Thomas Stockett Brewer, MSA SC 3520-16829

Thomas Stockett Brewer was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, around 1753. Though he had no strong ties to the county and likely could have found better opportunities for economic success elsewhere, he returned to Anne Arundel after the war and made Annapolis his permanent home. As he was a craftsman and not a farmer this was likely a sound move, for returning to Annapolis gave him access to the town’s industry. It was not the bustling business center that Baltimore grew into during that time, but Annapolis did offer developed markets and other resources for improving his economic situation that the western frontier and newly-forming towns could not provide to a craftsman.

Chartered to be Maryland’s capital city in 1708, Annapolis saw a wave of immigration early in the eighteenth century that brought a large number of foreign workers to the town. These immigrants, mostly craftsmen, often came to the colony with their entire families, looking for a new opportunity in the New World. Annapolis’ population doubled in size between 1710 and 1730, with most immigrants to the town being laborers of some kind. This influx of workers helped Annapolis grow into a great urban center in the mid-eighteenth century, but the rest of Anne Arundel County followed the same path as most other counties in Maryland; Anne Arundel was extensively cultivated by landowners for farms and plantations, and it quickly became the leading tobacco-producing county in Maryland. Although Annapolis was not centered on agriculture, the landowners who were profiting off of the enterprise often worked in the town as merchants, and sharp class divides existed in the area.[1]

The class distinctions in Anne Arundel County had more levels than they did in other areas, largely due to the capital being within the county. While most areas in Maryland were mostly populated by large and middling planters, poor folks, and slaves, Anne Arundel was populated by these groups as well as merchants, politicians, and craftsmen of varying degrees of success. Other counties had these groups as well, but not to the same magnitude as Anne Arundel. There was also a striking divide between the two aspects of the county itself; the rural areas and Annapolis differed drastically from each other. One big difference between the two was the presence of slaves, as many existed as laborers on the plantations and farms, but mainly worked as servants within the town. Most Annapolis craftsmen relied more on apprentices and indentured servants than slaves in their shops, and the proportion of the slave population in town limits remained stable at two whites for every slave throughout the eighteenth century and beyond, though it fluctuated elsewhere.[2]

Annapolis, like most of the colonial urban centers, was much more affected by the Revolutionary movement than the more rural parts of the colony as it contained a larger, more-condensed population that could be more easily organized to action than could the spread-out populace in rural areas. The people’s proximity to their political leaders also led to them having a more immediate impact on their community than their rural counterparts. As an economic and political center, the town and its people felt the oppressive tax laws handed down by Britain quicker and perhaps with more severity than did others in the colony. It did not take long for these factors to produce a revolutionary environment in the capital.

It is unclear where Brewer lived in Anne Arundel before the Revolution, but his future as a craftsman indicates that he likely grew up in Annapolis and worked as an apprentice or was indentured in the years leading up to the war. This being the case, he would have been surrounded by the revolutionary attitudes in the town. These attitudes were hard to ignore; upon the passage of the Stamp Act, the tax collector was burned in effigy and paraded around the town. On another occasion, a mob tore down the home of a British officer. The town even mimicked Boston’s rebellion of 1773, with a crowd performing the Annapolis version of a tea party in 1774. Another revolutionary action was taken the next year with the passage of the Association of Freemen, which endorsed armed opposition to the British troops who had been deployed in Maryland.[3]

These attitudes almost certainly had a strong effect on the young Brewer, but another issue likely played a role in his decision to join the Continental Army. In the decade leading up to the Revolution, Annapolis’ population increased by over twenty-five percent. This was due in large part to the capital’s booming economy; business was good in Annapolis, and numerous merchants, craftsmen, and other workers came to the town to benefit. Brewer, having likely just completed his apprenticeship or term of indenture, would have had to deal with a larger population than the town had ever seen. This was made worse by the fact that a large portion of this populace was made up of other craftsmen looking for the same work he was.[4] The lessening prospects of finding work in his home and the revolutionary environment he grew up in likely were factors in his enlistment.

