A Record of Enslavement - Could this be Mourning Iverson of Bienville Parish?

I have had this Bill of Sale for quite a long time, but mine was faded, and the enslaved person's name could not be seen. This copy, from Martin County's Deed Book F, found at FamilySearch last week, can be easily read. 

To all People to whom these presents shall come, I, James Bryan of the county of Martin and State of North Carolina planter for and inconsideration of love good will and affection which I have and bare towards my loving Daughter, Amy Bryan of the County and State aforesaid have givin and granted and by these presents do freely and grant unto the said Amy Bryan her heirs Executors, admns and assigns one negro named mornin to have and to hold all the negro slave to her the said Amy Bryan her heirs Exors and from henceforth as her and her property absolutely without any manner of consideration. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 17th day March 1815 - Signed sealed and delivered and in the presence of

                                                                                                                                       James Bryan {his mark}

Benj. Bowers

Reddick Bryan

Martin County December Term 1816  this bill of sale was proven in open court by the oath of Reddick Bryant, one of the subscribing witnesses and ordered to be registered.

H.B. Hunter Clk

Persons Named in this Bill of Sale

Benjamin Bowers and Reddick Bryan witnessed this transaction. No information has been found to positively identify Benjamin Bowers. Reddick Bryan was my second great-grandfather. Much about him can be seen by clicking on this page. 

James Bryan

I have long suspected that James Bryan, of Martin County, North Carolina and  named in the bill of sale, was the father of Reddick Bryan. Two years before this transaction, he deeded land to Reddick with no mention of cost. Reddick witnessed this document where James names Amy as his daughter. It is thought that James moved to Twiggs County, Georgia. Reddick was one of the administrators of a James Bryan's estate in 1817 in Twiggs.

Amy Bryan

Amy Bryan was named as the daughter of James. It is thought that she moved to Twiggs County with her family as Reddick, who was living in Twiggs, was the administrator of an estate of an Amy Bryan in 1826 in Twiggs County. 

Mornin

Mornin was an enslaved woman gifted to Amy Bryan by her father James. Mornin's age is not known, but if Amy Bryan went to Twiggs, it was very soon after this transaction and Mornin probably went with her. 

When I read this bill of sale, I was surprised to see the name Mornin. Mornin was very similar to the name Mourning, which I found when writing about records of persons enslaved by Reddick Bryan at Slavery and the Bryan Family

An enslaved woman, 43-year-old Mourning, was listed on an 1856 transaction between Reddick and his son, Joseph B. Bryan, in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. She was not listed in the family bible transcription but was one of several enslaved persons who would remain with Elizabeth Bryan as reported on the Partition of Slaves recorded after Reddick Bryan's death in 1864. This same person was found as Mourning Iverson on the 1870 United States Census in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. 

Mourning appears to be the mother of several of the enslaved persons named in Reddick Bryan's probate. The ages of her enslaved children indicate that she probably came with the Reddick Bryan family on their move to Louisiana from Georgia. 

Could Mourning Iverson and Mornin, found in the 1815 Martin County Bill of Sale, be the same person? 

More Questions than Answers 

Unfortunately, there are more questions about the relationships between these people than answers. Twiggs County records burned in 1901, leaving absolutely no early records. I cannot say that James was the father of Reddick and Reddick, the brother of Amy. Reddick could easily be a nephew or cousin. 

And I cannot say that Mornin is Mourning Iverson.

Although I don't know the answers to these questions, it is important to share this information.  I may never solve these hard genealogical puzzles, but future researchers will have more clues than I did when I started researching. 

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

© 2024 

"Administrator's Sale," Southern Recorder (Milledgeville, Ga.), 5 September 1826, p.4, col.5; digital images, Digital Library of Georgia, (https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82016415/1826-09-05/ed-1/seq-4/ : accessed 9 March 2024).

"Administrator's Sale," The Georgia Journal (Milledgeville, GA), 6 January 1818, p.3, col.6; digital images, Digital Library of Georgia, (https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82014251/1818-01-06/ed-1/seq-3/ : accessed 9 March 2024).

Diana Bryan Quinn "Slavery and the Bryan Family," blog page, 24 June 2020, Moments in Time: A Genealogy Blog (https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/p/throughout-my-bryan-family-research-i_10.html : accessed 9 March 2024).

