Morgan Bryan Sr (abt. 1671 - 1763)

Husband of Martha (Strode) Bryan — married 1719 in Chester, Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died 3 Apr 1763 at about age 91 in Rowan, North Carolina

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Warning

This man has been given many fanciful ancestries, as can be seen in online family trees.

Until documentation is discovered or provided, his parents are unknown.

No evidence is known that he was born in Denmark.

The narrative given here was written by Kathy Alvis Patterson.

Biography

Paul Gifford posted this at Genforum: From this source, J. D. Bryan, "The Boone-Bryan History," an article in the_Register of the Kentucky Historical Society_ 3, no. 9 (Sept. 1905), and reprinted as a booklet in 1913, writes that Morgan's father was "believed to be William" Bryan and that his mother was "believed to be Sarah Bringer."

I recently found a book "Morgan Bryan, Pioneer on the Opequon and Yadkin" by Charles W. Bryan Jr. It also seems to follow "family tradition". Added by Kimberley Phillips 4-6-2021

Then J. W. Shearer, in _The Shearer-Akers Family_ (Somerville, New Jersey, 1915), who was interested in the descendants of William Bryan, who, according to a documents passed down through his descendants, had been of Ballyroney, County Down, Ireland, in 1717, made this William Bryan out to be Morgan Bryan's brother. He changed the name of the father to "William Smith Bryan" and had him coming to Virginia in 1650. There is, of course, no documentation here.

Later versions changed William Bryan to Francis Bryan and made "Bringer" into "Brinker" and had her Dutch and related to the Prince of Orange (I wonder if the story "Hans Brinker" by H. C. Andersen had appeared sometime in the meantime and influenced this). What were guesses in 1905 became, by 1934 or 1946 (Edward Bryan, "The Bryan Lineage and Alliances, Filson Club History Quarterly, 20 [1946]: 37-8) facts, at least as far as Morgan Bryan's ancestors are concerned.

DNA Note

• DNA tests of his descendants indicate Irish ancestry.
• See an interesting post GenForum post about DNA results.

Background

History of the Bryan-Cole Family by Winifred Bryan Cole. His last Will lists his children and his widow, Martha (Strode) Bryan.

Morgan Bryan's ancestry has been claimed to go back many generations in England and Ireland with some Danish ancestry as well. This is very questionable.

Genforum has the most reasonable family background I have seen. Kudos to John Bush, who posted "Ireland," on April 24, 2003: I decided to follow my own advice and see what additional light might be shed on the origins of Morgan Bryan by a review of Irish records, to the extent those are available in book form in Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas.

Perhaps the most important discovery I have made is that the English given name most often substituted for Morrogh and its variants as "Morgan." I have found several sources for this, none of which have any connection with a particular surname. The name means sea-battler in Irish, and at least the first syllable, "mor," also means "sea" in Welsh. So I considered, where does the name Morrogh Bryan/O'Brien occur in Ireland? I had already determined that the name Morgan Bryan/O'Brien occurs in probate records of Tipperary, Limerick, and Cloyne in the eighteenth century. So what about the seventeenth century? Seamus Pender, in "A Census of Ireland in 1659" (Dublin 1939) supplies information about all the counties of Ireland, containing the names of landowners and numerical information about tenants, including major surname groupings, located by parish, town, and barony within each county. The result is astounding. The given name "Morgan" does not occur among Bryans or O'Briens, but the given name Morrogh O'Brien occurs three times, and in only one county, Clare. (No Morrogh Bryans).

So I next looked for all the charts I could find on O'Briens of County Clare. At the level of landowners they appear all to be related, but unfortunately none of the charts follow all lines through the seventeenth century. Certain names are reused with nauseating frequency: Morrogh [for Morgan], Donal [for Daniel or Donald], Donnogh [for Dennis], Teige [for Thaddeus]and Turlogh [for Terence]. Occasionally other names occur, but never Proinsias [for Francis], at least not in the seventeenth century. "Francis" does occur in later centuries in County Clare.

The only Smith I found in County Clare in 1659 was Arthur Smyth, apparently of English extraction, Quin parish, town of Knappoge, Barony of Bunratty. The only Morgan (surname) I found was Patrick Morgan, an Irishman, Kilseily Parish, Town of Snatty, Barony of Tulla. The total number of people in the county was 440 English and 16,474 Irish.

I also learned that in 1651 General Ireton continued Cromwell's campaign into County Clare. O'Briens were in the forefront of the opposition and the entire county was laid waste to provision garrisons.

So I have reached a few new conclusions.

1) Morgan Bryan is probably an anglicized name for a person whose direct and/or collateral ancestors included persons named Morrogh O'Brien, who lived in County Clare, Ireland. There seems to be no other place in Ireland that produced anyone of that name in the land-owning class close to the time he was born (ca. 1671).

2) Some of these O'Briens were Roman Catholic and others (the Inchiquin branch) were converted Anglicans, but they were all Royalist. They all supported the Kilkenny Confederacy in the War with Cromwell ca. 1649-1651.

3) Despite the war and its aftermath there were still plenty of O'Briens around County Clare in 1659 owning land, e.g., the three Morrogh O'Briens above-mentioned, one in Quin Parish, towns of Ballyroughane and Rathlubby, Barony of Bunratty; one in Clonlea parish, town of Gortacorky, Barony of Tulla; and one in Kilmacrehy parish, town of Ballyvrislane, Barony of Crocomroe, as well as many other O'Briens with names like Turlogh, Teige, etc. They did not all leave voluntarily, or get deported, and lose their lands thereby. Or if they did, many of them were back a few years later, owning land again.

4) If the father of Morgan Bryan was someone named "Francis Bryan III," this marks the onset of new naming customs in his generation. None of Morgan Bryan's own children or grandchildren bore the name Francis. On the other hand, none of them had names like Thaddeus, Dennis, or Donald, either. There was a grandchild named Daniel, probably after Daniel Boone. Nevertheless, I stick by my earlier conclusion that he is obviously unrelated to the Englishman Sir Francis Bryan. Even if his father was called Francis, he probably was not the III, and he may not even have used the surname Bryan. He was almost certainly an O'Brien, even if someone in the lineage changed the surname to Bryan at some point.

5) I see no evidence of a connection to a Smith or Morgan family in Morgan Bryan's past. I suspect that the surname "Morgan" was invented to explain why he bore that given name. I have not seen a single document that gives an original source for that surname. I suspect that Smith is another invention, because of the fame of William Smith O'Brien. Again, I have seen no sources for the Smith surname.

6) One question I still cannot answer is which branch of the O'Briens of County Clare, Morgan Bryan belongs to ? O'Hart records a pedigree of the O'Briens of Corcomroe barony, which includes Carruduff (Carrowduff, "dark quarter), which includes one of the untraced Morrogh O'Briens. The Corcomroe O'Brien's story is similar to one of the stories told about Morgan's ancestors, that they were forced to leave after the victory of the Cromwell faction, but later recovered their lands (only to lose them again after the Battle of the Boyne). So this might be the most promising possibility, but it is still only a guess.

7) Although I have committed these ideas to paper and published them on message boards to stimulate research, I reserve the right to make further corrections when I have better information!

John Bush

Burial

April 1763, Mocksville, Rowan County (currently Davie County), North Carolina

Bryan Settlement Cemetery, Advance, Davie County, North Carolina.^[1]

Note

Additional information from: "Bryan Wills and Deeds With Genealogical Notes" by Lindsay M. Brien in Dayton, Ohio.^[2]

FHL Book US/CAN 929.273 B84 bl Pages 79-93.

"Morgan Bryan and his brother William Bryan settled in Pennsylvania about 1716; there Morgan Bryan married Martha Strode in 1719 and removed to Virginia, near Winchester. After a few years, he along with his sons and their families, crossed the mountains into North Carolina.

