"My Bryan Line"
William
Bryan, brother of Morgan Bryan, is my 6th G-Grandfather, his son John Andrew
Bryan who married Mary Morrison is my 5th G-Grandfather, his son Andrew
Morrison Bryan who married Mary Akers is my 4th G-Grandfather, his son William Acres
Bryan who married Elizabeth DeJarnette is my 3rd G-
Grandfather, his son Andrew Bryan who married Mary J. Coffee is my 2nd
G-Grandfather, his daughter Sarah Jane Bryan who married Lee Arthur is my Great
Grandmother.
Ancestors of
William Bryan - my 6th Great-Grandfather
While the immigrant
ancestor of William and Morgan Bryan migrated to these shores from Ireland, he
was of Anglo-Irish stock, being descended from Francis Bryan (My 10th
G-Grandfather), an Englishman who was sent to Ireland in 1548 as Lord
Lieutenant. Some of the writers who have compiled papers on the genealogy of
the pioneer Bryans have stated that William and Morgan Bryan are descended from
Brian Boru, an Irish monarch of the tenth century,
and great-stem of the royal Irish house of O'Brien.
While
this is true, this statement, without a word of explanation, is indefinite and
misleading. Sir Francis Bryan of Buckinghamshire, and ancestor of Morgan and
William Bryan, married Joan, dowager duchess of Ormond and heiress of James
Fitz-Gerald. Joan's mother was the daughter of Turlogh
O'Brien, and of that branch of the clan known as the
"Mac-I-Brien-Ara."
The Bryan royal ancestors of Europe are linked at:
http://www.edavidarthur.net/BryanLine/Bryans2Royals.htm
Thus do the Bryans descend from the
house of O'Brien and from the mighty Boru, but only
through the wife of Sir Francis Bryan, and not in the direct male line. My Bryan Family claims decent from the ancient Norman
house of deBohun, the Bryans through this collateral
line. Humphrey, founder of the house, and surnamed "with the beard,"
came into England with William the Conquer, Henry duBohun,
great-grandson of Humphrey, joined the barons who obtained the concession of
Magna Carta, and was one of the twenty-five appointed to insure it's
0bservance.
A comparative study of the armorial
bearings of the Irish O'Briens and the English Bryans
reveals that the Bryans of Carolina and Kentucky inherit and display the coat
of the English Bryans. This device, described as "Or, three piles in
point, azure," was first displayed by Guy, Lord Bryan, at the siege of
Calais, 1345. His lordship "le bon Guyon"
as he was sometimes called, was descended from a long line of Guy Bryans who
settled in Devon since very early times. While there is only heraldic evidence,
their name is believed to be a place name, and from the ancient Chateau de
Brienne in the former province of Champagne. The generations which intervene
between Lord Guy and Sir Thomas Bryan (grandfather to Sir Frances) are missing,
and it is stated by Beltz (Order of the Garter) that
the family of the former became extinct, but it is a matter of record at the
College of Arms that Sir Thomas bore arms: three piles in point, and difference
from those of Lord Guy only in the matter of color.
The earliest of the Bryan grandsires of
whom there is authentic record is Sir Thomas Bryan (My 12th
G-Grandfather), Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1471 until his death.
His will, proved December 11, 1500
mentions his son, Thomas, Thomas' wife and an illegitimate daughter. The son -
Sir Thomas Bryan of Chedington, Bucks (My 11th
G-Grandfather), was knighted by the seventh Henry in 1497. His wife, the Lady
Margaret Bryan was a sister of John, Lord Berners, and daughter of Sir Humphrey
Bourchier and his wife, Elizabeth Tylney.
Through this marriage the Bryans claim descent, on the distaff side, from the
houses of Bourchier, Bohun
and Plantagenet.
