for them.
Their story deserves to be known.
This blog is the beginning.
Search Terms and Keywords
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Hawkins Loyalist New Jersey
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Hawkins New Brunswick genealogy
Hawkins yDNA
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George Hawkins New York
Martin Hawkins New York
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