Early records state that Martha, wife of Morgan Bryan died 1747 in Virginia; the following refutes this:

Augusta County Records, (Chalkley) Vol. 3, p 340; 21 September 1753; Commission to Edward Hughs, Squire Boone & James Carter of Rowan County to take acknowledgement of Martha, wife of Morgan Bryan,

Then Church Records collected by the Rev. John O. Shane and deposited with the Presbyterian Historical Society, Whitherspoon Building, Philadelphia, show the following -

"Martha Bryan deceased August 29, 1762

"Morgan Bryan " " April 3, 1763 Easter Sunday

"Allenor Bryan " " October 21, 1772".

Shane Collection, Bryan Family Papers, MS/SH18/384, Item 2."

Will

Rowan County, North Carolina, Wills 1757-1778

Will Book A, page 13-14, Images 16-17. (Will: Dtd 28 Mar 1763. Rec'd 10 Jul 1763: Image. ^[3])

I, Morgan Bryan of Rowan County, living in perfect mind and memory, blessed be God for his mercies, do dispose of my worldly estate as follows, viz, First I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Thomas Bryan my mansion house and plantation, also my part of a Negro named Jack, also my wagon and wagon horse named Black and the necessaries belonging to the wagon and my plow and the utensils thereunto. Two brood mares, viz. a mare called Brown Dent and her yeard and young and her colt. Two cows, viz. a cow called Josey and her calf the other called Brown and her calf also my bed and furniture after my decease reserving a sufficient living for me of the land while I live. Second, I give and bequeath unto my beloved daughter Elinor Linville all my wife's wearing apparel, I give and bequeath unto my grand daughter, Mary Forbes my great pot and five shillings Sterl. Eight pounds proclamation to my beloved son James Bryan. I reserve for my funeral charges and sickness. I give and bequeath Joseph, Samuel, Morgan, John, William and Thomas and my daughter Elinor Linville all the rest of my real and personal estate to be equally divided amongst them together with that part of my estate which they have already received. I do nominate my beloved sons John Bryan and William Bryan to be Ext. Ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last Will and Testament whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this March twenty 28, 1763. Morgan Mryan (Seal)

Signed, sealed, published and pronounced in the presents of Morgan Bryan Jr., Anthony Heaverloe, Mary (X) Forbes. Proved July Court 1763

Page 92 "Three sons of Morgan Bryan and Martha (Strode) Bryan did not leave last Wills. Their children are given here to complete this record." Note: I (Arletta) have incorporated the information listed under the children's names:

James Bryan, John Bryan and Thomas Bryan

Additional Biographical Information

From ncpedia.org

Morgan Bryan, founder of a pioneer clan on the Forks of the Yadkin, was born in Denmark and came to America from Ireland in 1695 or somewhat later.

The tombstone of Martha Strode Bryan, wife of Morgan Bryan. Image courtesy of the Davie County Public Library. By the time of his 1719 marriage to Martha Strode, Morgan Bryan owned land in Birmingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Shortly after his marriage, he moved farther west in the county and may then have begun trading activities with the Indians who came to the Conestoga River to exchange furs for goods.

For a time, Morgan Bryan lived in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he was associated with his younger brother William Bryan and the Linville brothers in the Conestoga trade. In the three years prior to 1729, he lived on a 137-acre farm in Marlborough Township, Chester County, among prosperous Quaker farmers.

Although Morgan Bryan went to Pennsylvania from Northern Ireland under Quaker auspices and was closely associated with prominent Friends during his residence in Pennsylvania and for many years thereafter, he apparently held membership in the Society for only a brief period. His only recorded formal affiliation is his listing on the rolls of the New Garden Quaker Meeting of Chester County in 1719.

Morgan Bryan's reputed family background suggests conversion to Presbyterianism, a deduction sustained by the fact that his younger brother William Bryan, who came to Pennsylvania from Northern Ireland in 1718—helped organize the Donegal Presbyterian Church in Lancaster County in 1721–22 and by the fact that Morgan Bryan himself invited a Presbyterian minister to hold services at his frontier home in the Shenandoah Valley many years later.

Contact with Indians and white traders from the western hinterlands doubtless stimulated Morgan Bryan's interest in the Shenandoah country. With his Quaker friend Alexander Ross he explored the northern gateway to this beautiful valley in 1729. The following year, the pair presented a proposal to the council of Virginia and the governor for a large-scale colonization project. They were granted a one-hundred-thousand-acre tract in the vicinity of the present Winchester. It was stipulated that land patents would be granted within two years to one hundred families and that Morgan Bryan and Alexander Ross would divide the land in any manner agreeable to the settlers.

Virginia's colonial government had long attempted to discourage western settlement for fear of antagonizing the Indians, but the policy had proved unenforceable; the council apparently decided it wiser to populate the area in an organized way with hard-working Quaker farmers than to try to keep squatters and renegades out. Once the farmers were established, undesirables could be dealt with far more effectively through their local governments than through attempts at control from Williamsburg. Moreover, the Bryan–Ross project would test the validity of Lord Fairfax's claim to the Northern Neck region, which the council disputed.

One of Morgan's properties consisted of 400 acres on Linville Creek in Augusta County.^[4] Notably, a contemporary and likely brother of his, Cornelius O'Bryan, also owned land on Linville Creek.

The settlement venture was eminently successful. Through the 1730s and 1740s, Morgan Bryan lived at two or three locations in the region, as the needs of his growing family and his land-trading activities dictated. Real estate speculation seems to have been an important source of his income. As a result, he built less permanently than some of his contemporaries, whose farmsteads have survived to this day. Extending his activities progressively farther south into the valley, Morgan Bryan became a man of considerable means and influence. The records of Virginia's original western counties contain many references to his services as justice, surveyor, juror, and road overseer, as well as to his real estate transactions.

As Morgan Bryan's older children began forming their own families, he searched for sufficient unclaimed land to support the future needs of the growing clan. The Shenandoah Valley was rapidly filling with people, and his own success as a promoter contributed to the need to look elsewhere. His sons scouted far to the south, and at length Morgan Bryan decided to lead his family to Lord Granville's land south of the Virginia border. Thus, in 1747, he began winding up his business affairs in the valley. On 7 March 1749, "Morgan Bryant, farmer, of Anson Co., No. Carolina" gave power of attorney to one John Madison "to collect debts in Augusta and Frederick [Virginia]".^[5]

Morgan and Martha Bryan, together with all their children and grandchildren, set out on the long journey south in the fall of 1748. The eldest son, Joseph Bryan, and his young family may have been left behind temporarily to help tie up loose ends. Also left behind was the grave of the Bryans' second child, Mary Bryan Curtis, who had died in 1743, a year after the death of her young husband, Thomas Curtis. The Curtis's infant daughter, Mary Curtis, left in the care of grandmother Martha Bryan, was among the several young children who endured the long trek to Carolina. The Bryan caravan undoubtedly stayed for a time with Morgan's brother William Bryan, who, with his sons, had been the first to settle the present site of Roanoke, Virginia, in 1745. William Bryan, from whom William Jennings Bryan traced his descent, died in 1789 at the age of 104. ^[6]

The Bryan clan reached the Forks of the Yadkin sometime before 7 March 1749. The patriarchal Morgan Bryan was then seventy-eight years of age. Within four or five years, he laid claim to fifteen or more choice tracts within the Granville Grant, totaling several thousand acres. Son-in-law William Linville acquired two thousand acres and Joseph, Samuel, and Morgan, Jr., also purchased substantial acreage. Originally in Anson County, all the Bryan property lay within Rowan County when the latter was formed in 1753.

By the time the Moravians arrived from Pennsylvania in 1752 and selected the 155-square-mile tract that was to become Wachovia, the neighboring area to the west was already known as "the Bryan Settlements."

Morgan Bryan's extensive purchases reflected not only his desire to acquire a legacy for his unmarried sons but also his intention to continue his activities as a land speculator. His many subsequent land transactions confirm this intent, and Rowan County records suggest that several sons followed their father's example. The Bryan Settlement was founded by Morgan Bryan on the Yadkin River Crossing near Joppa, in North Carolina. The heart of the Bryan Settlements described an arc across the northern half of the present Davie County. On the east, the arc anchored on the Yadkin with the property of Samuel Bryan, just south of the "shallow ford" where the "great wagon road" between Wachovia and the new county seat of Salisbury crossed the river. Morgan Bryan's Mansion House was located on Deep Creek about four miles north of the shallow ford.