Following the unhappy death of Anne
Boleyn, Lady Margaret was made foster-mother to the princess Elizabeth, and in
recognition of this service the king created the Barony of Bryan. She died in
1551, whereafter her peerage, conferred only for
life, is heard of no more. An interesting account of Dame Bryan's training and
her relationship to the little princess, is contained in Agnes Strickland's
"Lives of the Queens of England."
Her son and heir -
Sir Francis Bryan (My 10th G-Grandfather), had a prominent place at
the court of Henry VIII. Together with Sir Thomas Wyatt, George Boleyn and
Nicholas Carew, he was one of a coterie, the members of which were the
companions of the sovereign. Sir Francis was educated at Oxford, was M.P. for
Buckinghamshire from 1542 to 1544, and a member of the Privy Council until the
close of Henry's reign. At the beginning of the reign of Edward VI, he was
given large grants of land, which through the dissolution of the monasteries
had reverted to the crown. In 1520 he was knighted, and during this year
attended Henry at the Field of Cloth and Gold.
The
circumstances under which he removed to Ireland are curious and interesting. In
1548, James Butler, Earl of Ormond, an Irish noble whose powerful influence was
obnoxious to the government at Dublin, died in London of poison. Thereupon his
widow, Joan, daughter or James Fitz-Gerald, sought to marry her relative Gerald
Fitz-Gerald. To prevent this marriage, which would have united the leading
representatives of the two chief Irish noble houses, Sir Francis was induced to
prefer a suit to the lady himself. In the autumn of that same year, he married
the widowed countess, was shortly nominated Lord Marshal or Ireland, and sent
to Dublin. He died in February, 1550, at Clonmel, and
was buried at Waterford.
The data concerning the ancestry of Sir
Francis Bryan is based on research done by The Society of Genealogists, London.
Much of this material is also contained in "The Dictionary of National
Biography" and "The Complete Peerage."
For the line showing the descent of
William and Morgan Bryan from Sir Francis, the writer is indebted to the late
Gordon M. Ash, Esq. Of Frederick, MD, a Bryan descendant, and lately
genealogist to the Society of Descendants of Knights of the Garter. It has also
been published in Carter R. Bryan's, "The Bryan Family," Armstrong's
"Notable Southern Families, " J. W. Shearer's, "The
Shearer-Akers Family," and various articles on the ancestry of Morgan's
brother, William.
Sir
Francis Bryan (My 10th G-Grandfather) was twice married, first to Phillippa Montgomery, by whom he had a son, Sir Edward
Bryan. By Lady Joan, he had a son, Francis, who married Ann, daughter of Sir
William Smith. From his mother, the second Francis Bryan (My 9th
G-Grandfather) inherited estates in County Clare. His son, William Smith Bryan,
(My 8th G-Grandfather) attempted to gain the throne of Ireland, and
in 1650 Cromwell deported him as a troublesome subject. Together with eleven
sons and a shipload of chattels, including horses and other livestock, he
landed at Gloucester Beach, Virginia, and his twenty-one sons and grandsons
settled Gloucester County, Virginia. An article in "The Thoroughbred
Record" credits him with being among the first to bring horses to America.
In
time the eldest of his sons, Francis Bryan III, (My 7th G-Grandfather)
returned to Ireland and tried to regain the Clare County estates, but being
persecuted by the government he was obliged to seek refuge in Denmark. He was
born about 1630, married Sarah Brinker, a cousin to the Princess of Orange. He
was permitted to return to Ireland about 1683, and is said to have been
standard bearer to William of Orange at the battle of the Boyne. He died in
Belfast in 1694.
Francis
Bryan III, (My 7th G-Grandfather), had two sons, William, born in
Ireland, and Morgan, born in Demark. Both came to America.
William (My 6th
G-Grandfather) was the first to settle at the present site of Roanoke, VA and
died there at the age of 104.