Martin County, North Carolina, Deed Book F: 378, Bill of Sale, 17 March 1815; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L983-N3LW? : accessed 9 March 2024), image 193. 

Martin County, North Carolina, Deed Book F: 220, Deed, 10 September 1813; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G983-NQ3B? : accessed 9 March 2024), image 114. 

Last Week, Everything Changed . . . Finding Reddick Bryan Using FamilySearch's Full-Text Search

Two weeks ago, I started on a much-procrastinated project - my brick wall, Reddick Bryan. He lived in Martin County, North Carolina, moved to Georgia and later to Bienville Parish, Louisiana. I am hoping to find more information that points to his parents. There are many public trees giving him a variety of parents, but none show adequate documentation. 

Exhaustive searches in Martin County, North Carolina records and Bienville Parish records were completed years ago, but I had never spent enough time looking at deeds and other records in the surrounding counties or in Pulaski, Houston, and Twiggs Counties in Georgia, where Reddick was said to have lived. 

In addition, Reddick was closely connected to a Miles Bryan in both Georgia and Louisiana. I don't know the family connection, but YDNA says it's close. 

I began by reading unindexed succession records in Bienville Parish, looking for any pages or clues I may have previously missed. I spent much time in the library reviewing Bienville Parish deeds on Family Search and much more time at home looking at Bryan family deeds in Houston County also on FamilySearch. I even wrote a blog post about searching the Bienville succession records on Ancestry.com - Look Beyond the Indexed Records When Searching Louisiana Wills and Probate Records at Ancestry.com 

Last Week, Everything Changed . . .   

Then, last week, at RootsTech, it was announced that FamilySearch Labs released Full-Text Search, allowing us to search scanned images of records not previously indexed. According to the website, there are currently only two collections available to search: the United States Land and Probate Records dating from 1630-1975, and the Mexico Notary Records collection, with most records created before the 1900s. However, new collections will be added regularly. 

This means that all of those wonderful land records that were digitized from microfilm will be searchable by name, place, or whatever phrase I use. Not only are they searchable, but when you locate a record, a transcription can be seen along with the record. 

This record of Reddick Bryan was found when I entered the search terms "Bryan" and "Twiggs." These terms are highlighted in the document. The transcription of the two pages was below the record, which was saved as a PDF. I clipped the bottom portion of the transcription to give you an idea of what you will see. 

In only a few days, I completed county searches in North Carolina and Georgia that would have taken me years to complete prior to Full-Text Search. I found records I did not find in previous searches. I was able to search by decade, state, and county. I searched for Bryan using a variety of spellings and full names in quotation marks, such as "Reddick Bryan," as well as only surnames or less common first names. 

A search for "Twiggs" in the 1810s and 1820s showed numerous deeds in other Georgia counties and states naming those who lived in Twiggs County, Georgia, during the time Reddick Bryan was living there. This is especially valuable as Twiggs County's early records were burned in a fire in 1901.

In less than a week, I accomplished the following:

• Complete searches of deed records at FamilySearch for Bryans in Houston, Twiggs, Pulaski, AND all surrounding counties in Georgia. Began searches for Bryans in counties surrounding Martin County, North Carolina. 

• Determined that Reddick Bryan probably never lived in Pulaski County, as seen in many family trees. There will be more on this in a later post. 

• Determined that Reddick probably left Martin County in North Carolina to settle in Twiggs County, Georgia, where he lived before moving to Houston County, Georgia. Again, more about this will be in a later post. 

• Found new clusters of friends, associates, and neighbors of both Reddick and Miles Bryan that need to be investigated.

With AI, I was hoping for good transcriptions of handwritten records, but I never expected to get something this good in my lifetime! Now waiting for court records, Freedmen's Bureau records, and Irish birth records. Thank you, FamilySearch!

For Descendants of Reddick Bryan and Miles Bryan 

As many of you reading this post will be descendants of Reddick Bryan, I want to offer my help and ask for yours. I have been researching Reddick and his family since the late 1990s. I have collected much information and am willing to share what I have. 

I would also like your input. If you have family documents, a Bible, or family photos, please share. You never know what kind of clue will be in the documents, on the back of a photo, or in a family Bible. Click below to send me an email. 

Click to send 

More About Full-Text Search

Learn how others are using this fabulous tool at the links below. 