The Bryans were soon joined in the Forks region by the Carters, Hartfords, Davises, Hugheses, Linvilles, Forbeses, Boones, and others, many of whom they had known in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Along with the heads of some of these families, Morgan Bryan played an important part in Rowan County's early government. Staunch Quaker, Squire Boone, whose numerous sons included Daniel Boone, served as the county's first justice, and Morgan Bryan was a member of the first grand jury.

The population of the Forks region grew rapidly during the 1750's as new families arrived in increasing numbers from the northeast. The decade saw the remainder of the Bryan sons marry and strengthen the Bryan clan's influence in the area north of Salisbury. William Bryan, the sixth son, married Squire Boone's daughter Mary Boone. Her brothers Daniel Boone and Edward Boone married Bryan sisters, Rebecca Bryan and Martha Bryan, daughters of Morgan's eldest son, Joseph Bryan. A few years later, George Boone, another of Squire Boone's sons, married another of Morgan's granddaughters, Nancy Linville, daughter of William and Eleanor Bryan Linville. These marriages marked the beginning of a remarkable bond between the Bryan and Boone families, which was to persist for nearly a century. Succeeding generations saw several more Boone-Bryan marriages, as well as simultaneous migrations to Kentucky and, later, to Missouri.

The aging Morgan Bryan and wife Martha Bryan, lived to see their children firmly established in the growing frontier community. They also survived the terrifying Cherokee raids of 1758–61 and saw their sons take part in the military actions that ultimately quelled the depredations and secured the region. Morgan Bryan, Jr., was a militia captain and Thomas Bryan an ensign. Sons Samuel, John, William, and James also performed militia service during the short but vicious war, during which hundreds of families fled the region and hundreds more were killed. Morgan Bryan and his wife Martha did not live, however, to see the profound influence their children and grandchildren exerted upon local affairs during the tumultuous period of the Revolutionary War, nor the prominent role they played in wresting Kentucky from British-led Indians with the founding of Boonesborough and Bryan's Station.

Eight of the Bryan children survived their parents.

Joseph Bryan, father-in-law of Daniel and "Neddy" Boone, participated in his brother William's Kentucky land venture during the Revolution but returned to remain in the Bryan Settlements in Rowan County until about 1798. He was a suspected Loyalist; some of his sons served with local Tory militia and others with rebel irregulars. Joseph Bryan died in Kentucky in 1804 or 1805.

Eleanor Bryan Linville, whose husband, William Linville, and son John Linville were killed by Indians while hunting in the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1766, did not remarry; she left the Yadkin area with her married children after the Revolution and died in Kentucky in 1792.

Samuel Bryan, who served with distinction as a Loyalist colonel during the war, was tried and sentenced to death but exchanged for a rebel officer. In spite of the bitterness that persisted long after the Revolution, Samuel's personal stature was such that he was allowed to retain most of his property in the Bryan Settlements. He continued to live on the Yadkin until his death in 1798. At least one of his Tory sons moved to upstate New York after the war.

Morgan Bryan, Jr., who died in Kentucky around 1800, also helped his brother William Bryan establish Bryan's Station. Some of his sons may have served in the Revolution as North Carolina Loyalists, although Morgan Bryan, Jr and one of his sons are credited with rebel militia service in Kentucky.

James Bryan, who also helped found Bryan's Station, became a widower in 1770. His six small children were raised by niece Rebecca Bryan Boone and her husband, Daniel Boone. James Bryan died in Kentucky in 1807; most of his children went to Missouri in 1800 with their uncle Daniel Boone and his party of Boones, Bryans, and other relatives.

John Bryan, who is believed to have lost two Tory sons during the Revolution, farmed his land in the Bryan Settlements throughout his life. He died there in the winter of 1799–1800.

William Bryan — the intrepid but tragic "Billy" Bryan whom the Moravians admired — declined the king's commission as Lieutenant Colonel and instead organized and led the establishment of Bryan's Station (1775–79) near the present Lexington, Kentucky. He was killed there by Indians in May 1780. Only weeks before his death, he lost a son in a similar Shawnee ambush near the station. A few months earlier, he had learned that most of his Kentucky land claims were invalid. William Bryan and two of his sons—branded as Tories in Rowan County—were credited with rebel service for having participated in militia actions against Kentucky's Indians.

Thomas Bryan, youngest of the children, shared his brothers' interest in Kentucky and is believed to have fitted out one of Daniel Boone's early expeditions. He saw service in the Rowan County Militia prior to the Revolution and is thought to have had strong Loyalist sentiments. Thomas Bryan inherited his father Morgan Bryan's Deep Creek property but sold it to his brother William Bryan and was living elsewhere in the Settlements at the time of his death in 1777. One of his sons seems to have been killed in the war as a Tory officer. His widow, Sarah Hunt Bryan, later married the Reverend John Gano and moved with him to Kentucky in 1789.

Morgan Bryan, patriarch of the families that helped open Western Carolina and Kentucky to settlement, died on Easter Sunday 1763, at the age of ninety-two. His wife Martha Strode Bryan had died a few months earlier, in August 1762. Both Morgan and his wife are believed to have been buried on their Deep Creek property. Martha Bryan's tombstone was found during the construction of a highway in northeastern Davie County many years ago and is now in the Rowan Museum at Salisbury.^[7]

In 1719, Morgan Bryan was a member of the New Garden Quaker community and married Martha Strode in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Martha was born 1696/1697 in France. In 1724, Morgan Bryan moved to the west into Pequea Creek district (present-day Lancaster, Pennsylvania). In 1730, he and Alexander Ross, another Quaker from New Garden, purchased one hundred thousand acres of land on the waters of Qpequon Creek (near present day Winchester, Virginia). In 1734, Morgan Bryan purchased a tract in present day Berkeley Co, West Virginia and there he settled with his family. In 1748, Morgan Bryan moved himself and his large family to North Carolina where he made his home near the south bank of Deep Creek and was one of the most prominent settlers in northwestern North Carolina.

RELIGION: New Garden Quaker

IMMIGRATION: 1695 OR 1718, near Reading, Pennsylvania

EMIGRATION: 1724, Pequea Creek district (present-day Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

EMIGRATION: 1730, Opequan Creek, about 12 miles from Winchester, Virginia

EMIGRATION: FALL OF 1748, North Carolina, Rowan County, in the Yadkin Valley, Squire Boone moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina

DEATH: 3 April 1763, Mocksville, Kentucky

Samuel Bryan

Samuel Bryan, a Revolutionary soldier, in his pension application (W-9366) gives the family record. "My great-grand father Bryan (Francis Bryan) was a Dane, born in Denmark and reared in that kingdom, where he married a wife and lived until he had a son born, whom he called Morgan, after which he removed to Ireland where he died. After Morgan came to manhood he left his father in Ireland and came to Pennsylvania in America where he married Martha Strode". Note: The great-grand father of Samuel Bryan was not named in the pension application. Someone has just inserted the name Francis to the above quote.