From the time of his arrival until his
marriage in 1719 to Martha Storde, not much is known
of the movements of his brother, Morgan Bryan. Martha Strode's
parents had migrated from France to escape religious persecution. Her mother
died at sea, leaving three children, who were provided for by their shipmates
until they came of age. Martha died in Virginia in 1747, and it was about a
year later that Morgan Bryan began his epic journey through the Blue Ridge to
the Yadkin Country, to found what came to be known as the Bryan Settlements in
Rowan County, NC. His route was afterward called "Morgan Bryan's
Road." It is related that at one point he was obliged to take his wagon
apart, carry it piece by piece over a mountain, and reassemble it on the other
side. He died about July 1763. A copy of his will is contained in Mr. J. R.
Cooper's "The Bryan Families of Fayette County," and it is apparent
from this document that he had prospered at the Settlement. He reared seven
sons and two daughters, namely: Joseph, born c. 1720; Eleanor, born c. 1722;
Mary, c. 1724; Samuel, c. 1726; Morgan, c 1728; John, c. 1731; William, c 1733;
James, c. 1735; and Thomas, about 1737.
Researchers who have delved into the
Kentucky pioneer period of the Bryan annals have found their task somewhat less
arduous than those who have searched out and listed the Morgan Bryan ancestry.
Interest in the brothers William and Morgan, founder of Bryan's Station, and in
Rebecca Bryan, wife of Daniel Boone, has uncovered the wealth of material to be
had from the Fayette County records, family Bibles, gravestones, and two
notable collections of family papers, known as the "Shane and Draper
Collections." Thanks to these sources, present day descendants of Morgan
and Martha Strode Bryan are enabled to complete their lines of descent from
their immigrant ancestors.
Daniel Boone married a Bryan, his
brother, Edward, married another, his sister, Mary, a third, and these
Boone-Bryan alliances were continued into following generations. Joseph, eldest
son of Morgan Bryan, taught young Dan'l to ride and
to handle a rifle. Friends and neighbors in Pennsylvania, the two families
continued their close association on the Yadkin River in North Carolina, and in
time blazed the trail together to settle the land of blue-grass and
rhododendron.
When in the autumn of 1773 Boone made
his first attempt to settle Kentucky, the Bryans were among the "forty
well-armed men" who joined him in Powell's Valley. After being attacked by
Indians as they approached Cumberland Gap, and having several of their number
slain, and after retreating forty miles back on the trail over which they had
come, most of the company rested a while at Blackmore's fort on the Clinch
River, before moving back to North Carolina.
The
Bryans, however, remained at the Clinch settlement, and again joined Boone when
he returned there in 1775 to take his family to Boonesborough.
Thence they moved on northward to the Elkhorn, where during the autumn and
winter of 1775 they built the stockade fort, which bore their name. The siege
of Bryan's Station and the subsequent battle at the Blue Licks, were Rev. War
Battles of national as well as local importance.
Friends and kinsmen in the several
colonial communities in which they lived, it is a curious circumstance that the
ancestors of both the Boones and the Bryans were long settled in Devonshire,
and that both families claim decent from the ancient Norman house of deBohun, the Bryans through a collateral line.
Humphrey, founder of the house, and
surnamed "with the beard," came into England with William the
Conquer, Henry duBohun, great-grandson of Humphrey,
joined the barons who obtained the concession of Magna Carta, and was one of
the twenty-five appointed to insure it's 0bservance.
When in 1799 Boone,
finding Kentucky too crowded for him, sought "elbow room" in what is
now Missouri, he was not long separated from the Bryans. Shortly thereafter,
Jonathan, son of James Bryan, as if to continue the Boone-Bryan tradition,
followed him to the Femme Osage region and settled within half a mile of him.
"However, for the most part, the Bryans were content to remain on the dark
and bloody ground. The restlessness, which had so long characterized both
families, appears to have ended for them once their roots were embedded in Kentucky's
rich limestone soil.
Rebecca
Ann (Bryan) Boone (January 9, 1739 – March 18, 1813) was an American pioneer
and the wife of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone. No contemporary portrait of
her exists, but people who knew her said that when she met her future husband
she was nearly as tall as he and very attractive with black hair and dark eyes.
