#52ancestors: Post Six: Hairston Albritton Bryan

The writing prompt for this week's #52ancestors is favorite name. My father's brother had the unusual name, Hairston Albritton. Hairston was his mother's maiden name and Albritton was his paternal grandmother's maiden name. What I like about the name is the way he creatively modified his name at different times in his life. 

Hairston Albritton Bryan was known as Buster to most family and friends. He was born to Redic and Myrtie Hairston Bryan on January 24, 1906, in Baylor County, Texas.  Buster was the third child and the first son born to Redic and Myrtie. 

Buster (left) and Sherrell Ballew (right) - Seymour High School Tennis Team 1923

He was Buster at Seymour High School when he played tennis and won the county championship for his school. However, he was Bus when he was playing football. 

He was the administrator of his father's estate in 1929 and signed his name H. B. Bryan. On a land record, his name was H. A. Bryan. 

Out on his own and working as a drugstore clerk, Buster was identified as Harry B. Bryan on the 1930 census. 

David Vernoy "Wanda" Land

H. Buster Bryan and Wanda Land were married January 1, 1935, in Ector County, Texas according to the marriage record.  

If you didn't have a birth certificate, did you have a legal name? 

Wanda was actually David Vernoy Land Dorman. She was named after her father, David Vernoy Land and had been married to Rufus Dorman before she married Buster. 

Buster died on September 15, 1940. He was working in the oil fields when an oil well blew.  He was struct by gravel causing the wounds and died of tetanus. His name in his obituary was Buster H. Bryan. On his death certificate, his name is written Hairston Albritton [Buster] Bryan. 


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Diana

© 2018

Sources

Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Family photographs and documents from the collection of  Diana Bryan Quinn