Testing the Full Text Search in FamilySearch Labs - An Immediate Success!! from Randy Sever (read his lessons learned and advice) 

12 Strategies for Using FamilySearch Full-Text Search from Kimberly Powell

Try It! FamilySearch's New Full-Text Search from Marian B. Wood

Full-Text and AI comes to FamilySearch from James Tanner

John Coor of Copiah County Made an Agreement with Joel Hoggatt from Lisa S. Gorrell

Exploring FamilySearch’s New Full-Text Search Tool & AI Transcription Comparison from Dana Leeds

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

© 2024 

His Name was Jacob Giddens. He had No Middle Name. Please Make This Correction in Your Online Family Tree.

Jacob Gidden's gravestone at Pleasant Grove Cemetery in Bienville Parish,
Louisiana does not show that he has a middle name or initial.[1]

Last week, I wrote Gathering Giddens: Jacob Giddens - Wayne County, North Carolina to Bienville Parish, Louisiana. One fact I did not write about was the addition of a middle name for Jacob that appeared to happen in the last 20 years. This gave him the name of Jacob Wealthy Giddens in the overwhelming majority of online family trees. I am writing this post in hopes of providing his descendants with information to persuade them to eliminate that middle name in their online family trees unless documentation can be found. 

Gathering Giddens: Jacob Giddens - Wayne County, North Carolina to Bienville Parish, Louisiana

In 1819, while living in Twiggs County, Jacob Giddens sold the land he inherited from his father to John Smith of Wayne County, North Carolina. The deed record, found in Wayne County Deed Book 11, did not mention that the land was land inherited from his father, John Giddens. However, when John Smith sold the land to John Casey that same year, in the deed, it was stated, " A certain piece or parcel of land lying or being the lands that the said John Smith bought off Jacob Giddens which fell to him the said Jacob Giddens in a Division of the Lands of his father, John Giddens, dec'd." Note that unlike the land of his siblings, Jacob's inherited land did not begin at Jethro's Marsh Branch.[1] 

Finding Jacob Giddens in Bienville Parish is what started my interest in genealogy in the late 1990s. 

My mother, from Long Island, New York, and my father, from the small town of Borger, Texas, were both interested in family history and asked me to look for their families on my new Internet. I was hooked when I found both families connected in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

Jacob Giddens, brother to my mother's 2nd great-grandfather, and Reddick Bryan, my father's great-grandfather, settled in Bienville Parish. Their descendants married, and for that reason, I have several cousins connected to both families. 

1820 - The Will of Joseph Regan in Pulaski County, Georgia

This map from 1818 shows Pulaski County right on the frontier. The Regan family lived in 
Pulaski County where, after Joseph's death, Elizabeth Regan married Reddick Bryan in 1821. It is thought that Reddick lived in Twiggs County and some of their children may have been born in Twiggs County. 

In 1820, the family of Elizabeth Regan and Joseph Regan was found on the census as living in Pulaski County, Georgia.  The enumeration date was August 7, 1820.  Joseph Regan was listed on the census record and those counted were as follows:

Georgia in 1818

Free White Persons - Males - Under 10: 3

Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25: 1

Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25: 1

Slaves - Females - 26 thru 44: 1

Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture: 2

Free White Persons - Under 16: 3

Total Free White Persons: 5

Total Slaves: 1

Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other:  6

The three white males under 10 are presumed to be John Regan (age 3 ), Span Regan (age 2), and Rufus Wiley Regan who was born February 16, 1820.

The free, white male between the age of 16 and 25 is undoubtedly Joseph Regan. While Elizabeth Regan is the free white female between the ages of 16 and 25. The sixth person listed in the household is a female slave between the ages of 26 and 44.

  

Just a few months later, on December 13, 1820, Rufus Wiley Regan died.  His father, Joseph Regan passed away six days later on December 19, 1820.

