Would anyone be willing or able to help me research my Bryan ancestry?

Question

Hello, I'm brand new to WikiTree, so please excuse my lack of knowledge or protocol! 

I was just wanting to figure out how this site works by asking for help in researching my Surname. 

Bryan is my father's surname. In my research, I might have traced our Bryan line back to the 1400s in Buckinghamshire, England. 

I know this may be naivete, but I would like to figure out if this is my Bryan line.  Would anyone be willing or able to help me research this on WikiTree?

I would also like to figure out the first Bryan to colonize in the U.S. (Possibly Joseph Bryan 1656 -1725 who was born in Ireland and died in Virginia?) I think the following 2 generations lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and the next 4 generations lived in Georgia, then the Bryans settled in Boone Co., AR from the 1880s-1950s.

Currently, I am mostly confident this is my correct line:

Thomas Richard Bryan (1793 - 1878)
5th great-grandfather

James Tillman Bryan (1817 - 1906)
son of Thomas Richard Bryan

Thomas Haslerig Bryan (1849 - 1917)
son of James Tillman Bryan

James Witt Bryan (1881 - 1953)
son of Thomas Haslerig Bryan

James Witt Bryan II (1913 - 1995)
son of James Witt Bryan

James Witt Bryan III (1940 - 2015)
son of James Witt Bryan II. My grandfather.

My Father (living)

I will be happy to share any other research I have gathered (names, generations, dates, locations) if it helps get a lead.

Thank you for your help and patience! 

 (My DNA estimate is 69% Great British [Scottish, Welsh & English], 11% Europe West [French and some German], 7% Irish, and 5% Scandinavian.)

Comments

Hi Laura! I have Brien blood, but don't recognize the names you posted. You might want to post to G2G from one of their profiles with a specific request. It helps if you include in their profiles what sources you have (a link to Ancestry isn't helpful to those who don't belong to Ancestry).

For instance, Bryan-3418 - to me - has no sources. So I don't know what you've found already. Where does the birth date come from? Does the source not give a hint about who his parents are? What about the marriage date? Doesn't that source have anything about her parents, witnesses, surety or minister?  How does he connect to the Joseph b 1636 you mention & how does that Joseph connect to someone in the 1400s?

Good luck!

---

Laura ~

A Rebecca Bryan married Daniel Boone August 14, 1756.  They settled in Rowan County, North Carolina, US (in ref. to: "first Bryan's to colonize in the US").  Perhaps it might be easy to see if there is a family connection.  I believe they were from England (not sure).  

Welcome!   

 

---

I just wanted to add that Rebecca (Bryan) Boone has a profile here on wikitree.  You can see her lineage.  Her father's name was Joseph Bryan.  

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bryan-54

---

Thank you for your help! It is clear I have a lot to learn and I appreciate all the help offered.

A question on sources and citations-   I have found many of the sources for people on my tree through Ancestry's published Census, Birth, Marriage, Military and Death records. I occasionally reference Find A Grave for burial locations and dates (on a side note, is this considered a credible site for supporting sources of information?)  

Many of these records are published by Ancestry but sourced from the National Archives, State records, Genealogical societies, etc. I only really consider the records with unbiased facts and try to ignore the hear-say stories some users publish.

My question would be, is it acceptable to list my sources and relevant information just by naming the record where the information can be found (e.g. 1820 United States Federal Census and Georgia Compiled Census 1790-1890) or is it more appropriate to cite the exact location in the records where the information can be found (e.g. 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Captain Maxwell's District, Elbert, Georgia; Page 195; NARA Roll: M33_8; Image 140) for more detail?

Also, how much of family written and oral history is acceptable when there is another supporting source?

I have inherited my grandfather's volumes of our Bryan Family Genealogical research after he passed away last year. He had collected family bibles, written accounts, certificates, newspaper clippings, headstone rubbings, the list goes on.  So I am really trying to figure out the best way to process all of the information and omit as many errors and fill in as many gaps with research as possible!

---

my vote would be for the more detailed source for sure! The goal of sources is to allow others to find them and/or assess their quality.

The example for citing Census info on the Sources help page has details (in addition to that page, see "Source, Source, Source" on the Getting Started page).

A year after I joined WikiTree, Jillaine Smith posted in G2G an excellent overview about the quality of sources that I still refer to - see [this post].

Cheers, Liz

P.S. My GEDMatch # is T227726 ... we have no shared segments. Which is probably good news for you, as I am fairly certain that my Brien/Bryan line does NOT connect with the Bryan family connected with Daniel Boone (which was a bear to untangle, since so many family trees were bent to tie in to him). I also checked if WikiTree found a relationship for us (using this feature) - it didn't, but that may change as you connect more with the global tree.