She was born near Winchester, Virginia.
Her father was Joseph Bryan, Sr. but there is no clear documentation as to her
birth mother. Some say her mother, Hester Hampton, died in childbirth, and that
Alice (or Aylee) Linville, Joseph Bryan's second
wife, raised her. Rebecca is the 2nd cousin of Andrew Morrison
Bryan, and my 2nd cousin 6 times removed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Boone
When she was ten, Rebecca moved with her
Quaker grandparents Morgan and Martha (Strode) Bryan, to the Yadkin River
valley in the backwoods of North Carolina. Meanwhile, the young Daniel Boone's
family settled near the Bryans in North Carolina. Rebecca and Daniel began
their courtship in 1753 and married three years later.
Rebecca married Daniel
Boone in a triple wedding on August 14, 1756, in Yadkin River, North Carolina
at the age of 17.
My Bryan Line
Generations In America
Bryan No. 1
William Smith Bryan. A
landholder in Ireland, probably Claire co., when Cromwell invaded Ireland in
1650; was transported as a "rebellious subject" to the American colonies,
with his family of eleven sons and a ship's load of goods and chattels. He
settled in Gloucester co., VA. Francis was the oldest of the 11 sons.
Bryan No. 2
Francis Bryan III returned
to Ireland in 1677 to recover his hereditary titles and estates, but was so
persecuted by the English government that he sought refuge in Denmark.
Son - Morgan, b. 1687, m.
about 1719, Martha Strode. Chester co., Pa. Later to present Frederick Co., VA.
Son - William b. 1685, m.
Margaret Brockers, sent his little son, John,
to the woods to cut a stick for the handle of a hook used in weaving, and he
was arrested for "poaching." After much trouble and expense he got
him cleared and immediately sailed for America, where, as he said, "Timber
is free and no constables." They were Presbyterians and lived at Ballyrony, County Down, the
neighboring town of "Bryansford being named from
some of the family.
Bryan No. 3
William Bryan b. 1685 m. Margaret Brockers, — d. near
Roanoke City, aged 104, in 1789. About 1745 he moved to and was the first
settler at present Roanoke, VA. He settled at "Lake Spring now a suburb of
Roanoke City.
William Smith
Bryan 1685 - 1789 - My 6th G-Grandfather by E. David Arthur
Married Margaret Brockers
Father of John
Andrew Bryan
Family Memorial
Stone
West Hill
Cemetery - City of Salem, Virginia USA Plot: GPS: 37.29313 - 080.06825
This Cemetery is
reported to be on the site of the Bryan Family Cemetery, no marked stones from
the early family burials are present.
Biography
William Bryan and wife
Margaret Brockers with son John, migrated from Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland in 1718. They
brought with them a letter of commendation from the Ballyroney
Presbyterian Church. They lived first in
PA, then in NJ before moving into VA around the year 1730. They finally settled in the Roanoke, VA
community about the year 1746.
The Church Letter - Ballyroney, April 17, 1718. "The bearer hereof,
William Bryan, who hath been a useful Member of this Congregation, being now
about to Transport himself & family to America .These are to certify that
he & his wife Margaret Bryan were of good repute among us having always
deserved the Laudable character of a blameless and Gospel conversation & so
deserve encouragement and a kind and cheerful reception into any Christian
Society where the Providence of God may cast their lot as also admissions to
sealing ordinances in an orderly way all of which is certified by us." James Donnell, William Vance, William Doan,
John Truesdale, James Dodd, James Moore, Mod., George
Irvin, C.S., Francis Wood, Robert McMullan, James McLorver,
John Stewart, James. Paxton.
(In the lower left hand
corner a notation, which is in the hand of William Bryan, the emigrant, the
words, "My age to the year of our Lord is 90 years.")