Brewer was about twenty-one years old when he entered the military as a private in

Fifth Company of First Maryland Regiment, mustering in at Londontowne, Maryland.[5] He traveled to New York with this regiment and was under the command of George Washington while there, arriving in the summer of 1776. On August 27 the regiment fought in the Battle of Long Island, where they suffered heavy casualties. Although Brewer did not list the battle in his pension as one he had participated in, he was enlisted at the time it was fought and his company was at the front lines when it began, indicating that he took part in the engagement. Brewer returned to Maryland after fighting at the Battle of White Plains and in a few more skirmishes later that year, and he reenlisted after the army was reformed in December of 1776.[6]

Brewer was mustered as a non-commissioned officer into a company of the Second Maryland Regiment in early 1777, and he fought with this unit at the Battle of Germantown. They then marched, moving from White Marsh Hills to Wilmington, Delaware, where they camped for the winter. Brewer served in this regiment for several years and wintered at a place called Week's Farm, likely in New York or New Jersey, in 1779. Setting up a camp on the farm for the cold season, he was injured there—struck by a falling log—while constructing a hut to be used as soldiers’ quarters. This injury may have hastened his removal from the service, for the following spring, in 1780, he returned to Annapolis with his regiment and was discharged from service while there.[7]

Fortunate enough to be discharged in his home, Brewer chose to remain in Annapolis and began working as a shoemaker. Because he left the military as the war was still underway, Brewer was able to celebrate with the other residents of Annapolis during their celebrations of Cornwallis’ surrender in 1781 and the agreement of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, both remembered as grand occasions in the town. Though Annapolis had boomed in the years leading up to the Revolution, it was in a decline following the war. Temporarily chosen to be the capital of the country, Annapolis was not well-liked by politicians of other states and was quickly replaced. It also had a powerful new rival in its neighbor. Baltimore was steadily becoming the center for commerce in Maryland, and the city had grown to be the fourth largest in the United States by 1790, behind only New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. A developing market in Baltimore meant a decline in the industry of Annapolis, but this decline likely gave Brewer the opportunity that he did not have before the war. As other craftsmen relocated to the city with the stronger and more profitable markets, work became available in Annapolis.[8]

Within a short time of his discharge Brewer shared a quarter-acre lot in Annapolis worth about $200 with a man known simply as Welsh. The lot contained a small, somewhat rundown house, part brick and part frame; this was likely his place of residence and the location of his shop, and Welsh may have been a business partner.[9] Despite the downward turn that Annapolis underwent following the Revolution, the system for craftsmen remained the same as it had been prior to the war, with a master running the shop and teaching an apprentice his trade. Brewer, almost certainly having served under a master to learn his craft, likely became the master in his own shop.[10]

Although the Revolution had a great impact on his life, Brewer was influenced by another conflict fought during his lifetime, the War of 1812. Living on his small lot in Annapolis, he would have felt the pressure created by the new war and the threat that the British posed while sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. He and his family may have been some of the many who fled the city when Annapolis was threatened by British attack, though many of those who did flee began returning after the victory at the Battle of Fort McHenry. Brewer had experienced war during his Revolutionary service, but he had not encountered a threat to his hometown or his family like he did during the War of 1812.[11]

After working as a shoemaker on the same quarter-acre lot for three and a half decades, Brewer eventually acquired a different lot in Annapolis, near the corner of Duke of Gloucester and Green streets, which contained a small frame house. He acquired his new lot in 1817 for $200 down, and he continued to pay ground rent at about $15 for the property annually.[12] This lot, approximately 4,000 square feet of land, was likely where he lived out the remainder of his days with his family. Brewer had married a woman named Susanna Lampley in Annapolis in 1780, only a few months after he left the military. They had eight children, Sarah, Eunas, John Mercer, Mary Ann, Brice Beal, Allen Thomas, Eliza, and Susanna Brewer. The size of his growing family may have been a factor in the purchase of his new home.[13]

At the time of his death, Brewer was assessed as having just over $270 worth of property in his possession. Compared to a sample of other Annapolis residents, this was not very much. He was by far in the poorer stratum of his society, falling into the bottom fifteen percent in terms of total property value. The median estate value for Annapolis residents who died the same year, 1823, was just over $730.[14] A large gap in value existed due to the ownership of slaves; as a craftsman, Brewer owned no slaves, but the presence of slaves in others’ estates drove their value much higher.

Despite remaining one of the poor members of his society, Brewer was able to own far more than he had in the years leading up to the war. There was nothing for him in Annapolis prior to the Revolution, pushing him into the Continental service. Spending this time in the service allowed the town markets to open back up by the time he returned, and he quickly found work and a place to live. Working for years at his trade, Brewer eventually made enough money to do things he never could have done before; he purchased his own property more than once and made deals for supplies. The fact that he could spend $200 on property was impressive in itself, but he was also able to spend another $117, this time on shoemaking supplies, only two years after purchasing the lot.[15] Making these two large purchases in such close proximity indicates that he did have success in his life after the war. Brewer was not able to become one of the wealthiest men in his town, but he was able to support his family and provide a steady income through his work. He was granted a pension for his service in 1818, helping with these costs. He died in his home county in 1823.[16]