At this juncture, it is evident that there is a need to mention the BRUSTER spelling. Since spelling had no stringent guidelines in the early centuries, it was not uncommon to find names written phonetically. There were many early instances of the BREWSTER surname being spelled BRUSTER or a variant thereof. In the Dutch records at Leiden, there are at least four instances where the BREWSTER name was written as BRUYSTER and once as BRUYSTAERT.

While researching and writing her book, "The Brewster Genealogy", Emma C. Brewster Jones came across many references to the BREWSTER surname with the spelling BRUSTER. However, she chose to ignore the BRUSTER spelling, and the Index of her book simply shows: "Brewster (Bruster)," thereby noting the different spellings, but not giving us the benefit of any reference to who, what, when, where or why this spelling had been used.

In my own research, I found many instances of the BRUSTER spelling in census records, military records, land records and deeds, Bible and baptism records, town records, divorce records, tombstone inscriptions, as well as birth, marriage and death records. In the Colonial records of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the name is recorded as BREUSTER, yet another spelling. Several sources indicate that there were many BRUSTERs who arrived in America between 1600 and 1860.

As an example of how the accepted spelling of a surname evolves, let's look at the name MURPHY, which I found spelled as MURFEY, MURFIE and MURPHE. All of these spellings sufficed along the way to delineate a specific person or a particular person's family. However, as family groups became literate, they spelled their name the same way rather consistently. In the same way as the MURPHY surname evolved, so has our BREWSTER surname evolved; and along the way, some of the family groups clung to their particular spelling of their surname as BRUSTER.

In my book, the BRUSTER spelling (as encountered in records) is bolded and underscored BRUSTER so that you can see how many of our family group members clung to and used the BRUSTER spelling.