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Thank you for visiting my blog!

This blog is used to share information I find about the families I am researching. To see these family names click on the "My Families" tab. Please feel free to make comments, corrections, and ask questions here or on my Facebook page or go to the "About Me" tab to send an e-mail.

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My posts can be accessed by the date posted from the column on the right. Blog posts containing specific surnames can be found by clicking on the names in the left column.

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Friday, March 15, 2024

Friday's Photo: The Home of Joseph W. and Josie Bryan Cook - 1925 - Bienville Parish, Louisiana



There are three lines of writing above and below these photos are as follows:

Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Cook's home 1925
Grandma and Grandpa's home
Where "we"all" were 

When enlarged, the writing was easy to see. However, the year was difficult to decipher—it could be 1905, 1925, or 1935, but I suspect 1925, as there were several pictures near it in the album that took place at an anniversary celebration in November 1925. For more about Josie and Joe click on the links below. 


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

© 2024 

Photos of the Cook home and Josie and Joe Cook, photographs, ca.1925; scanned images, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019.


Saturday, March 9, 2024

A Record of Enslavement - Could this be Mourning Iverson of Bienville Parish?


I have had this Bill of Sale for quite a long time, but mine was faded, and the enslaved person's name could not be seen. This copy, from Martin County's Deed Book F, found at FamilySearch last week, can be easily read. 

To all People to whom these presents shall come, I, James Bryan of the county of Martin and State of North Carolina planter for and inconsideration of love good will and affection which I have and bare towards my loving Daughter, Amy Bryan of the County and State aforesaid have givin and granted and by these presents do freely and grant unto the said Amy Bryan her heirs Executors, admns and assigns one negro named mornin to have and to hold all the negro slave to her the said Amy Bryan her heirs Exors and from henceforth as her and her property absolutely without any manner of consideration. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 17th day March 1815 - Signed sealed and delivered and in the presence of
                                                                                                                                       James Bryan {his mark}
Benj. Bowers
Reddick Bryan

Martin County December Term 1816  this bill of sale was proven in open court by the oath of Reddick Bryant, one of the subscribing witnesses and ordered to be registered.

H.B. Hunter Clk


Persons Named in this Bill of Sale

Benjamin Bowers and Reddick Bryan witnessed this transaction. No information has been found to positively identify Benjamin Bowers. Reddick Bryan was my second great-grandfather. Much about him can be seen by clicking on this page

James Bryan
I have long suspected that James Bryan, of Martin County, North Carolina and  named in the bill of sale, was the father of Reddick Bryan. Two years before this transaction, he deeded land to Reddick with no mention of cost. Reddick witnessed this document where James names Amy as his daughter. It is thought that James moved to Twiggs County, Georgia. Reddick was one of the administrators of a James Bryan's estate in 1817 in Twiggs.

Amy Bryan

Amy Bryan was named as the daughter of James. It is thought that she moved to Twiggs County with her family as Reddick, who was living in Twiggs, was the administrator of an estate of an Amy Bryan in 1826 in Twiggs County. 

Mornin
Mornin was an enslaved woman gifted to Amy Bryan by her father James. Mornin's age is not known, but if Amy Bryan went to Twiggs, it was very soon after this transaction and Mornin probably went with her. 

When I read this bill of sale, I was surprised to see the name Mornin. Mornin was very similar to the name Mourning, which I found when writing about records of persons enslaved by Reddick Bryan at Slavery and the Bryan Family

An enslaved woman, 43-year-old Mourning, was listed on an 1856 transaction between Reddick and his son, Joseph B. Bryan, in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. She was not listed in the family bible transcription but was one of several enslaved persons who would remain with Elizabeth Bryan as reported on the Partition of Slaves recorded after Reddick Bryan's death in 1864. This same person was found as Mourning Iverson on the 1870 United States Census in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. 

Mourning appears to be the mother of several of the enslaved persons named in Reddick Bryan's probate. The ages of her enslaved children indicate that she probably came with the Reddick Bryan family on their move to Louisiana from Georgia. 

Could Mourning Iverson and Mornin, found in the 1815 Martin County Bill of Sale, be the same person? 

More Questions than Answers 

Unfortunately, there are more questions about the relationships between these people than answers. Twiggs County records burned in 1901, leaving absolutely no early records. I cannot say that James was the father of Reddick and Reddick, the brother of Amy. Reddick could easily be a nephew or cousin. 

And I cannot say that Mornin is Mourning Iverson.

Although I don't know the answers to these questions, it is important to share this information.  I may never solve these hard genealogical puzzles, but future researchers will have more clues than I did when I started researching. 