---

ps - just checked my "DNA tree" and the furthest back Brien on it is my grandfather, E.L. Brien.

Answer 1

Hi Laura,

I would just add a word of caution when trying to make a connection to the 1400's without solidifying your known ancestry. It is tempting to work to make a connection to an ancestor in the distant past, say maybe Sir Francis Bryan of Elizabethan fame, but you need to work back one generation of a time and just go where it leads you. There is a lot of bad Bryant/Bryan information out there.

I have worked to correct some false Bryant genealogy some that did claim Sir Francis as an ancestor and a Virginia man who is said to be a Richard Thomas Bryant.

You might be interested in this blog post: http://www.indianreservations.net/2016/09/english-ancestry-of-richard-thomas.html

Comments

ps - loved the blogpost! I'll give it a year and then do a search for "Morgan Bryan" +Snowball :D

Answer 2

Hi Laura,

I would be happy to assist.  First are you on GedMatch where we could compare DNA?  I have a lot of Bryan information and will start adding to my Wiki Tree today.

Comments

Hi Rick, my GEDMatch DNA ID is A422952.

Answer 3

Hi,

I ran our GEDMATCH with both me and my mother and there is not match with your GEDMATCH, which may or may not mean anything other than I cannot prove that the BRYAN information I can give you is the same Bryan family.  In addition, I cannot find any of the Bryans you mention in my tree.  My Bryan was a member of Royalty living in Claire Ireland (Scotts-Irish).  Cromwell expelled them.  Fortunately they had enough money to buy their own ships.  They came to the America and settled first in Virginia, then Pennsylvania, New Jersey then finally back again in Virginia where they were part of the original settlers in the Shenandoah Valley.  My Bryan family has very close ties to the Boone family.  They intermarried throughout several generations.  While I show no DNA linkage with the Boones, I do show DNA linkage with Boone/Bryan descendants.  I see that you have some family that lived in areas named BOONE.  That is curious because as I said they stayed pretty close to each other for many generations with Boones living in NC in Bryan Settlements and Bryans living in Boone settlements.  How do you think I can help you?  Would giving you access to my tree help?  Not sure what I can do.

Comments

Hi Rick! Could you run a compare for me & you too? (My apologies if we've done this before.) My GEDMatch # is T227726. Furthest back I know on my Briens/Bryans is William Bryan m Jane Clark (married 1750s, either Pennsylvania or North Carolina).

Cheers, Liz

 

 

---

Hi Liz,

I did not show a match with our number either. Again I don't know what that means though - perhaps I can only go back so many generations.  I also compared yours to Laura's and not match. So not sure if we are different Bryan families or our common ancestors are so far back we don't carry a large enough sample of DNA?

---

I have three thoughts on the 3 different tests with Bryan surnames not matching on GedMatch:

1.) Like Rick said, we could all be from different Bryan families/lines and in no way be related, other than by a coincidental surname.

2.)  Perhaps changing the GedMatch default of 7 cMs/700 SNPs might show different results. I know very little about the different settings, so this would probably be better left to someone who knows more about the science and values behind the different settings.

 "Using the one-to-many tool GedMatch returns a list of your top 2000 matches. By default the threshold is set at 7 cMs. Comparisons between two kits can be done by using the one-to-one comparison tool which allows the user to set their own thresholds though the default is set at 7 cMs/700 SNPs."

^Source: http://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_match_thresholds

Also, I wonder if comparing Raw DNA from different testing companies skews the results? I have the same question regarding Y-chromosome, Mitochondrial, and Autosomal tests. Does it matter what kind of testing you had in order to compare?

 

3.) Perhaps also like Rick stated, it could be a possibility that we do share common ancestors from the same Bryan family, but are too far removed to prove it with DNA.

"The probability of having DNA from all of your genealogical ancestors at a particular generation becomes vanishingly small very rapidly; there is a 99.6% chance that you will have DNA from all of your 16 great-great grandparents, only a 54% of sharing DNA with all 32 of your G-G-G grandparents, and a 0.01% chance for your 64 G-G-G-G grandparents. You only have to go back 5 generations for genealogical relatives to start dropping off your DNA tree."

^Source: http://www.genetic-inference.co.uk/blog/2009/11/how-many-ancestors-share-our-dna/

---

I think the answer is we're from different lines. As far as I've been able to tell, I'm not connected to the Bryans who are connected to the Boones.

@ Rick - thanks for checking!

@ Laura - did you see my eyes glaze over? <grin> I'm not real good at the dna stuff. I LOVE that WikiTree shows me my DNA tree. I have my Brien line entered to my brick wall (William b 1737), and the DNA tree shows my grandfather (E.L. b 1896) as the furthest back Brien who is contributing to my DNA, so I don't think it's a question of more generations or lower parameters.

https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Noland-165/89