Another Letter from Sallie Bryan Hammett of Bienville Parish, Louisiana to Lizzie Ragan in Terrell County, Georgia - 28 April 1915

Clifford Cook Shelby, sister to Marguerite Cook Clark
Eleanor Mae Hammett Driscoll, youngest daughter of Sallie Bryan Hammett[1]

This is the second of two letters, written by Sallie Bryan Hammett to Lizzie Ragan. Lizzie was looking for genealogical information. At the time Sallie wrote this letter, she was living in Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.[2] The first letter can be seen by clicking on this link. 

This letter was not transcribed exactly. Some punctuation and spacing were added to make it easier to read. 

_________________________

April the 28, 1915

Dear cousin Lizzie

Ada E. Hammett [3]

I will try and answer your dear letter which was received several days ago

I should have written sooner but I have been kept so busy I have not had time to write. Ada is down at her Aunt Ida’s [illegible word] this week and everything is mine to do. I washed today and am awful tired

We have been having some rainy weather this week

We were needing rain too but it has cleared off now and looks so pretty

We have a nice garden and I was afraid the fruit was all killed but I see we have plenty of peaches

I am so glad we have for we didn’t have any last year

I will can a plenty if nothing happens to prevent us

Everyone is getting ready for our school commencement. We have a fine school here at this place. Have three teachers. Our little Eleanor Mae will be in the exercises. She is just seven years old but we think she is awful smart for her age. She loves to go to school. We are might proud of her. She will be in several pieces. Wish you could be here. The school closes the 12 of May.

Cousin Lizzie I don’t have Uncle Terrells address but Ada writes to one of his Grand Daughters so she wrote for Uncle Terrells address and as soon as we hear from her we will write you and tell you what it is. He was at Austin Texas at the old soldiers home the last time we heard of him but I don’t know if he is still there or not. Trixie will tell Ada where he is. She told Trixie why she wanted to know his address and I know she will let us hear from her right away and we will write you right away. 

Oh know I do wish we could see each other. I sure would like to see cousin Joes sons we all thought so much of cousin Joe when he was out here. 

I sure did like Uncle John Regan. He was such a good man. Papa loved him as much as he did his own brothers and Uncle Span too your papa. I have heard my papa speak of him so much. 

I waited on Dear Uncle John when he died he had Brights Desease and was sick a long time and suffered so much. I can remember just as well as if it had been a few days ago my dear Papa and mama I do get so anxious to see them sometime in the sweet bye and bye. Never to part any more. Wont that be a grand time when we all meet to part no more. Oh cousin Lizzie if we never meet in this world I believe we will know each other in heaven. We know our parents are gone there and we will all meet there. We can’t afford to not meet them there. Pray for me and mine that we may hold out faithful to the end. 

Well will close with a heart full of love thinking of you.

Write soon to your loving cousin

Sallie Hammett

P. S. I do love to get your letters. 

_________________________

People mentioned in this letter are named below. Click on the links to see more photos and more information about these family members.

Cousin Lizzie was Elizabeth Leurany Ragan and the daughter of Julius Leurany Speight and Dr. Span Regan (later changed to Ragan). Span Regan was the half-brother of Sallie's father, Tillman C. Bryan. [4]

Allie Belle Trott Frye with her
cousin James "Jim" Smylie Hammett [7]

Sallie Manning Bryan Hammett was the daughter of Tilman C. Bryan and Mildred Manning Prothro.  She married Wesley Tilman Hammett, her first cousin, and son of Robert E. Hammett and Dorothy "Dollie" Bryan Hammett. Sallie and Wesley had children Irene, Ada, James Smylie, and Eleanor Mae.[5]

Aunt Ida may have been Sallie's sister who was married to John Henry Sheffield.[6] 

Uncle Terrell was Terrell Bryan, my great-grandfather, who left Louisiana and was in Texas by 1877.  Terrell was a son of Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth S. Bryan, brother to Sallie's father, Tillman, and brother to Wesley's mother, Dorothy. He was half-brother to Lizzie's father, Span.[8]

Terrell Bryan and his wife, Harriet Albritton [9]

Sallie wrote that she last knew of Terrell being in "Austin Texas at the old soldiers home." A copy of a letter Terrell wrote from the Texas Confederate Home can be seen by clicking on this link. At the time of Sallie's letter, Terrell was living in Stephenville, Texas.[10]

Trixie Hammett [13]