Land Record

From "Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, Volume II: 1742-1775," compiled by Gertrude E. Gray:

"P-354: Jeremiah Strode of Berkeley Co. set forth there is surplus in tract on Opeccon in said County part of 1250 A. granted by the Crown to Morgan Bryan 3 October 1734. Bryan conveyed 360 A. to his son Joseph Bryan who conveyed to Edward Strode who conveyed to said Jeremiah Strode. ... On Opeccon, adj. Strode, Col. John Carlyle, land formerly Capt. Richard Pearis, George Williams. 29 April 1775"

Children

Morgan Bryan's children, based on his last Will are as follows:^[8]

1. Thomas Bryan
2. Eleanor (Elinor) Linville
3. Mary Forbes
4. James Bryan
5. Joseph Bryan
6. Samuel Bryan
7. Morgan Bryan
8. John Bryan
9. William Bryan

Morgan Bryan's children, according to Seven Sons and Two Daughters are as follows:^[9]

1. Joseph Bryan b circa 1719-1720 Pennsylvania, married and lived in Virginia, migrated to Rowan County, North Carolina around 1750's, moved to Shelby/Jefferson County area late 1790s d Kentucky late 1804 or early 1805. Last Will was recorded in Jefferson County.
2. Eleanor Bryan b circa 1721-1722 in Pennsylvania, married William Linville and lived in Virginia for about 20 years; migrated to Rowan County, North Carolina where she lived for 30 years. Moved to Kentucky circa 1790; died in Kentucky early 1790's.
3. Mary Bryan b circa 1724 Pennsylvania, married Thomas Curtis and lived in Virginia, d 1741 in Orange County, where her last Will is recorded.
4. Samuel Bryan b circa 1724-1726 in Pennsylvania; lived in Virginia then North Carolina. Colonel, British Royal Army; condemned to hang for treason but pardoned & died 1798 in Rowan County where his last Will is recorded.
5. Morgan Bryan Jr. b 1728-1729 (either Pennsylvania or Maryland), married in Virginia, migrated to North Carolina. Captain, Rowan County Militia; was in Kentucky 1779, back to North Carolina in 1780. After the War, returned to Kentucky; died Fayette County, where his last Will is recorded.
6. John Brian b circa 1730-1731, probably Virginia. d 1800, last Will recorded in Rowan County, North Carolina
7. William Bryan b 1734 in Virginia, lived in North Carolina until 1770's, then Kentucky/North Carolina. Mortally wounded by Indians in May 1780. Co-founder of Bryan Station, known as Captain Billy Bryan. Last Will was recorded in Rowan County.
8. James Bryan b circa 1735-1736 in Virginia; married and lived in North Crolina until 1770's; his wife died after birth of 6th child and his niece Rebecca (Bryan) Boone helped raise them. He lived in Kentucky 1779-1799 or 1800. Migrated to Missouri. Died in Missouri in 1807
9. Thomas Bryan b circa 1737-1738 in Frederick County, Virginia. Moved with his father to Yadkin River Valley in 1748. Ensign, Rowan County Militia. Tory. Died 1776. Widow Sarah (Hunt) Bryan married Rev. John Gano (Baptist minister) and moved to Kentucky.

Children of Morgan Bryan and Martha Bryan, according to Notable Southern Families are as follows:^[10]

1. Joseph, born 1720; married Hester Hampton (second wife) or name Alice and Hester.
2. Samuel, married Masmilla Simpson.
3. James, born 1723-1802; married 1750. Rebecca Knox.
4. Morgan Jr., born May 20, 1729; married Mary Forbes.
5. John, married Frances Battle.
6. Elinor, married William Linville.
7. Mary, married Forbes.
8. William, died 1781; married 1755, Mary Boone.
9. Thomas, born 1736; died 1789; married Hunt.
10. Sarah.
11. Rebecca, married 1755, Daniel Boone.^[11]

There are errors in this list.

Undocumented, Improbable Tradition

A William Smith Bryan was deported from Ireland by the British govt. and sent to Virginia Colony, with his wife and children. One son, Francis Bryan, returned to Ireland in 1650 to try and regain title and estates, but was persecuted and fled to Denmark, where he married and where his son Morgan Bryan was born in 1671. Morgan Bryan and his father Francis Bryan returned to Ireland and Francis Bryan died in Belfast, Ireland in 1694. This account also states Morgan's mother Sarah Bringer or Brinker was Danish, also that Morgan's wife Martha Strode was Dutch, but was a Huguenot refugee, and that they met on the crossing, arrived in 1695, and married shortly after arriving and settled near present-day Reading, Pennsylvania. In 1710 they moved to near Winchester, Virginia; and in 1748 Morgan and children moved to the Yadkin River area in North Carolina.

Burial: April 1763 Advance, Davie, North Carolina Colony

Member of the New Garden Quaker Community, Farmer

Reason This Information Is Correct: At a County Court began and held in the County of Rowan Third Tuesday, January, 1762, … Morgan Bryan appeared and Qualified as a Justice of the Peace according to law. In checking Maryland records, we refer to a book Pioneers of Old Monocacy--the Early settlement of Frederick County, Maryland by Grace L. Tracy & John P. Dem. In a chapter titled The Quakers of "Monoquesey" it says on page 86, In the year 1730 the Quaker leaders Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan appeared before the Council and Governor of Virginia and from them received a grant of 100,000 acres in Frederick County, Virginia. This encouraged the move of many Quakers to the Virginia back country. From this same book and chapter there is a list of people who were petitioning in 1742 for the creation of Frederick County, Maryland to be separated from Prince Georges County. Among the many names are those of George Moore Sr., John Moore, William Moore Sr., William Moore Jr.

BRYAN, A PIONEER FAMILY By Edward Bryan

Editor's Note: The following article is verbatim as published in the Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 40, No. 132, pp. 318-322. C1974 Kentucky State Historical Society in Frankfort. Edward Bryan, the compiler, is descended from Morgan Bryan. He was born in Louisville, but at the time of the publication, lived in Colorado.

The family most closely associated with the redoubtable Daniel Boone, and that one whose exploits most nearly parallel those of the picturesque explorer, was the family of Morgan Bryan and wife Martha Strode Bryan. So much has been written concerning the kindly and nomadic Daniel Boone, that his neighbors and kinsmen, the Bryans, might well be forgotten men, but for some scores of prideful descendants who, from generation to generation, continue to recount the adventures of their forefathers, and recall the role they played in the westward march of empire. Colleagues in the difficult and dangerous enterprise of settling Kentucky, the lives and fortunes of the two families are so inextricably interwoven that some genealogists have, for the sake of convenience, treated them very much as though they were one.

Daniel Boone married a Bryan, his brother, Edward, married another, his sister, Mary Boone, a third, and these Boone-Bryan alliances were continued into following generations. Joseph Bryan, 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.

Morgan Bryan, progenitor of the Bryans of central Kentucky, was born in Denmark in 1671. He came to Colonial America as a young man, settled at the present site of Reading, Pennsylvania, thence in 1730 to what is now Winchester, Virginia, thence in 1748 to a point near the present town of Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Here, some sixty miles from the nearest habitation, he founded what came to be known as the "Bryan Settlements," and here he devoted himself to fighting off the Indians, raising fine horses, and rearing a sizable family of children.

Much of what is known concerning the ancestry of Morgan Bryan has been gleaned from the family papers of the descendants of his brother, William Bryan, who also came to the colonies.

While the immigrant ancestor of William Bryan and Morgan Bryan migrated to these shores from Ireland, he was of Anglo-Irish stock, being descended from Francis Bryan, an Englishman who was sent to Ireland in 1548 as Lord Lieutenant [sic]. Some of the writers who have compiled papers on the genealogy of the pioneer Bryans have stated that Morgan Bryan was 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 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."

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 [sic]. The Rev. J. W. Shearer, another of the family historians, appears to have succeeded in tracing the ancestry of Morgan Bryan to Sir Francis, but he too, falls into the error of assuming that the later was a Dalcassian.

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 [sic]. 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, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1471 until his death [sic].

His will, proved December 11, 1500 mentions his son, Thomas, Thomas' wife and an illegitimate daughter. The son - Sir Thomas Bryan of Chedington, Bucks, was knighted by Henry VII 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, where after, 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, 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 of 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 Morgan Bryan from Sir Francis, the writer is indebted to the late Gordon M. Ash, Esq. Of Frederick, Maryland, 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 was twice married, first to 1. Phillippa Montgomery, by whom he had a son, Sir Edward Bryan. By 2. Lady Joan, he had a son, Francis Bryan, who married Ann Smith, daughter of Sir William Smith. From his mother, the second Francis Bryan inherited estates in County Clare. His son, William Smith Bryan, 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. 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, 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. He had two sons, William Bryan, born in Ireland, and Morgan Bryan, born in Demark. Both of whom came to America.