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
© 2024 

"Administrator's Sale," Southern Recorder (Milledgeville, Ga.), 5 September 1826, p.4, col.5; digital images, Digital Library of Georgia, (https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82016415/1826-09-05/ed-1/seq-4/ : accessed 9 March 2024).

"Administrator's Sale," The Georgia Journal (Milledgeville, GA), 6 January 1818, p.3, col.6; digital images, Digital Library of Georgia, (https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82014251/1818-01-06/ed-1/seq-3/ : accessed 9 March 2024).

Diana Bryan Quinn "Slavery and the Bryan Family," blog page, 24 June 2020, Moments in Time: A Genealogy Blog (https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/p/throughout-my-bryan-family-research-i_10.html : accessed 9 March 2024).

Martin County, North Carolina, Deed Book F: 378, Bill of Sale, 17 March 1815; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L983-N3LW? : accessed 9 March 2024), image 193. 

Martin County, North Carolina, Deed Book F: 220, Deed, 10 September 1813; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G983-NQ3B? : accessed 9 March 2024), image 114. 

Friday, March 8, 2024

Friday's Photo: Alice Mary Wimberly Bryan of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Alice Mary Wimberly Bryan 1829 - 1916


This photo and obituary of Alice Mary Wimberly Bryan are from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. An earlier photo of Alice, from the Frye family's collection, along with her husband, James, was posted last week

James Bryan and Alice Mary Wimberly were married on 13 January 1846. James is the son of Reddick Bryan and his unknown first wife. Alice is the daughter of William Wimberly and Lucy Smith Lawson. 

Alice died at the home of her nephew, Augustus Reddick "Bud" Bryan. Bud was the son of her sister Sarah and Sarah's husband, Joseph B. Bryan, half-brother to Alice's husband James. 

Alice and James did not have children of their own but did adopt two children - Josephine "Josie" Sarah Catherine Bryan and John Terrell Bryan, the children of Sarah Margaret Wimberly and her husband, Joseph B. Bryan. 

James died in 1884. Both Alice and James are buried in the Wimberly Cemetery. 

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
© 2024 

Alice Mary Wimberly Bryan photograph and obituary; digital images from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Last Week, Everything Changed . . . Finding Reddick Bryan Using FamilySearch's Full-Text Search


Two weeks ago, I started on a much-procrastinated project - my brick wall, Reddick Bryan. He lived in Martin County, North Carolina, moved to Georgia and later to Bienville Parish, Louisiana. I am hoping to find more information that points to his parents. There are many public trees giving him a variety of parents, but none show adequate documentation. 

Exhaustive searches in Martin County, North Carolina records and Bienville Parish records were completed years ago, but I had never spent enough time looking at deeds and other records in the surrounding counties or in Pulaski, Houston, and Twiggs Counties in Georgia, where Reddick was said to have lived. 

In addition, Reddick was closely connected to a Miles Bryan in both Georgia and Louisiana. I don't know the family connection, but YDNA says it's close. 

I began by reading unindexed succession records in Bienville Parish, looking for any pages or clues I may have previously missed. I spent much time in the library reviewing Bienville Parish deeds on Family Search and much more time at home looking at Bryan family deeds in Houston County also on FamilySearch. I even wrote a blog post about searching the Bienville succession records on Ancestry.com - Look Beyond the Indexed Records When Searching Louisiana Wills and Probate Records at Ancestry.com 


Last Week, Everything Changed . . .   

Then, last week, at RootsTech, it was announced that FamilySearch Labs released Full-Text Search, allowing us to search scanned images of records not previously indexed. According to the website, there are currently only two collections available to search: the United States Land and Probate Records dating from 1630-1975, and the Mexico Notary Records collection, with most records created before the 1900s. However, new collections will be added regularly. 

This means that all of those wonderful land records that were digitized from microfilm will be searchable by name, place, or whatever phrase I use. Not only are they searchable, but when you locate a record, a transcription can be seen along with the record. 

This record of Reddick Bryan was found when I entered the search terms "Bryan" and "Twiggs." These terms are highlighted in the document. The transcription of the two pages was below the record, which was saved as a PDF. I clipped the bottom portion of the transcription to give you an idea of what you will see. 



In only a few days, I completed county searches in North Carolina and Georgia that would have taken me years to complete prior to Full-Text Search. I found records I did not find in previous searches. I was able to search by decade, state, and county. I searched for Bryan using a variety of spellings and full names in quotation marks, such as "Reddick Bryan," as well as only surnames or less common first names. 

