Forgotten Family – Part II: The Bryan Family

Many of the photographs once belonged to my grandparents. Dad knew almost nothing about his mother’s family and had no known cousins on that side of his family.  His father’s Bryan family would be a little easier to locate. He had been contacted by Bryan family researchers in the 1970s and saved old invitations to family reunions containing addresses.  This was 1999 and Facebook was not an option so, I posted the pictures on an on-line photo album and sent the link via the US Postal Service to as many Bryan family relatives as possible. Printed copies of the photographs were sent to the many that did not yet use computers. My efforts were rewarded. I identified many of the photographs and two of my successes are pictured below.

This picture of Monte Hammett, my father’s first cousin was identified by his granddaughter, Sharon.  Sharon, my second cousin once removed, received the link to my on-line album from another distant cousin. Sharon contacted me and we became fast friends. We travel together regularly to research our family.

I was surprised to identify a baby picture. This is my father’s sister Monte DeRay Bryan, born 1904, in Stephenville, Texas. The picture was identified soon after I received the photographs. In my search, I found a distant cousin with an identical photo, labeled DeRay Bryan. The same picture was found two years later in a 1920 high school yearbook when visiting Seymour, Texas. It was in the yearbook next to DeRay’s senior picture.  

AND, just last month, a distant Hairston cousin passed a copy of this picture on to me. It was labeled Myrtie Bryan’s baby? Buster. Although the picture was incorrectly labeled, it shows how well connected our families remained when communication was far more difficult than today.

Next -  Forgotten Family - Part III: The Hairston Family

Diana

© 2011, copyright Diana Quinn