William Bryan was the first to settle at the present site of Roanoke, and died there at the age of 104. ^[12] Many of his descendants are listed in "The Shearer-Akers Family," heretofore referred to.

From the time of his arrival until his marriage in 1719 to Martha Storde, not much is know 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, North Carolina. 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," PID# K2NJ-RXS

William Smith Bryan was "exiled by Cromwell (for taking part in the Ireland in the Puritan Revolution) to Virginia about 1650, with his family goods and chattles, consisting of a ship load". (McKenzie Colonial Families, Vol VI).

His son William Bryan returned to Ireland to regain his family property and hereditary title. He then fled to Denmark where he met and married Sarah Brinker or Brunker, there Morgan Bryan was born. Later he returned to Ireland, where he died in 1694. His other son, William Bryan was born in County Down, North Ireland.

The following was copied from internet Roots Web's WorldConnect Project: BRYANT/SLAUTER FAMILY- "BRYAN FAMILIES" as published in the LEXINGTON HERALD Sunday, February 17, 1927, by J.R. COOPER (Transcribed by DIANA MCGINNESS) ...When the above named Morgan Bryan married Martha Strode, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters, namely: Joseph, Elinor, Mary, Samuel, Morgan, John, William, James and Thomas, he moved from Pennsylvania to a creek called Opecon, near Winchester in Virginia, were he resided until several of his children were grown and married, after which he moved to the Yadkin River in North Carolina, were he lived until his death" ....Dr. J.D. Bryan, a great grandson of James Bryan, a son of Morgan and Martha Strode, gives their children in slightly different order and adds two daughters. His list is as follows: "Joseph, Samuel, James, Morgan, John, Elinor, Mary, William, Thomas, Sarah and Rebecca," the last two being the ones added. He also states, "In Chester County, Pennsylvania, Morgan Bryan and Martha Strode were marred in 1719. In 1728 or 1730, her with others obtained a grant of 100,000 acres of Opequan in Virginia were he remained until 1748. His wife died in 1747, and in 1748, he moved Yadkin River County were he died in 1763."

.....From Morgan Bryan Sr's will: "1st I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Thomas Bryan, my mansion house and plantation, also my part of a Negro boy named, Jack, also my waggon and waggon [sic] belonging to the waggon and my plow and utensils there to unto belonging to breeding mare, viz: a mare called Brown Dent and her yearly and young - and her colt, two cows viz: a cow called Popy and her calf, also my bed and furniture. After my decease receiving a sufficient living for me of the land, while I live...." ....6th - I give and bequeath Joseph Samuel Morgan, John William, James and Thomas, and my daughter, Elinor Linville, all the rest of my real and personal estate to be equal divided amongst them together with that part of my estate which they have already received... (notice the absence of comas) ...Thomas Bryan, the youngest child of Morgan Bryan and Martha Strode, was born in Frederick County, Virginia about 1737, and was taken to North Carolina by his parents in their removal to the Valley of the Yadkin. Here he married Sarah Hunt, the daughter of the Reverend Jonathan Hunt (this article lists Thomas's children) ... May have been a Tory. In some of the family traditions, he is sometimes mentioned as having joined his brother, Samuel Bryan, in the Tory cause, but the writer has found no proof if it. CENSUS 1768 Name: MORGAN GF OF REBKA BRYAN State: North Carolina County: Rowan County Year: 1768 Database: North Carolina Early Census Index

Source Information: Jackson, Ronald V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp. North Carolina Census, 1790-1890. [database on-line] Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com, 1999-. Compiled and digitized by Mr. Jackson and AIS from microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes.

Morgan Bryan appeared in the Census of Rowen County ether in the "Census or Tax Role" from 1760 of 1768.

