Francis Bryan III (abt. 1630 - 1694)

Born about 1630 in Belfast, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Brinker) Bryan — married about 1667 in Denmark

Descendants

Died 1694 at about age 64 in Belfast, Antrim, Ireland

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Kimberley Phillips [send private message], Eric Pace [send private message], Brock Riggs [send private message], and Ethan Cole [send private message]

Biography

Quoting Genforum: "Update on Occurences of the name "Morgan Bryan" in Ireland," (posted by Paul Gifford, 12 May 2003): As to the name "Francis Bryan," this first appears as "Francis (?) Bryan" in J W Shearer, The Shearer-Akers Family ^[1] (Somerville, NJ: Press of the Somerset Messenger, 1915).

Shearer also is the first, as far as I've been able to tell, to write "William Smith Bryan" and make the rebellious landholder transported by Cromwell to Virginia, although Shearer, calls him "William Smith (?) Bryan." Later writers took away the question marks and these subsequently became "factual." Edward Bryan dropped the question mark from Francis and, in his 1946 article constructed the false descendancy from Sir Francis Bryan. In my opinion, Cornelius Bryan (d. 1751), who also had a Gaelic given name, is the best person to look at as a possible brother of Morgan, because Cornelius's family lived on Linville Creek, in what is now Rockingham Co VA, where Morgan and his family lived just before their migration to North Carolina. Paul Gifford

Possible sons: Morgan ^[2] , William, Cornelius (of Rockingham Co VA), Andrew (3 sons in Wilkes Co NC), David (Botetourt Co VA, d 1767)

Francis the son of William Smith Bryan, deported by Cromwell to the Colony of Virginia 1650. He returned to England to recover his vast estates and died in Ireland in 1694.^[3]

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".^[4]

From the following source, his relationship to his father is not well-described, but we do get a definitive statement on this Francis' death date and marriage to Sally Brinker:

William Smith Bryan, transported to (Virginia), as a rebellious subject, settled in Gloucester County; Francis (d 1694) returned to Ireland in attempt to recover hereditary titles and estates, sought refuge in Denmark, where he m Sally Brinker;^[5]

Research Notes

• Re: Francis Bryan married Sarah Brinker 1667.

By John K Bryan 5 Aug 2007:

"Morgan Bryan (1671-1763) - A Danish born Irish Immigrant and some of his Antecedents and Descendants. 2007. Mil-Mac Publishers, 303 Zandale Drive, Lexington, KY 40503. The first of two volumes. Volume II will deal with the nine children of Morgan and Martha Strode Bryan and some of their descendants. It should be available in 2008.

"Francis Bryan III and Sarah Brinker are believed to have been the parents of Morgan Bryan. The parents of Francis III are believed to have been William Smith Bryan and Catherine Morgan. The paternal grandparents of Francis III are believed to have been Francis Bryan II and Ann Smith.

The paternal great-grandparents of Francis III are believed to have been Sir Francis Bryan and second wife, Lady Joan (Fitzgerald) Butler. [Note that this statement is considered unproven for WikiTree standards, and his paternal great-grandparents are presently unknown.]

"Note the phrase believed to have been. To be more accurate, I might have said believed by some to have been, because there is no direct evidence of these relationships and only fragmentary secondary evidence and indirect evidence of their actual existence. In other words, virtually all family history prior to the recorded events and people in the lives of Morgan and Martha Strode Bryan is traditional.

Sources

"In 1667 he returned to Ireland to try to regain his hereditary lands in County Clare. So many political & religious struggles were still going on under the rule of Charles II, Francis fled to Denmark. After the revolution of 1682 he was allowed to return to Ireland where he lived and died" The Ancestry of an American Family by Katherine Denney Blaylock

Sources

1. ↑ Shearer, James William. The Shearer-Akers family, combined with "The Bryan line" through the seventh generation; arranged to be continuable indefinitely, both as a genealogy and a picture gallery in each of the three lines, by blank pages inserted in the last four generations and index on which new names and pictures may be inserted at their proper places: III. The Bryan-Morrison Head: (Generations I and II), Generation III: Bryan No. 2. 1915, page 11. Somerville, NJ: Press of the Somerset Messenger. This link is added to aid researchers in confirming the citation.
2. ↑ Parents mentioned in son Morgan's Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 10 September 2019), memorial page for Capt Morgan Bryan (1671–23 Mar 1763), Find A Grave: Memorial #25366716, citing Joppa Cemetery, Mocksville, Davie County, North Carolina, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave (contributor 8)
3. ↑ Brien, Lindsay M. Bryan Wills and Deeds With Genealogical Notes. Dayton, Ohio. FHL Book US/CAN 929.273 B84 bl. Undated, page 80.
4. ↑ Wills and Deeds, Page 89
5. ↑ Virkus, Frederick A editor & Marquis, Albert Nelson. The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy: First Families of America: A Genealogical Encyclopedia of the United States. Vol 1, 1925, page 334. Chicago: A N Marquis & Company. Note that this sourcing is buried by the typesetter in the lower bottom right quadrant of the page for reasons that are unclear.

See also:

• "RootsWeb database", Francis Bryan III entry https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lharmon&id=I23557 26 August 2013 by Linda Harmon.
• The Ancestry of an American Family by Katherine Denney Blaylock