James Bryan - No Middle Initial

James Bryan was a member of the Mackey Lodge in Bienville Parish since its beginnings in 1854.
Note that middle initials were only missing from a few names. Three are from my family - James Bryan,
Terrell Bryan, and John Regan. 

I was researching James Bryan this week and checked Ancestry.com's Public Member Trees to see what other researchers found. I didn't find any new information; however, noticed his name was written as James B. Bryan (49 times) and James Bryan (28 times). 

I didn't remember seeing a middle initial on any documents earlier this week so decided to verify. 

He was James Bryan (with no middle initial) on all census records from 1850 to 1880, in four Bible records, on his headstone, in court records, in Masonic Lodge records dating from 1852 until 1880, in an Indian Wars pension request, and in land transactions. In all of the documents, there were others who had middle initials, but never James. 

I could only find James B. Bryan in three places. None were original documents.

• A narrative about the Bryan family sent to my father in the 1970s.
• A family group sheet sent to my father in the 1980s. 
• AND, family information posted on MY website in 2002. 

My website information was taken from Dad's genealogy notebook. Not any of the Public Member Trees at Ancestry with the name James B. Bryan had documentation to support the middle initial "B." I would assume some researchers found the name James B. Bryan on my website while others copied it from other Public Member Trees at Ancestry. 

This is a screenshot of my a page on my website. Click to enlarge.
Not only did I have James' name as James B. Bryan in my family tree, but in the section above the family tree, his name written as James A.
I will never criticize the census taker again!

James Bryan's wife was Alice Mary Wimberly. However, it was written as Alice Allison Mary Wimberly on items found in my father's genealogy notebook and published on my website in 2002. All original documents found indicate her name was Alice Mary Wimberly. 

I have changed James' name to James Bryan on my website and corrected Alice Mary Wimberly's name as well. You can visit my Bryan pages by clicking here.

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2017

Sources

Ancestry.com. "Public Member Trees." Web. 14 Jan. 2017. <http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx>.

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn. 

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

Order of the Grand Lodge. "Proceedings of the M W Grand Lodge F AND A Masons of the State of Louisiana." New Orleans., 1867. Web. 14 Jan. 2017. <http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1860/1863-1868.pdf>.

Quinn, Diana B. "Bryan Family." Rootsweb Freepages. 2002. Web. 14 Jan. 2017. <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bryanquinn/Bryanfamily.htm>.