LETTER FROM DAVE C BRYANT
DATED DECEMBER 31, 1964
DEAR SADENA (BRYANT) KELLEY A COUSIN
IN
JANUARY, 1915, MY BROTHER, WILLIAM AND I VISITED IN WAYNE
COUNTY KENTUCKY FOR ABOUT 25 DAYS. WE VISITED
WHERE OUR
FATHER'S WERE BORN, NOT
FAR FROM MONTICELLO AND BURNSIDE
KENTUCKY. AFTER VISITIN(G) UNCLE SHIRD BRYANT AND
NUMEROUS
COUSINS, WE VISITED A
GREAT UNCLE OF MY AND YOUR FATHER'S. HIS
NAME WAS JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT AND HIS AGE THEN
WAS
NIGHTY-FIVE. HIS SISTER,
EDITH ROBINSON, WAS NINETY-SEVEN. BOTH
WERE BORN IN SEQUACHIE VALLEY, TENNESSEE. AT THE
TIME OF THEIR
BIRTH, SEQUACHIE
VALLEY WAS PART OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
OUR
GRANDMOTHER BRYANT TOLD ME TO SEE THIS GREAT GREAT
UNCLE AND THAT HE OUGHT TO HAVE AN OLD FAMILY
BIBLE AND
RECORDS OF THE BRYANT
FAMILY AND THAT THE FIRST BRYANT WHO
CAME TO AMERICA IN 1730 AND ALSO MADE A COPY OF A
DIARY HE KEPT.
UNCLE JOHN HAD
THEM AND I READ THEM MANY TIMES AND I MADE
PENCILED COPIES WHICH I KEPT FOR MANY
YEARS.
THE
BIBLE AND DIARY WERE THE PROPERTY OF JAMES CROMWELL
BRYANT, THE FIRST TO COME HERE IN 1730. HE GAVE
THE RECORDS TO A
GRANDSON WHO WAS
BORN IN 1760. IN 1800 THIS GRANDSON, JOHN
CHARLES BRYANT, AND FOUR BROTHERS MOVED TO THE
CAROLINA
COUNTRY AND SETTLED IN
WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS SEQUACHIE
VALLEY, TENNESSEE.
A NOTE
IN THE DIARY SAYS- I MAKE MY LAST ENTRY TODAY AND
GIVE THESE TO MY GRANDSON, JOHN CHARLES BRYANT
DECEMBER 10,
1776.
JOHN
CHARLES BRYANT WRITES IN THE DIARY THAT HE GAVE THE
RECORDS TO HIS SON, HENRY CHARLES BRYANT. HE IN
TURN GAVE THEM
TO HIS BROTHER,
JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT.
OUR OWN
GRANDFATHER DID NOT KEEP A RECORD AS HE COULD
NOT WRITE. HIS NAME WAS JAMES PRESTON BRYANT. HE
SERVED IN THE
UNION ARMY DURING
THE CIVIL WAR.
YOURS TRULY
D. C. BRYANT (DAVID CRAIG BRYANT)
I, DAVID CRAIG BRYANT AM THE SON OF:
NAME DATE PLACE OF BIRTH RELATION
HENRY GRANVILLE BRYANT JAMES PRESTON BRYANT JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT HENRY CHARLES BRYANT. JOHN CHARLES BRYANT HENRY RANDOLPH BRYANT JAMES CROMWELL BRYANT JOHN CHARLES BRYANT |
1865 1846 1825 1805 1760 1732 1710 |
U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. LONDON LONDON |
FATHER GRANDFATHER GREAT GF G.G. G.G.G. G.G.G.G. G.G.G.G.G. G.G.G.G.G.G. GF |
THE RECORDS WERE PASSED DOWN FROM FATHER
TO SON UNTIL THEY
REACHED HENRY
CHARLES BRYANT. HE GAVE THE RECORDS TO HIS
BROTHER JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT, BECAUSE HIS SON WENT
TO THE
MEXICAN WAR IN 1848 AND
DID NOT RETURN.