Trixie Hammett was the daughter of Alice Amanda Bryan and John Regan Hammett. Alice Amanda was the daughter of Terrell Bryan and John was the brother of Sallie's husband, Wesley Tilman Hammett.[11] Trixie must have sent Terrell's address as I have a copy of a letter Terrell wrote to Lizzie that same year.[12]

Cousin Joe was Joseph Thomas Ragan, son of Span and brother to Lizzie. You can see a photo of him and learn more at Randy's Cousin Web Page.[14] 

Uncle John was John Regan, the son of Elizabeth Regan and her first husband, Joseph Regan, and brother to Span.  John and Span were very young when their mother was widowed and married Reddick Bryan. [15]

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

© 2021 

Sources 

    1. Clifford Cook Shelby and Eleanor Mae Hammett Driscoll, n.d.; 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.

    2.  Letter from Sallie Hammett, (Bienville Parish, Louisiana) to Lizzie Ragan (Bronwood, GA), 28 April 1915; digital copy held in 2021 by D. Quinn (Virginia Beach, VA). Current location of the original letter is unknown. 

    3. "Ada E. Hammett [obituary]," newspaper clipping, 1974, unidentified newspaper, from the privately-held collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Obituaries 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.

    4. Letter from E. Ragan Pruitt, (Georgia) to Cousin Diana (Diana B. Quinn), 14 April 2003; This letter containing Regan/Ragan family information is held by D. Quinn (Virginia Beach, VA) in 2021.

    5. Julia Brittain, "Ahnentafel Chart for Reddick Bryan," 1793 - 1991; supplied by J. Brittain, Cypress, Texas, 1999.

    6. Ibid.

    7. Allie Belle Trott Frye and James Smylie Hammett, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019.

    8. Terrell Bryan Family Bible Records, 1836 - 1927, The Illustrated Polyglot Household Bible (Philadelphia: G. Zeigler, McCurdy, & Co., 1870), "Family Record," privately held by Diana Bryan Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2021. Also, Diana Quinn, "Ahnentafel Chart for Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth Regan," 1793 - 1991; created by D. Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2004.

    9. Terrell Bryan and Harriet Albritton, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of J. McAlister, TX, 2001.

    10. Diana Bryan Quinn "Friday's Photo: Terrell Bryan's Twilight Years," blog entry, 28 July 2017, Moments in Time: A Genealogy Blog (https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/letter-to-lizzie-ragan-from-bryant.html : accessed 9 October 2021).

    11. Ellington, "Hammett/James Family," public tree, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/account/profile/03132af8-0000-0000-0000-000000000000?compareToTestId=68D2EDDB-2A54-4305-9626-096A711BCFA6 : accessed 21 October 2021). 

    12. Letter from Bryan, Terrell  (Stephenville, Erath County, TX) to Miss Lizzie Ragan (Terrell County, GA), 17 October 1915; copy held and sent to Diana B. Quinn in 2003 by E. Ragan Pruitt. 

    13. Trixie Hammett, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, original from the privately held photo collection of R. Warner, TX, 2001

    14. Letter from E. Ragan Pruitt, (Georgia) to Cousin Diana (Diana B. Quinn), 14 April 2003; This letter containing Regan/Ragan family information is held by D. Quinn (Virginia Beach, VA) in 2021. 

    15. Ibid.

Friday's Photo: Tillman C. Bryan and his Pension Record

This is the third photo of Tillman posted in the last two weeks. This tintype shows a much older Tillman. I love that I was able to easily see the same facial features in all three photos. Look at his nose and the shape of his mouth and mustache. 

This photo of the older Tillman came from Marguerite Cook Clark's collection. It's actually clipped from this photo of two brothers - Joseph B. Bryan and Tillman C. Bryan. 

This photo is labeled J. B. Bryan (Grandpap) and Uncle Tillman Bryan.
Marguerite's mother, Mary Marguerite "Maggie" Martin Cook (1887-1970)
labeled the photo in an album. 

This photo of Tillman was taken about 
the time of the Civil War. 

Tillman's pension record for service in the Confederate Army is a good record of his birth and other facts not easily found for those born in 1830.   I am certain that Tillman completed the application himself. He gives his birth date and place of birth - September 13, 1830, in Houston County, Georgia. 

At the time, Tillman suffered from facial paralysis and probably skin cancer as he wrote that he had "cancer on the face." 

Tillman enlisted in the Confederate Army in the spring of 1862 and served in the calvary until the end of the war. He listed three "comrades" living nearby; V. M. Davis and Fred Davis of Ringgold, and Howell Albritton of Campti. V. M. Davis and Jacob Cook witnessed the pension record. 