William and his family first
settled at Donegal, now Lancaster County, PA where he helped to organize
Donegal Township and Donegal Presbyterian Church in 1721and 1722 respectively. Not
satisfied with quit-rent title to his land, he moved to West New Jersey near
present day Salem.
About 1730 we find William,
along with other Scotch Irish Presbyterians, pushing into the Shenandoah Valley
of VA. He appears frequently in the
records of Spotsylvania Co. and later in Orange Co. records. On the 2nd of Nov.
1731, he is mentioned as a planter in Spotsylvania Co., VA. In 1734 his name is
recorded as William Bryan of St. Thomas Parish, Orange Co., VA., as a member of
the first grand jury in Orange County. In 1743 he purchased land from Richard
Thomas near Somerset, Orange Co., VA.
In 1748 he purchased 400
acres on the Roanoke River which became the Bryan Homestead. William was one of
the first to settle at the present site of Roanoke, and died there at the age
of 104.
Son John Andrew Bryan b.
1712 Banbridge, Down, Ireland - d. 1799, m. Mary Morrison, a
Scotch-Irish Presbyterian. About 1745 moved to the Burden colony, near present
Fairfield, Rockbridge Co., VA, founded 1737, the furtherest
colony then in the valley of Va. A few years later he moved to the Staunton
river colony and settled where the town of Salem now stands.
Bryan No. 4
John Andrew Bryan, m. Mary
Morrison. Troubled by Indians, he traded his land on Staunton river for a pair
of cart wheels and moved in 1763 to present Campbell Co., VA.; bought 320 acres
from Richard Stith on Molly's Creek and 439 acres from Benj. Arnold at its head
and built a hut about 2 miles southeast of present Rustburg, VA. John Andrew
Bryan was a Rev. War Vet. A lot on this place was used for many years after the
Revolution as a muster ground. Campbell court house was built about 1782 on 40
acres covering the spring which heads Molly's Creek, given by George Rust, soon
after the county was cut off from Bedford.
Son Andrew Morrison, b. 1748-4-25, m. Mary Akers, was also a
Revolutionary War Veteran. In 1773 he received 156 acres from the large tract
on Molly's Creek. Mary Akers was the daughter of William Akers.
http://www.edavidarthur.net//WilliamAkers/WilliamAkers.htm
Bryan No. 5
Andrew Morrison
Bryan is married to Mary Akers and living in Campbell County, VA in 1810.
Name [Andrew Bryan]
[Andrew M Briant]
Andrew M Brant
Home in 1810 (City,
County, State) Lynchburg,
Campbell, Virginia
Free White
Persons - Males - 16 thru 25 2
Free White
Persons - Males - 45 and over 1
Free White
Persons - Females - 45 and over 1
Numbers of Slaves 2
Number of
Household Members Over 25 2
Number of Household
Members 6
Bryan No. 6
William Akers
Bryan – wife Elizabeth Dejarnette – her Father is
James Pemberton DeJarnette
http://www.edavidarthur.net/JamesPDeJarnette/JamesPDeJarnette.htm
A few homes away
from Andrew Morrison Bryan, in the same community is the son of Andrew Morrison
Bryan, William Akers Bryan with his wife Elizabeth DeJarnette
(married in 1806) in the 1810 Census, same page.
Name of the head
of family
Number of free
white males under age 10 2
Number of free
white males age 10-15 -
Number of free
white males age 16-25 -
Number of free
white males age 26-44 1
Number of free
white males age 45 and over -
Number of free
white females under age 10 1
Number of free
white females age 10-15 -
Number of free
white females age 16-25 -
Number of free
white females age 26-44 1
Number of free
white females age 45 and over -
Number of all
other free persons -
Number of slaves 1
Two sons in this
census under the age of 10. One of these sons is Andrew Bryan born in March of
1810.
William Akers
Bryan was reported to be a sleep walker who would get
up and harness his horse in his sleep.
