Friday's Photo: James Anderson Bryan, 1858 - 1885

James Anderson Bryan 1858 - 1885

James Bryan, 1815 - 1881

To many, this above tintype copy has been known as James Bryan, born to Reddick Bryan and his first wife in 1815.  I was very pleased to know that I had a photo of James as a young man.  This copy was sent to me by distant cousin and labeled “Jim Bryan, Aunt Josie Cook's adopted father.”  James and his wife, Alice Mary Wimberly, did not have any children of their own, but adopted two of the children of Joseph Bryan and Sarah Margaret Wimberly.

When I sent this to Maureen Taylor, photo expert, to compare with the men in a Civil War picture, she stated that due to the clothing style, the tintype was taken in the late 1860s or sometime in the 1870s; the man looked much too young to have been born in 1815.

During my second visit to see Marguerite Cook Clark's collection, I looked specifically for this photo and found the photo below. 

Albert Bryan 1883 - 1975

So, who was Uncle Jim? And, what about Albert? Marguerite Cook Clark's collection contained a photo of Albert Bryan. According to The Wimberly Family History, James Anderson Bryan and his wife, Sarah Frances Nix, were the parents of Albert Brown Bryan.  They lived in Bienville Parish and James was a son of Joseph Bryan and Sarah Margaret Wimberly. James Anderson Bryan would have been 20 years old in 1878 and could easily be the person in the above picture. 

Albert was only two years old when his parents died of influenza. His only sibling died - unnamed as an infant. Albert was raised by James' brother, Augustus Reddick Bryan, and his wife, Erie Ontario Nix. 

This, as most other photos in the collection, were labeled by Marguerite's mother, Maggie Martin Cook. As she was just a year younger than Albert, she wouldn't have known her Uncle Jim Bryan, but definitely knew her cousin, Albert, and his adopted family. 

Diana

© 2015

Sources

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

Photographs from the the collection of Mary Smith. Accessed December 2004. Used with permission. 

Wimberly, Vera. Wimberly Family History: Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana, 1837. Houston, Tex.: D. Armstrong, 1979. Print.