John Augustus Brewer was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, January 1, 1848. He moved from Maryland to Ohio at the age of twenty-six, where he farmed, taught school, was a bookkeeper, and government surveyor. During the Civil War, he served two tours of duty with the Union Army and was with Sherman on his "March to the Sea." Gus Brewer was married in 1873 to Miss Mary Ellen House, daughter of John and Sarah Gruber House, of Wengerlawn, Ohio.
In 1886, they moved with their sons Howard, Clarence, and Owen to a farm in Section 28, two miles south of the Village of Norway in Norway Township. They spent the first two years in a sod house while Mr. Brewer built a good home and other needed buildings. All these buildings are in excellent condition. This is now the home of his grandson Dean Brewer and family. The Fort Riley - Fort Kearney Trail runs through this farm and the marks left by the wagons are plainly visible. Over this trail came the buckboards carrying the mail from Fort Riley through Fort Sibley and on to the pioneer post offices of John McCathron, Ole Tiller and John Hanson and on into Nebraska.
Two more sons, Joseph and Walter, were born to mr. and Mrs. Brewer in Kansas.
Mr. Brewer, a farmer and carpenter in Kansas, was Norway Township;s assessor for eight years. He died at the age of 63 years in 1910 and Mrs. Brewer at the age of 96 years in 1948.
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