· ID: I2616 · Name: Morgan BRYAN · Given Name: Morgan · Surname: BRYAN · Sex: M · Birth: 1671 in Denmark · Emigration: 1718 · Note: Morgan Bryan immigrated from Ireland, with his younger brother William Smith Bryan, in 1718 to Pennsylvania where about four or five oldest of his children were born after his marriage to Martha Strode in 1719. Colony of Pennsylvania from Ireland · Event: Lived 1719 Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania Event: Lived 1725 Monocacy Creek Event: Lived 1728 Louden Co, Virginia Event: Land Purchase 1729 Note: Governor Gooch notified British authorities he intended issuing patents near the Fairfax grants in Virginia until its boundaries were better known . On October 28, 1730, when Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan dangled one hundred land-hungry Quaker families in front of Gooch, he took the bait, giving the entrepreneurs one hundred thousand acres west of "Opeckon" Creek and south of the river Cohongaroota that might be the Potomac, the northern boundary of Fairfax land. In 1736 two parties of commissioners--one for the Crown, the other for Lord Fairfax--returned from the Alleghenies with news that the Cohongaroota was not a separate river but part of the Potomac above the mouth of the Shenandoah. The seventy mostly Quaker families in the Bryan-Ross grant, along with German and Swiss settlers on the south fork of the Shenandoah, suddenly found that they were squatters on someone else's land. But they had built cabins and made crops on it! They would be first to get killed on it if the French started shooting, a fact not lost on the Crown, who made sure the first-comers would be "quieted in their claims." To that end Lord Fairfax visited the valley twice, in 1736 and 1737, to keep Virginia's frontier from hemorraging, and to spread the news he "would not have any poor man quit the place for want of land," and that anyone who held a title from Hite would "come off" well, provided the land was surveyed according to Virginia law. But although Fairfax offered land at lower rates, the settlers got more for the three pounds per hundred acres they paid McKay and Hite. The partners let them go where they wanted, let them gerrymander boundaries to make the most of springs and creek bottoms. Fairfax, however, insisted that settlers should be content with tracts that Virginia law said must be a t least a third wide as they were long. The shift in land ownership didn't change settlement patterns, however. The Ross-Bryan grant continued to draw English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, and Anglicized Scandinavians from the neck between Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay where they had been squeezed together so tightly they became one people. To these northerners the mountains that stood in their way were a "Blue Ridge;" to inhabitants of the Virginia tidewater they were an impenetrable chain of "Great Mountains." Alexander Ross was a Scots Quaker who prior to 1718 moved from Chichester Township on the Delaware to West Nottingham Township near the Maryland border. In 1732 he settled in the Virginia valley west of a plain log meeting house that gave way in 1759 to a stone building in Clearbrook. Virginia Land Grant · Event: Lived 1730 · Note: Morgan Bryan moved his family to his land in Virginia and settled near the present site of Winchester. Here the rest of the children were born to Morgan and Martha Strode Bryan. Winchester, Virginia · Event: Lived 1734 Beddington Virginia (present day West Virginia) · Property: Sold in North Carolina 1748 <http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rogerws1&id=I2616> · Note: Large landholder in Virginia and North Carolina AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA - Morgan Bryan to David Johnson, 400 acres on Linwell's Creek. Corner : Jost Hite. 2 June, 1748 · Event: Lived 1748 · Note: Morgan Bryan sold his interests in Virginia and in the fall of 1748 moved his family to North Carolina and settled in the Forks of the Yadkin River. Yadkin River, Rowan Co, North Carolina · Event: Military Service 1757 · Note: In the spring and summer of 1757 the long expected Indian allies arrived in Virginia, as many as four hundred by May: Cherokees, Catawbas, Tuscaroras, and Nottaways. Dinwiddie was wholly unable to use them effectively; and in order to provide amusement for them, he directed that they should go "ascalping" with the whites- "a barbarous method of war," frankly acknowledged the governor. It was "introduced by the French, which we are obliged to follow in our own defense." Most of the Indian allies discontentedly returned home before the end of the year. The remainder waited until the next year to take part in the campaign against Fort Duquesne. Three North Carolina companies, composed of trained soldiers and hardy frontiersmen, went through this campaign under the command of Major Hugh Waddell, the "Washington of North Carolina." Long of limb and broad of chest, powerful, lithe, and active, Waddell was an ideal leader for this arduous service, being fertile in expedient and skillful in the employment of Indian tactics. With true provincial pride Governor Dobbs records that Waddell "had great honor done him, being employed in all reconnoitering parties, and dressed and acted as an Indian; and his sergeant, Rogers , took the only Indian prisoner, who gave Mr. Forbes certain intelligence of the forces in Fort Duquesne, upon which they resolved to proceed." This apparently trivial incident is remarkable, in that it proved to be the decisive factor in a campaign that was about to be abandoned. The information in regard to the state of the garrison at Fort Duquesne, secure from the Indians for the capture of whom two leading officers had offered a reward of two hundred and fifty pounds, emboldened Forbes to advance rather than to retire. Upon reaching the fort (November 25th), he found it abandoned by the enemy. Sergeant Rogers never received the reward promised by General Forbes and the other English officer; but some time afterward he was compensated by a modest sum from the colony of North Carolina. A series of unfortunate occurrences, chiefly the fault of the whites, soon resulted in the precipitation of a terrible Indian outbreak. A party of Cherokees, returning home in May 1758, seized some stray horses on the frontier of Virginia--never dreaming of any wrong, says an old historian, as they saw it frequently done by the whites. The owners of the horses, hastily forming a party, went in pursuit of the Indians and killed twelve or fourteen of the number. The relatives of the slain Indians, greatly incensed, vowed vengeance upon the whites. Nor was the tactless conduct of Forbes calculated to quiet this resentment; for when Atta-kulla-kulla and nine other chieftains deserted in disgust at the treatment accorded them, they were pursued by Forbes's orders, apprehended and disarmed. This rude treatment, coupled with the brutal and wanton murder of some Cherokee hunters a little earlier by an irresponsible band of Virginians under Captain Robert Wade, still further aggravated the Indians. Incited by the French, who had fled to the southward after the fall of Fort Duquesne, parties of bloodthirsty young Indians rushed down upon the settlements and left in their path and desolation along the frontiers of the Carolinas. On the upper branch of the Yadkin and below the South Yadkin near Fort Dobbs, twenty-two whites fell in swift succession before the secret onslaughts of the savages from the lower Cherokee towns. Many of the settlers along the Yadkin fled to the Carolina Fort at Bethabara and the stockade at the mill; and the sheriff of Rowan County suffered siege by the Cherokees, in his home, until rescued by a detachment under Brother Loesch from Bethabara. While many families took refuge in Fort Dobbs, frontiersmen under Captain Morgan Bryan ranged through the mountains to the west of Salisbury and guarded the settlements from the hostile incursions of the savages. So gravely alarmed were the Rowan settlers, compelled by the Indians to desert their planting and crops, that Colonel Harris was dispatched post-haste for aid to Cape Fear, arriving there on July 1st. With strenuous energy Captain Waddell, then stationed in the east rushed two companies of thirty men each to the rescue, sending by water-carriage six swivel gun s and ammunition on before him and these reinforcements brought relief at last to the harassed Rowan frontiers. During the remainder of the year, the borders were kept clear by bold and tireless rangers--under the leadership of expert Indian fighters of the stamp of Griffith Rutherford and Morgan Bryan. Atrocities defying description continued to be committed, and many people were slain. The Cherokees, under the leadership of Si-lou-ee, or the Young Warrior of Estatoe, the Round O, Tiftoe, and others, were baffled in their persistent efforts to capture Fort Prince George. On February 16th the crafty Oconostota appeared before the fort and under the pretext of desiring some white man to accompany him on a visit to the governor on urgent business, lured the commander, Lieutenant Coytomore, and two attendants to a conference outside the gates. At a preconceived signal a volley of shots rang out; the two attendants were wounded, and Lieutenant Coytomore, riddled with bullets, fell dead. Enraged by this act of treachery, the garrison put to death the Indian hostages within. During the abortive attack upon the fort, Oconostota, unaware of the murder of the hostages, was heard shouting above the din of battle: "Fight strong, and you shall be relieved." Now began the dark days along the Rowan border, which were so sorely to test human endurance. Many refugees fortified themselves in the different stockades; and Colonel Hugh Waddell with his redoubtable frontier company of Indian-fighters awaited the onslaught of the savages, who were reported to have passed through the mountain defiles and to be approaching a long the foot-hills. The story of the investment of Fort Dobbs and the splendidly daring sortie of Waddell and Bailey is best told in Waddell's report to Governor Dobbs (February 29, 1760): For several Days I observed a small party of Indians were constantly about the fort, I sent out several parties after them to no purpose, the Evening before last between 8 & 9 o'clock I found by the Dogs making an uncommon Noise there must be a party nigh a Spring which we sometimes use. As my Garrison is but small, and I was apprehensive it might be a scheme to draw out the Garrison, I took our Capt. Bailie who with myself and party made up ten: We had not marched 300 yds. from the fort when we were attacked by at least 60 or 70 Indians. I had given my party Orders not to fire until I gave the word, which they punctually observed: We recd the Indians' fire: When I perceived they had almost all fired, I ordered my party to fire which We did. Not further than 12 steps each loaded with a Bullet and 7 Buck Shot, they had nothing to cover them as they were advancing either to tomahawk us or make us Prisoners: They found the fire very hot from so small a Number which a good deal confused them: I then ordered my party to retreat, as I found the Instant our skirmish began another party had attacked the fort, upon our reinforcing the garrison the Indians were soon repulsed with I am sure a considerable Loss. From what I myself saw as well as those I can confide in they could not have less than 10 or 12 killed and wounded. The next Morning we found a great deal o f Blood and one dead whom I suppose they could not find in the night. On my side I had 2 Men wounded one of whom I am afraid will die as he is scalped. The other is in way of Recovery, and one killed near the fort whom they durst not advance to scalp. I expected they would have paid me another visit last night, as they attack all Fortifications by Night, but find they did not like their Reception. Alarmed by Waddell's "offensive-defensive," the Indians abandoned the siege. Robert Campbell, Waddell's ranger, who was scalped in this engagement, subsequently recovered from his wounds and was recompensed by the colony with the sum of twenty pounds. In addition to the frontier militia, four independent companies were now placed under Waddell's command. Companies of volunteers scoured the woods in search of the lurking Indian foe. These rangers, who were clad in hunting-shirts and buckskin leggings, and who employed Indian tactics in fighting, were captained by such hardy leaders as the veteran Morgan Bryan, the intrepid Griffith Rutherford, the German partisan, Martin Phifer (Pfeiffer), and Anthony Hampton, the father of General Wade Hampton. They visited periodically a chain of "forest castles" erected by the settlers extending all the way from Fort Dobbs and Moravian fortifications in the Wachau to Samuel Stalnaker's stockade on the Middle Fork of the Holston in Virginia. About the middle of March, thirty volunteer Rowan County rangers encountered a band of forty Cherokees, who fortified themselves in a deserted house near the Catawba River. The famous scout and under, John Perkins assisted by one of his bolder companions, crept up to the house and flung lighted torches upon the roof. One of the Indians as the smoke became suffocating and the flames burned hotter, exclaimed: "Better for one to die bravely than for all to perish miserably in the flames," and darting forth, dashed rapidly hither and thither, in order to draw as m any shots as possible. This act of superb self-sacrifice was successful; and while the rifles of the whites, who riddled the brave Indian with balls, were empty, the other savages made a wild dash for liberty. Seven fell thus under the deadly rain of bullets; but many escaped. Ten of the Indians, all told lost their scalps, for which the volunteer rangers were subsequently paid one hundred pounds by the colony of North Carolina. French & Indian War · Event: Commissioned 1758 Captain of the Militia · Death: 3 APR 1763 in Mocksviulle, Rowan County, North Carolina · Note: Morgan Bryan was a Scots-Irish Quaker who took a roundabout way into the Yadkin Valley, from Brandywine Creek where he lived in 1719-20, to Monocacy Creek, and perhaps briefly to Loudon County, Virginia where he had surveys made in the Blue Ridge foothills. By 1734 he'd crossed the Blue Ridge and established a mill near present Bedington, West Virginia. All of the Bryans in early Rowan were descended from Morgan Bryan. He was born in Denmark, but was descended from Sir Francis Bryan of England. His daughter, Rebecca Bryan married Daniel Boone. While Daniel Boone is more famous, the Bryans were also early pioneer settlers of Kentucky and among the first families to cross the Appalachians. ii. Col. Samuel, b. about 1721, d. 1800, m. Masmilla SIMPSON; iii. James, b. about 1723, d. 18 August 1807, m. Rebecca ENOCHS; iv. Mary, b. about 1725, m. 1st Thomas CURTIS, m. 2nd George FORBES; v. Morgan [Jr.], b. 20 May 1727, d. 1804, m. Cassandra MILLER; vi. Elinor, b. about 1729, d. 1792, m. William LINVILLE; vii. Capt. John, b. 9 April 1730, d. 12 March 1782, m. Elizabeth Frances BATTLE; viii. William, b. 10 March 1734, d. 7 May 1780, Mary BOONE; ix. Col. Thomas, b. about 1736, d. about 1790, m. Sarah HUNT; x. Martha, b. about 1742, m. Stephen GANO.

