BRYAN FAMILY HISTORY - Interactive Family Histories

BETTYE (MOBLEY) PATTON - A visit in July of 1985 resulted in Bettye generously lending me several ofher files. These files greatly expanded the Ella (Bryan) Mobley line to almost 20 pages as well as additionalinformation on other lines.1986DEEDS AND WILLS OF ROWAN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - While in Rowan County, North Carolinaarea in April of 1986, we copied hundreds of pages of deeds and wills from court houses. Additionally, wecopied other Bryan research material found in the excellent Salisbury Public Library. This material has been mostuseful in documenting the family of John and Sarah Bryan, currently the oldest Bryan ancestor of the authors.John’s connection to the line of Morgan and Martha Bryan is now trying to be established.DAVIDSON COUNTY AND MAURY COUNTY, TENNESSEE RECORDS - Both research trips includedvisiting the Davidson and Maury County Courthouses as well as the Tennessee State Archives. The link betweenMaury County and Davidson County Bryan’s was strenghtened.JOHN K. BRYAN, JR. MANUSCRIPT - While at the Salisbury Public Library in April of 1986, a copy of“Bryan History” by John K. Bryan, Jr. was located and a recent telephone conversation with John resulted in himsending his most recent copy of his manuscript which concentrates on Morgan and Martha Bryan and theirchildren’s families. John will no doubt contribute much more help on unravelling our John Bryan’s connection toMorgan Bryan’s line.MARY ANNE (WHITFIELD) BEASLEY - After finding a copy of “Humphreys County, Tennessee” in theTennessee State Archives in April of 1986, a sketch of John William Beasley was copied. This resulted in aphone call to John and he gave the number of his mother who is an active genealogist. John and his mother aredescendants of Amanda (Bryan) Teas line, a second contact of a descendant of James Thomas Bryan.RUTH (CORBETT) KUNKLE - My entry in the July/August, 1986 issue in the Genealogical Helper’s RootsCellar resulted in a letter from Ruth Kunkle in September of 1986. Ruth is a descendant of John Bryan’sdaughter, Jennet Bryan who married Joseph Orton and is the first descendant of John Bryan located other thanthose descending from John’s son, Samuel Bryan, our direct ancestor.PIERCE, PRUITT AND STANLEY COUSINS - My mother actively sought and received new information fromnew cousins descending from Belle (Bryan) Pierce, daughter of Finus and Caledonia Bryan. Letters were receivedfrom Paul Stanley as well as Dwight and Hazel Pierce.CHARLOTTE (DODSON) PORTER - Charlotte contacted my mother and not only added much information onher line, William DeMoss Bryan’s daughter, Odie (Bryan) Dodson, but added much on information on the SamuelBryan’s daughter, Sarah (Bryan) Tate. Charlotte grew up around the Tate’s and remained in contact with herdistant cousins.1987 - 1988UPDATES FROM COUSINS PREVIOUSLY CONTACTED - As a result of the Bryan Chain Letter that wasstarted in late 1986, several cousins sent in updates. Updates were received from Clara (Baldwin) Bryan, Alma(Hornsby) Bryan, Mary (Bryant) Davis, Mildred (Johnston) Bratton, Bryant Stasburg, Bettye (Mobley) Patton andJohn K. Bryan, Jr.MARGARET (RICE) WHITFIELD - Margaret received my name from her sister-in-law, Mary (Whitfield)Beasley and sent me much information on our Bryan line. Margaret is a descendant of Mary Louisa (Bryan)Smith and her husband is a descendant of her sister, Amanda (Bryan) Teas. Margaret added well over 100descendants of these two lines.ANCESTRAL FILE, LDS LIBRARY, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - A side trip from a business trip to SanFrancisco provided me with my first visit to world’s largest genealogical library. I kept very busy for several daysand came back with several hundred sheets of research material for several lines. The best find on the Bryan linewas located in the Ancestral File, a large genealogical data base accessed by a computer terminal. I discovered