By the 1820
Census Andrew Morrison Bryan has moved his family to Ohio, most if not all of
his younger children move with him.
By the 1820
Census William Akers Bryan and his young family have moved to Halifax County,
VA and are living next door to Walker DeJarnette, the
brother of his wife Elizabeth DeJarnette.
Andrew b. 1810 is
also in this 1820 census listed as (Male - 10 thru 15 - 1) since the other male from the 1810 census listed as Under
10, is not counted, the assumption is he has died.
1820 United
States Federal Census
Name William A Briant
Home in 1820
(City, County, State) Meadsville, Halifax, Virginia
Enumeration Date August 7, 1820
Free White
Persons - Males - Under 10 3
Free White
Persons - Males - 10 thru 15 1
Free White
Persons - Males - 26 thru 44 1
Free White
Persons - Females - Under 10 2
Free White
Persons - Females - 26 thru 44 1
Number of Persons
- Engaged in Agriculture 2
Number of Persons
- Engaged in Manufactures 1
Free White
Persons - Under 16 6
Free White
Persons - Over 25 2
Total Free White
Persons 8
Total All Persons
- White, Slaves, Colored, Other 8
William Akers
Bryan continued to live in Halifax County until his death in 1835.
Bryan No. 7
The son of
William Akers Bryan.
Andrew Bryan b. 1810
is married in 1842 in Bedford County to Mary Jane Coffee and they live in
Campbell County until their death sometime after 1900 before 1910.
Their daughter
Sarah Jane Bryan marries H. Lee Arthur of Campbell County.
On December the
12, 1866 Lee Arthur obtained a License in Campbell County to marry Sarah Jane
Bryan a resident of Campbell County, Virginia.
On December 13,
1866 they were married at the home of Andrew Bryan, father of the bride, with
the ceremony performed by William Craft. Sarah Jane Bryan was born in 1843 the
daughter of Andrew Bryan and Mary J. Coffee. Andrew Bryan and Mary J. Coffee
were married in Bedford County, Virginia on June 8, 1842. Mary J. Coffee was
the daughter of Joshua A. Coffee, the son of Abner Coffee, the son of William
Coffee.
http://www.edavidarthur.net/WilliamCoffee.htm
According to a
recorded deed in Halifax County on March 1, 1884, Lee Arthur purchased 80 acres
of land from Davis and Malvina Pigg for the sum of
$600. This property is on the North side of the Banister River. This property
is accessed from VA State Route 774 aka Peaks Trail.
http://www.edavidarthur.net/leearthur/leearthur.htm
Their son William
Thomas Arthur was born in 1869, in the same Halifax County community that Sarah
Jane Bryan's Grandparents lived (William Akers Bryan and Elizabeth DeJarnett). Eliz. Dejarnett's
family and ancestors had been in this community for over a century and are
still there today.
William (Willie)
Thomas Arthur married Anselona Wade and lived and
farmed on "The Guthrie Place", their oldest son, Jonnie, married
Maggie Guthrie.
My father, Edgar
Wilson Arthur was born in Halifax Co. VA on the Guthrie farm in 1909. My
Grandfather William Arthur moved his family to Lunenburg County VA around
1914-1915. He bought a tract of land bordering on the "Poor House
Road" which extended across Hounds Creek and on across what is today
"Tomlinson Road", the tract was divided into 3 farms, the Northern
tract was the farm of William and Anselona, the tract
on the Southern side of Tomlinson Road was the farm of Jonnie and Maggie
(oldest son) and the middle tract between Hounds Creek and Tomlinson road was
the farm of William's oldest daughter Elsie and her husband Haynie
Tomlinson, hence the name Tomlinson Road.
The Northern
tract, the farm of William and Anselona, is now the
Victoria Golf Course, with the exception of two acres on the Northwest corner
which my father, Edgar Arthur bought from his father to build his home on. The
home on this two acres is where I was born.
By Edgar David
Arthur, August 16th, 2019.
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