I SAW THESE RECORDS WHEN I VISITED MY
GREAT GREAT UNCLE, JOHN
CROMWELL
BRYANT IN KENTUCKY IN 1915. HE WAS 95 YEARS OLD AT
THE TIME.
THE FOLLOWING IS FROM THE DIARY AS I REMEMBER.
THE FIRST BRYANT TO COME TO AMERICA WAS
BORN IN 1710 NEAR
LONDON,
ENGLAND. HE WAS THE SON OF JOHN CHARLES BRYANT OF
LONDON. JAMES CROMWELL BRYANT WAS APPRENTICED BY
HIS FATHER
TO A COOPER FOR EIGHT
YEARS TO LEARN THE TRADE. DURING
TIME FOR HIS LABOR HE RECEIVED ROOM AND BOARD AND
SOME
SCHOOLING. HE COULD DO SUMS,
READ, AND WRITE AND WAS IN THE
SEVENTEENTH YEAR (age) AND TWO MONTHS ON HIS FIRST
JOB. IN APRIL
OF 1728 HE WAS
SHANGHAIED, FORCED INTO THE KING'S NAVY. THE
KING'S OFFICERS SURROUNDED AND RAIDED A PUB WHERE
THEY WERE
DRINKING ALE AND
CAPTURED THIRTEEN YOUNG MEN. HE WAS PLACED
ABOARD A SHIP AND NEVER SAW ENGLAND AGAIN. HIS
FIRST SHORE
LEAVE OR LIBERTY WAS
IN MAY OF 1730 IN BOSTON HARBOR ABOUT THE
MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON. HE SAYS BY SUNDOWN HE WAS
FAR
OUTSIDE OF TOWN. HE DID NOT
RETURN UNTIL 1731 WHERE NEAR
BOSTON HE WORKED AT HIS TRADE. IN NOVEMBER OF 1731
HE MARRIED
NANCY O'SHAWNESSEY, A
TRADER'S DAUGHTER.
IN HIS DIARY HE SAYS HE HAD THREE SONS
AND SEVEN GRANDSONS IN
THE
REVOLUTIONARY ARMY AND THAT HE LOST ONE SON AND TWO
GRANDSONS. A GRANDSON WRITES THAT HIS GRANDFATHER
DIED IN 1780
AT THE AGE OF
SEVENTY.
JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT, BORN IN 1825 WRITES
THAT HIS FATHER
MOVED TO WAYNE
COUNTY KENTUCKY IN 1810 WITH HIS BROTHER(S),
SHELBY BRYANT FROM SEQUACHIE VALLEY, TENNESSEE AND
TWO OF
HIS UNCLES TOM AND WILLIAM
WENT TO TEXAS THE FOLLOWING YEAR.
YOURS,
DAVID C. BRYANT
THIS INFORMATION WAS SENT TO MY MOTHER
SADENA ELLEN BRYANT
KELLY WHO WAS
A COUSIN TO DAVID CRAIG BRYANT. I COPIED THIS
INFORMATION DIRECTLY FROM THE ORIGIONAL
LETTER.
DENNEY H KELLEY
CHILDREN OF JAMES and ELIZA JANE ROBINSON
BRYANT
| HENRY GRANVILLE BRYANT
SHIRD tn sherood BRYANT DAVID (DAVEY) BRYANT NANCY J. (NANNIE) BRYANT SHELBY J.BRYANT JAMES BRYANT THOMAS BRYANT SUSIE BRYANT WILLIAM (BILLY) BRYANT LILLIE BRYANT JOHN R (JOHNNY) BRYANT |
1O MAY 1867 18 DEC 1869 9 JUL 1929 AGE 59 6 OCT 1871 8 JUN 1873 26 DEC 1943 AGE 70 13 MAY 1874 18 OCT 1918 AGE 44 6 OCT 1877 7 SEPT 1879 3 APR 1963 AGE 83 12 DEC 1882 29 JAN 1884 28 FEB 1886 29 JAN 1888 11 DEC 1918 AGE 30 |