Father: Francis BRYAN III <http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com b: 1630 in County Claire, Ireland Mother: Sarah BRINKER <http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com b: 1634 in Denmark

MARRIAGE: 1 Martha STRODE b: 1696 in France · Event: MARRIED Status · Married: 1719 in New Garden MM, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Children 1. Joseph BRYAN RWV b: 1720 in Chester County, Pennsylvania 2. Samuel BRYAN b: 1721 in Shenandoah Valley, Opequon Creek, Virginia 3. James BRYAN b: 1723 in Pennsylvania 4. Captain John BRYAN RWV b: 9 April 1724 in Opequon Creek,Frederick County, Virginia 5. Captain Morgan BRYAN b: 1727 in Pequea Creek, Chester County, Pennsylvania 6. Elinor BRYAN b: 1729 7. Mary Bryan BRYAN b: 1731 8. General William BRYAN b: 7 March1732 in Orange, Virginia 9. Captain Thomas BRYAN RWV b: 1735 10. Rebecca BRYAN b: 9 January 1739 in New Britain, Pennsylvania

Find A Grave: Memorial #25366716

Sources: 1. Title: CHALKLEY'S CHRONICLES; Vol 3, PP 270 - 279:

• From Wikipedia

• Morgan Bryan[1], an immigrant, led his extended family to the Forks of the Yadkin in the Province of North Carolina, now the state of North Carolina, and founded Bryan's Settlement there. He was known for "establishing critical settlements down the Shenandoah Valley along the Great Wagon Road in the Southeast." Bryan and his wife Martha raised their granddaughter Rebecca Bryan Boone, the wife of Daniel Boone.

• Early life

Morgan Bryan, of Irish ancestry, was born in Denmark in 1671 to Francis and Sarah Bringer (or Brinker) Bryan. His family left Ireland for Denmark after Bryan's grandfather opposed Oliver Cromwell. The Bryans lost titles and family lands that they were unable to recover. Francis returned to Northern Ireland in 1683 and died in Belfast in 1693.

Bryan left Ballyroney, County Down, Northern Ireland and immigrated to Colonial America about 1695. He landed at Roanoke in Colonial Virginia and ultimately went to Philadelphia in Colonial Pennsylvania. He sought to make a fortune and attain religious freedom, as did other Quaker immigrants. His brother William, a Presbyterian, immigrated in 1718.

• Marriage and children

Bryan married Martha Strode (born about 1697) in 1719 when he was listed as a member of the New Garden Quaker Meeting of Chester County, his only known Quaker affiliation.

Eight of the Bryan children survived their parents:

(1) Joseph, the father-in-law of Daniel and "Neddy" Boone, died in Kentucky in 1804 or 1805.

(2) Eleanor Bryan Linville's husband William and son John were killed by Indians while hunting in the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1766. She and her married children left the Yadkin area after the Revolutionary War. She died in Kentucky in 1792.

(3) Samuel, a Loyalist colonel during the war. He died in the Yadkin area in 1798.

(4) Morgan, Jr. died in Kentucky around 1800.

(5) James, who also helped found Bryan's Station, became a widower in 1770. Rebecca and Daniel Boone raised his six small children after his wife's death. James died in Kentucky in 1807.

(6) John, a farmer, died in the Bryan Settlements in the winter of 1799–1800.

(7) William, with his brothers, established Bryan's Station near the present Lexington, Kentucky. He was killed there by Native Americans in May 1780.

(8) Thomas inherited his father's Deep Creek property but sold it to his brother William and was living elsewhere in the Settlements at the time of his death in 1777.

• Pennsylvania

At the time of his marriage, Bryan owned land in Birmingham Township, Chester County of the Pennsylvania Colony. Soon after, he moved to the western side of Chester County, where he may have traded furs with Native Americans for goods along the Conestoga River.[3] He was then a trader with his brother William and the Linville brothers in Lancaster County. From 1726 to 1729, he lived among Quaker farmers in Marlborough Township, Chester County. There, he owned a 137-acre farm.[3]

• Virginia

In 1729, Bryan and his friend Alexander Ross explored the Shenandoah Valley for potential colonization. On October 28, 1730, they presented a proposal to the Council of Virginia and the Colonial Governor William Gooch and were granted a 100,000-acre tract for the colonization of 100 families. The tract was located near the present city of Winchester, Virginia. Bryan had connections with the Irish immigrant community who were Ulster Presbyterians and Ross with Quakers, which helped find 70 families that settled the tract of land.[9] Bryan, having sold his farm in 1728, was amongst the first to settle on the tract between Winchester and the Potomac River. He built a house on Mill Creek near what is now Bunker Hill, West Virginia. Bryan acquired 4,000 acres between 1732 and 1746.

Bryan was a land speculator, operating out of offices in what are now Roanoke, Virginia and Berkeley, West Virginia. He was also a surveyor, justice, road overseer, and juror. He lived in two or three locations between the 1730s and 1740s. Over the years, he moved further south into the valley. By 1835, Bryan and his family lived near Winchester on the northeast side of Opequon Creek. Within a few years, they lived in Roanoke County at Big Lick.

When he lived in the Shenandoah Valley, Bryan held Presbyterian services in his home, led by a Presbyterian minister, William Williams. In 1735, he petitioned the colony to allow for a Presbyterian Church to be built near his house and another to be located elsewhere. After Joseph's wife died and he remarried, Bryan and his wife raised granddaughters Rebecca and Martha Bryan.

• North Carolina

In the late 1740s, Bryan's children had married and began having children. His sons scouted lands south of the Shenandoah Valley to establish a settlement for his large family, and with Bryan decided to establish themselves on Lord Granville's land south of the Virginia border.

In the fall of 1748, Morgan and Martha Bryan and their children and grandchildren traveled south to the Granville District in the Province of North Carolina. His brother William, who had followed him to Roanoke County stayed there. Son Joseph delayed his move until a later time. Joseph's daughter Rebecca Bryan traveled with Bryan along what became the Great Wagon Road. At that time, it was an old Cherokee path of rough terrain. The journey took three months because he had to clear the path along the way. There were a number of waterway crossings. Bryan, said to be the first settler to use the trail, was said to have needed to take his wagon apart at some point to make it through an impassible area and continue the journey. On November 28, 1748 or in the spring of 1749, the clan settled near Shallow Ford in the Forks of Yadkin, an area that became known as the Bryan Settlement and is now the town of Farmington, North Carolina. Bryan acquired several thousand acres in the Granville District within five years. His sons and his son-in-law William Linville also acquired substantial property. They all lived in Rowan County when it was formed in 1753. At that time, there were more than 1,000 settlers in the county. Referring to his wife, many of the deeds were labeled "Martha's land". Her name was on many more deeds than most colonial women. Bryan continued to earn income as a land speculator, as friends and others from Pennsylvania and Virginia settled in Rowan County into the 1750s. He built a mansion on Deep Creek. He was among the first white men to settle there and was a leader in the community.