Tillman wrote that he had seven living children. Two sons and three daughters were married, while one daughter, age 15, and one son, age 23, lived in the home. 

The children at home would have been Jewell Antonette Bryan, age 15, and William Rufus Bryan, age 23. 

His married children were Tillman C. Bryan, John Wesley Bryan, Sally Manning Bryan Hammett, Ida Amelia Bryan Sheffield, and Tommie Eta Lissinie Bryan Nix.

This application was filed on February 1, 1899. There were a total of 27 questions. 

It appears that Tillman was approved to receive $8.00 a quarter; however, he probably did not receive any of the pension funds as he died on June 16 of the same year. 

Tillman's five-page pension record can be found at FamilySearch.org. Sign-up for a free account and click here to view the record. 

In April 1912, Tillman's wife, Mildred, filed for a widow's pension. Mildred reported they were married on March 15, 1854. This doesn't match the dates reported previously. She actually married her first husband, Hartwell M. Prothro, on March 23, 1854. He died in a steamboat explosion in March 1856.  

It was written that Tillman died of natural circumstances and is buried in the Liberty Chapel Cemetery. Tillman and Mildred are buried in the Bryan Cemetery. Is that formerly the Liberty Chapel Cemetery? 

Mildred died on December 8, 1912.* It is not known if she collected pension funds. With your free account at FamilySearch.org, you can view or download Mildred Bryan's pension application.  

To learn more about Tillman, visit the posts below. 

T. C. Bryan of Bienville Parish, Louisiana - Was he Tillman or Tilman?

Friday's Photo: Tillman C. Bryan 

*To learn more about Mildred and see an alternative death date read Mildred Rebecca Manning Prothro Bryan AND a Question About My Last Post.

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

© 2021 

Sources 

Bryan, Joseph B., and Bryan, Tillman C. Photograph. No date. Photograph in album held by M. Harrison, NC.*

Bryan, Tillman C. Photograph. No date. Photograph held by H. Forstmann, CT.

Bryan, Tillman C. Photograph. No date. Photograph in album held by M. Harrison, NC.*

"Louisiana Confederate Pensions, 1898-1950", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CSL8-FKMM : 27 November 2020), T C Bryan in entry for MM9.1.1/CSLF-6SMM:, 1899.

"Louisiana Confederate Pensions, 1898-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939F-VZSD-5S?cc=1838535&wc=M61M-PNB%3A164934001 : 20 May 2014), Brown, John B - Evans, C H > image 991 of 1406; Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge.

____________________________________

*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.

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Reuben K. Bryan

Reuben K. Bryan was the son of John Wesley Bryan and Francis Elizabeth "Lizzie" Sheffield Bryan. He was born August 24, 1897 and died on October 8, 1980. 

Reuben Bryan is one of many descendants of Reddick and Elizabeth Regan Bryan. His grandfather was their son, Tillman Bryan. 

Reuben was a mechanic in Shreveport. The picture below was published in 1952. Click on it to see a larger version at Newspaper.com.

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




© 2018

Sources

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.

Friday's Photo: A Bryan - Cook Gathering in Bienville Parish

 

Unknown to my father, four of the young people in this photo were his second cousins - grandchildren of Tilman Capers Bryan, brother to his grandfather, Terrell Bryan. 

This is another photo from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark and it is assumed to have been taken in or near Bienville Parish, Louisiana.  It was labeled by Marguerite's mother, Maggie Cook. It is thought to have been labeled long after the photo was taken. The maiden names of all of the young women were included, but it is not known if they were married when the photo was taken.  The clothing styles, especially the hats, lead me to believe the photo was taken around 1910. No later than 1915.

Marguerite Cook Clark called all of these young people family. The Bryans were cousins - all descendants of Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth S. Regan family. The Cook girls were sisters to her father, Edward Clifton Cook.

Della Bryan Pate and Lois Bryan Norman were daughters of Tilman C. Bryan II and 
Mary E. McDowell.

Willie Bryan Tomme and Robert Lee Bryan were the children of John W. Bryan and 

Lizzie Sheffield.

Ina Cook Bryan and Bert Cook were the daughters of N. B. and Pauline Porter Cook.  Ina married Albert Brown 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

© 2017

Sources

Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006. Original data: Family trees submitted by Ancestry members.

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.

Taylor, M. A. (2011). Bonnets and hats, 1840-1900. Westwood, MA: Picture Perfect Press