Simeon Baker Bryan, son of Reddick Bryan, did not move to Louisiana with family. He remained in Georgia.

My grandfather, Redic E. Bryan, wrote the portion of
this list in black ink sometime before his death in 1929. 

This paper, found in Terrell Bryan's family bible, lists members of the Reddick Bryan family as known by my grandfather, Redic E. Bryan. With the exception of Baker Bryan, other family members had been found in numerous family and government documents. It was said that Baker remained in Georgia when the rest of the family moved to Louisiana. 

In 2004, after quite a lot of research, I was able to conclude that Baker Bryan was actually Simeon Baker Bryan. You can see my search documented on my Rootsweb page at this link.

Simeon Baker Bryan was the second known son of Reddick Bryan and his first wife whose name is unknown. A birth date of January 19, 1817 was found in a transcription of Reddick Bryan's family Bible.  And, the same date was seen in another Bryan family Bible published in 1843 and found in the Marguerite Cook Clark collection. It is thought that Baker was born in North Carolina.

Copied from a Bible published in 1843. One of several Bibles saved by
Marguerite Cook Clark and her family. 

In 1836, Simeon appeared as Simon B. Bryan on list of the names of those in the Georgia Militia who marched from Houston County on the 27th, May 1836 to rendezvous at Columbus, Georgia on June 2, 1836. "Creek War" was indicated on his military record. Simeon's brother, James Bryan, and step-brother, Span Regan were also on the list. 

Simeon B. Bryan married Louisa Smith on May 20, 1838 in Houston County, Georgia. His name is written as Simeon on the actual marriage record but in Jordan R. Dodd's Georgia marriages : early to 1800 : a research tool (found at Ancestry.com), his name is transcribed as Simon. 

In Houston County, on February 1, 1839. it was reported that Simeon B. Bryan's wife, Louisa, died. Her parents were listed in the obituary as Needham and Ardelia Smith and it was written that the "marriage took place in May last and in the fall afterwards her husband's father and brothers emigrated to the far west, in the State of Louisiana."

A portion of a Georgia map found at the Library of Congress website and published in 1854.

In the 1840s and 1850s, I have seen Simeon Baker Bryan in Lee, Clay, Early, Baker, Dougherty, and Calhoun Counties. After looking at old maps and understanding the formations of each county, it's easy to see how he could have lived in the same area for most of his life but shows up in records from several different counties. 

Simeon married Elizabeth Ann Mercer, daughter of Silas Mercer and Ann Thompson sometime in the 1840s or early 1850s. No record has been found. E. A. Bryan wrote letters to family in Louisiana referring to Reddick Bryan and his wife, Elizabeth, as Pap and Ma. In Georgia probate records, Elizabeth A. Bryan is the wife of Simeon Baker Bryan. 

Administrators bonds, indicated that Simeon B. Bryan died in Calhoun County, GA prior to October 27, 1856 when Elijah Padgett applied to be administrator of the estate of Simeon B. Bryan. No record of his burial has been found. 

This post has been added to The Reddick Bryan Family - A Timeline.


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

© 2020

Sources

Bonner, William G. Bonner's pocket map of the state of Georgia. New York: J.H. Colton & Co, 1854. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/91685221/.

Dodd, J. R. (1999). Georgia marriages: Early to 1800: A research tool. Bountiful, UT: Heritage Quest.

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.

Holcomb, Brent. Marriage and Death Notices from the Southern Christian Advocate 1837 to 1860. 1979. Print. 

Louisiana Bible Records (1950), Louisiana DARGRC report S1v25. 1950. Accessed at the DAR library in Washington DC by Diana Bryan Quinn on July 7, 2010.

Quinn, Diana Bryan. My Search for Baker Bryan. 2005. Web. 
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bryanquinn/genealogy/BryanSimeonBaker.htm. Accessed 5 Aug. 2020.

Quinn, Diana Bryan. Moments in Time, A Genealogy Blog: #52ancestors Post Eleven: The Bryan Family Bible. 2018. Web. https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/52ancestors-post-eleven-bryan-family.html. Accessed 5 Aug. 2020.

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