A search for "Twiggs" in the 1810s and 1820s showed numerous deeds in other Georgia counties and states naming those who lived in Twiggs County, Georgia, during the time Reddick Bryan was living there. This is especially valuable as Twiggs County's early records were burned in a fire in 1901.

In less than a week, I accomplished the following:
  • Complete searches of deed records at FamilySearch for Bryans in Houston, Twiggs, Pulaski, AND all surrounding counties in Georgia. Began searches for Bryans in counties surrounding Martin County, North Carolina. 
  • Determined that Reddick Bryan probably never lived in Pulaski County, as seen in many family trees. There will be more on this in a later post. 
  • Determined that Reddick probably left Martin County in North Carolina to settle in Twiggs County, Georgia, where he lived before moving to Houston County, Georgia. Again, more about this will be in a later post. 
  • Found new clusters of friends, associates, and neighbors of both Reddick and Miles Bryan that need to be investigated.

With AI, I was hoping for good transcriptions of handwritten records, but I never expected to get something this good in my lifetime! Now waiting for court records, Freedmen's Bureau records, and Irish birth records. Thank you, FamilySearch!


For Descendants of Reddick Bryan and Miles Bryan 

As many of you reading this post will be descendants of Reddick Bryan, I want to offer my help and ask for yours. I have been researching Reddick and his family since the late 1990s. I have collected much information and am willing to share what I have. 

I would also like your input. If you have family documents, a Bible, or family photos, please share. You never know what kind of clue will be in the documents, on the back of a photo, or in a family Bible. Click below to send me an email. 


More About Full-Text Search

Learn how others are using this fabulous tool at the links below. 

Testing the Full Text Search in FamilySearch Labs - An Immediate Success!! from Randy Sever (read his lessons learned and advice) 







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

© 2024 


Friday, March 1, 2024

Friday's Photo: Alice Mary Wimberly and James Bryan




These hand-colored photographs of Alice Mary Wimberly and James Bryan are part of the Frye Family Collection. The family passed them down, beginning with the Bryans' adopted daughter, Josie Bryan Cook. The old frames on these are beautiful. 

James Bryan and Alice Mary Wimberly were married on 13 January 1846. James is the son of Reddick Bryan and his unknown first wife. Alice is the daughter of William Wimberly and Lucy Smith Lawson. At the time, they were living in Claiborne Parish until Bienville Parish was formed to include the land owned by the Bryan and Wimberly families. 



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

© 2024 

Framed hand-colored photos of James Bryan and Alice Mary Wimberly, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019.

Saturday, February 24, 2024

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: To Sarah M. Wimberly From Martha S. Lawson - October 28th 1839




Martha Susan Lawson gave or sent this poem to her eleven-year-old niece almost 185 years ago. Both Martha and Sarah left their homes in Georgia for Northwest Louisiana. Sarah's parents settled on land later known as Bienville Parish by 1838, and Martha did not come to Louisiana until sometime after 1838. The year is not known. 

Sarah Margaret Wimberly was the daughter of William Wimberly and Lucy Smith Lawson. Martha Susan Lawson was the sister of Sarah's mother, Lucy. Both women were married in Bienville Parish. Sarah married Joseph B. Bryan, brother of my great-grandfather, Terrell Bryan. Margaret married Dr. Isaac Anderson Caldwell. 

The poem is probably not an original poem written by Martha, as I have found the lines written in a variety of places on the Internet. 

Can memory e're forget the hours
That I have spent with you
As soon might  a fragrance quit
Or flowers refuse the dew

As soon might Sol withhold his rays
Or rivers cease to flow
Or should I e're forget the days
That I have spent with you.

As soon might stars refuse to shine
Or the moon her light impart
For the fond affections now entwine
Around my pensive heart.

As soon might beauty quit the flowers
Or the earth refuse the dew
As I should e're forget the hours
That I have spent with you. 

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
© 2024 

Poem to Sarah M. Wimberly from Martha S. Lawson, 1839, from the privately held collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. The poem was accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. 

Vera Meeks Wimberly, Wimberly Family History, Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana 1837 (Houston Texas: D. Anderson, 1979).

Friday, February 23, 2024

Friday's Photo: Two Girls on a Car - Seymour, Texas 1927



This photo has been in my unknown file for more than 20 years. When scrolling past it, I accidentally enlarged it yesterday and realized the girl on the right was my father's sister, Willa Mae Bryan. The girl on the left is unknown. Scroll down to see enlarged photos of both girls. 