Friends that Bryan knew in Virginia moved into the area, including the Boone, Linville, Strode, Hampton, Hunt, and Bryan families. Moravians also moved into the Yadkin River valley area and provided religious support for the Bryans, including performing baptisms and wedding ceremonies. Four of his family members married into the Boone family. His son William married Mary Boone, Squire Boone's daughter. His granddaughters, Rebecca and Martha, married brothers Daniel and Edward Boone, respectively. Granddaughter Nancy Linville married George. Daniel, Edward, and George were sons of Squire Boone.

Settlers were attacked by Native Americans during the Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761), which caused the deaths of hundreds of people and resulted in about a hundred families leaving the area. Of those who remained, some went to Fort Dobbs for safety. Bryan was a regional leader in the militia during the war. Bryan's sons also joined the local militia during the war. His son Captain Morgan Bryan Jr. led militiamen throughout the area to guard settlements. There was ongoing conflict in the region up to and including the Revolutionary War.

Dr. Robert W. Ramsey said that Bryan was "the most prominent of the settlers in northwestern Carolina before 1752" in his book Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwestern Carolina Frontier, 1747 – 1767.

• Death

Martha Strode Bryan died August 24, 1762. Morgan Bryan died on April 3, 1763, on Easter Sunday. They were both believed to have been buried on their Deep Creek property. Martha Bryan's tombstone is now at the Rowan Museum in Salisbury. It was found in northeastern Davie County during the construction of a highway. A historic marker in Advance, North Carolina identifies the site of the Bryan Settlement Cemetery and their house and tells of Morgan and Martha's roles as settlers in the region.

Bryan's sons had influential roles during the American Revolutionary War. Son Samuel served for the Torys, while James, John, Joseph, William, and Morgan fought for the colonists. The sons were also influential in the early settlement of Kentucky County, Virginia, now the state of Kentucky. Granddaughter Rebecca Bryan Boone became the wife of Daniel Boone and attained fame as a pioneer woman.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Bryan

1. ↑ Find A Grave memorial marker
2. ↑ FamilySearch Digital Collection. "Bryan last Wills, and Deeds, with genealogical notes, 1636-1927," by Lindsay M. Brien. "Morgan Bryan Line, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky." (will of, death date April 3, 1763, Easter Sunday, p. 80, Image 916; children of Morgan Bryan, Sr.: Joseph Bryan, Sr., p. 82, Image 918; Samuel Bryan, p. 83, Image 919; Morgan Bryan Jr., p. 85, Image 921; Capt. William Bryan, p. 87-88, Images 923-24; sons James Bryan, John Bryan, Thomas Bryan, p. 92-93, Images 928-29; grandsons Joseph Bryan, p. 86, Image 922; Samuel Bryan, p. 89, Image 925; John Bryan, Jr, p. 90-91, Image 926-927) Records of NSDAR, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, D.C. FamilySearch, FHL Film #872855, FHL Digitized Film #7816119, pp. 79-93, Images 914-929 of 1036. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
3. ↑ FamilySearch Digital Collections. "North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970." pp. 13-14. Images 16-17 of 282. will of Morgan Bryan, Bk. A, p. 13-14 FamilySearch.
4. ↑ Chalkley, Lyman : "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County 1745-1800", Rosslyn, VA (1913), Vol. III, p. 276
5. ↑ Chalkley : Vol. III, p. 285
6. ↑ A source for this information is needed.
7. ↑ Bryan, John K. Jr. "Bryan, Morgan, 1671-3 April 1763" NCpedia.
8. ↑ transcript
9. ↑ from Volume II, Seven Sons and Two Daughters of Morgan Bryan (1671-1763) "Irish Immigrant" and Some of Their Descendants, David C. McMurtry, a limited edition printed in the United States of America at Lexington, Kentucky; Mil-Mac Publishers, 2009; p 9
10. ↑ Notable Southern Families, Volume II, Compiled by Zella Armstrong, Member of the Tennessee Historical Commission. Published December 1942 by the Lookout Publishing Company, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
11. ↑ Most other sources show Rebecca as daughter of Morgan's son Joseph and Alice (Alee) Linville
12. ↑ A source for this information is needed.

*Book: Daniel Boone and His Neighbors by Bryan & Barbara Broderick, Compiled from a Boone/Bryan family manuscript discovered by the author, descendant Bryan Broderick after the death of his sister in 2015. Author Bryan Broderick is the great-great grandson of Elijah Bryan: https://danielbooneandneighbors.com/

• Morgan Bryan entry https://www.geni.com/people/Captain-Morgan-Byran-I/6000000001906075870
• "RootsWeb database", Captain Morgan Francis Bryan entry https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lharmon&id=I23559 26 August 2016 by Linda Harmon.
• Will of Morgan Bryan, dated March 28th 1763, Rowan County, North Carolina, Will Book A, page 13 or 80, transcript
• Hazel Atterbury Spraker. The Boone Family. Reprint, Baltimore: 1977. Pages 504-512. (Source S316)
• Dubious Source (S320): T.A. Fuller. The Spear and the Spindle: Ancestors of Sir Francis Bryan (d. 1550), Kt... Bowie Maryland: Heritage Books, 1993.
• Bill Newton, Brøderbund Software, Inc., World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, (Release date: November 29, 1995), "CD-ROM," Tree #3883, Date of Import: Jan 16, 1999. (1995), "Electronic," Date of Import: May 2, 1999.
• Faye Jarvis Moran, The Jarvis Family & Other Relatives, web page, http://web.archive.org/web/20210212003521/http://fmoran.com/, March 30, 1999), "Electronic."
• Stephen Paul Wright, MD, Brøderbund Software, Inc., World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, (Release date: November 29, 1995), "CD-ROM," Tree #0955, Date of Import: Jan 16, 1999. (1995), "Electronic," Date of Import: May 2, 1999.
• Gerald Wayne Shollmier, Brøderbund Software, Inc., World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, (Release date: November 29, 1995), "CD-ROM," Tree #2484, Date of Import: Jan 16, 1999. (1995), "Electronic," Date of Import: May 5, 1999.
• Daniel James Duplantis, Brøderbund Software, Inc., World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, (Release date: November 29, 1995), "CD-ROM," Tree #1521, Date of Import: Jan 16, 1999. (1995), "Electronic," Date of Import: May 7, 1999 note: has name Bryan.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #25366716
• Hinshaw, W.W: Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. 6, p. 357.
• FamilySearch Digital Collection. "Rowan County Court Minutes," vol. 2, p. 383, Image 231 of 655, Rowan, North Carolina, County Justice of the Peace: Morgan Bryan, 19 January 1762. FamilySearch, FHL Film #313775, FHL Digitized Film #7640158. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
• FamilySearch Digital Collection. "Rowan County Court Minutes," vol. 2, pp. 385-389, Images 232-234 of 655. Rowan, North Carolina, County Court Judge: Morgan Bryan, Esqr., January 1762. FamilySearch, FHL Film #313775, FHL Digitized Film #7640158. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
• FamilySearch Digital Collection. "Rowan County Court Minutes," vol. 2, p. 415, Image 248 of 655. Rowan, North Carolina, County Court Judge: Morgan Bryan, Esqr., July 1762. FamilySearch, FHL Film #313775, FHL Digitized Film #7640158. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
• FamilySearch Digital Collection. "Rowan County Court Minutes," vol. 2, p. 471, Image 281 of 655. Rowan, North Carolina, County Court: Morgan Bryan Sen., will proved, 13 July 1763. Sons John Bryan and William Bryan, Executors. FamilySearch, FHL Film #313775, FHL Digitized Film #7640158. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
• Sources: 1. Title: CHALKLEY'S CHRONICLES; Vol 3, PP 270 - 279:

Find A Grave #25366716