1927 is the year on the Texas license plate. If the year is 1927, the photo was probably taken in or near Seymour, Texas. Willa Mae appeared in the 1928 yearbook for Seymour High School. 

In the fall of 1927, Willa Mae's sister, DeRay, began teaching in Borger, Texas. It is said that Willa Mae left Seymour to live with DeRay, but it is not known exactly when that occurred. 


Willa Mae Bryan Dudley 1910 -1991
The photo on the right was found in the 1928 Seymour High School yearbook. At that time
she was Willie Mae Bryan. 


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
© 2024 

Seymour High School, The Jackrabbit (Seymour, Texas:1927), no page number, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/43134_b201875-00036?pId=181479176 : accessed 23 Feb. 2024). 

Two Girls on a Car, photograph, ca.1927; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of D.B. Quinn, 2024.



Thursday, February 22, 2024

Look Beyond the Indexed Records When Searching Louisiana Wills and Probate Records at Ancestry.com

Isaac Anderson Caldwell was married to Martha Susan Lawson, sister to 
Lucy Smith Lawson, and first wife of William Wimberly of Bienville Parish. 
This page shows his will. 

"Succession of Isaac A Caldwell Decd, Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records,
1756-1984," database, Ancestry.com
(https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9067/ : accessed 20 Feb 2024), 
pages 365-370.

I spent most of an afternoon last week at
my local library, a FamilySearch Affiliate Library, looking at Bienville Parish, Louisiana deed records in an attempt to answer several questions about friends, neighbors, and associates of my Bryan family. Luckily, there were indexes, and I downloaded several wanted deed records. 

I also needed to look at wills and probate records, but none of the will or succession books were indexed, and there was no time left in the day to browse through the books. 

Later, hoping that someone had indexed these records, I checked the FamilySearch Research Wiki for Bienville Parish and found the following information about wills and probate records in Bienville Parish. 

"Bienville Parish, Louisiana Genealogy," FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Bienville_Parish,_Louisiana_Genealogy :
accessed 20 Feb 2024).

The Index, Bienville Parish, Louisiana Will Book 1850-1932, compiled by Jinks Pate Lee, is an excellent resource that Bienville Parish researchers should save for future reference. However, know that not all wills are found in the Will Book - many others are seen in the succession books. 

Searches for several names in Ancestry's Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984  failed to come up with any results in Bienville Parish. Was that because the names were not found in the books or because the Bienville books were not in the collection? Or maybe they were in the collection but not indexed. 


"Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984," database, Ancestry.com (httphttps://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9067/ : accessed 20 Feb 2024), Source Information.

A look at the source information (see above) revealed the types of records found in the collection and stated that the collection includes "images of probate records from approximately 72 percent of Louisiana parishes." To find details on the parishes included, it was suggested to explore the browse menu. 

"Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984," database, Ancestry.com (httphttps://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9067/ :accessed 20 Feb 2024), Source Information.

The browse menu above shows that all probate and will records found at FamilySearch.org for Bienville Parish are also found at Ancestry.com. They are free to browse at a FamilySearch Library or Affiliate, but as I subscribe to Ancestry, I will be able to read them on my large screen while in my comfortable chair. 

However, I still had not completely answered my question about these records at Ancestry. Were the names I looked for not shown because they were not in the book or because the book was not indexed? The only way to quickly find out is to test it. I know that at least three of my Bryans in Bienville Parish had records in the Bienville succession books. A quick search for Bryan without specifying a parish resulted in 111 results, with only one for Bienville Parish. That one result for James Bryan was from the Will Book, revealing that only the Bienville Parish Will Book was indexed. I need to browse the succession books to find my people. 

"Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984," database, Ancestry.com (httphttps://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9067/ : accessed 20 Feb 2024),
search results for Bryan.


Browsing the Succession Books 

I began by browsing Probate Book C, called Succession Book C, in parish records and at FamilySearch. So far, it is fairly easy to read, and the content is very interesting. This book begins just before the end of the war in 1865, so you will still see some estates that include enslaved persons. If you are researching enslaved persons in this area of Louisiana, you will definitely want to browse all of these books. 

At the top of many pages is a descriptive title such as the one at the beginning of this post, "Succession of Isaac A. Caldwell Decd," or something like "Tutorship of minor John T. Chappel." This allows you to go through the book quickly without having to read each page. When you find a title with a name that interests you, check the previous page, as sometimes a record might begin in the middle of a page. 

I hope that this post was helpful. If you are a Bienville Parish researcher and find something new and exciting, please share!

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

© 2024