A transcription of Joseph Regan's will, obtained from E. Ragan Pruitt, signed on December 18, 1820 is as follows:

In the name of God, Amen. I, Joseph Regan, of the County of Pulaski and State of Georgia, being very low in body but in perfect mind and memory, thanks be to God for the same calling to mind the mortality body and ordain this my last will and testament. That is to say principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hand of Almighty that give it me and mine body I recommend to the earth to be buried in Christian burial at the discretion of my friends and as vouching such worldly estate as it has pleased God to bless me with in this life I give devise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form. First of all I request that my mare and colt and bridle and saddle I give to my wife Elizabeth Regan Extry of her equal part the Joseph Regan do request her to have that much extry still to have all the rest of my property after my just debts is paid her life time or widowhood but and if she marry again then an equal division with the two sons in the land and negroes household and kitchen furniture one negro named Bise and Anthony and Nell and Simon, and the land that I now live on in the County of Pulaski now by the number 88 one hundred and a quarter acres if the said Elizabeth Regan marry again then and equal division between her and my sons John Regan and Span Regan and I do hereby ordain and appoint Elizabeth S. Regan executrix to carry this my last will into effect and I do hereby utterly revoke and disannul all and every other former will and testament by me in anywise before named willed and bequeathed.   In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 18th day of December One thousand eight hundred and twenty. Signed sealed pronounced and delivered by the said Joseph Regan as his last will and testament in the presents of            

Wincherd Dawson      

Sarah Dawson                                                     (signed) Joseph Regan (Seal) 

William Smith

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

Family photographs and documents from the collection E. Ragan Pruitt. Used with permission. 

Gridley, E. G. & Carey, M. (1818) The state of Georgia. [S.l., ?] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2006635240/.

Year: 1820; Census Place: , Pulaski, Georgia; Roll: M33_9; http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1820usfedcenancestry&h=1481088&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt

Span Regan and Questions Regarding his Name

Span Regan
1818-1875

Span Regan, the son of Elizabeth Span Regan and Joseph Regan was born on April 1, 1818. The date is well documented; however, the spelling of his name varies from Spann to Span and Regan to Ragan. It is said that Span Regan changed the spelling of his last name to Ragan. In Public and Private Trees at Ancestry.com, Span Regan along with name variations were found in over 100 trees. I found the name Span to be used in 73 trees and Spann in 55 trees. Regan was used in 82 trees, Ragan in 25 trees and the rest could not decide whether to use Regan or Ragan so used Regan/Ragan. 

Elizabeth Span Regan Bryan, 

Span's mother. I'm sure I have

written her name as Spann as

well and will need to make 

many changes. 

E. Ragan Pruitt
1922 - 2009

Deciding between Span and Spann was easy. I loved E. Ragan Pruitt's explanation for the Span/Spann confusion and wish I could undo some of my mistakes as well. Ragan, a descendant of Span Regan and a genealogical researcher who began his search for family in the  1970s, stated that it's Span (not Spann) in Span Regan's family bible and that an error was made when he (Ragan) wrote a family history. He wrote, "it has just gone the rounds - don't really know how to stop it." 

Span Regan and his birthday of April 1, 1818, is written in the transcription of his step-father's family bible. 

Span was the second of three sons; John born in 1816 and Rufus Wiley born on February 16, 1820. Rufus died just a few days before his father, Joseph Regan, in December 1820. Joseph named his sons, John and Span Regan in his will dated December 18, 1820. 

Span's mother, Elizabeth Span Regan married Reddick Bryan in 1821 in Pulaski County, Georgia. They lived in nearby Twiggs County and later settled in Houston County, Georgia

In 1836, Span Regan, John Regan, and their step-brother James Bryan were drafted into the Georgia Militia during the Creek War. In the index records, Span's name is written as Span Ragan. 

Span sold land in Coweta County, Georgia to his brother John in 1838. His name was transcribed as Span Regan. 

In the fall of 1838, the blended Bryan / Regan family left Houston County for Northwest Louisiana where they settled in what is now Bienville Parish. In a brief biography about Span Regan's son, Joseph Thomas Ragan, it is said that Span accompanied his family to Louisiana where he was employed as a school teacher before medical school.

Elizabeth Bryan wrote a letter to her son, Span Regan, in 1845. He was living in Houston County, Georgia. In 1846 Span graduated from Southern Botanico-Medical College in Macon, Georgia. The name on his diploma was Span Regan. 

The census taker wrote, Spann Ragan on the 1850 census in Lee County, Georgia. In the 1852 tax digests of the same county, his name was written as Span Regan. 

According to written family histories, Span married Julius Leurany Speight on May 1, 1856. I do not have a documented record for this marriage. 

The 1860 United States Census shows his name as Span Ragan. And, in 1863, Span Regan was named in his brother-in-law's will as his executor. Span Reagan was the name listed in the county index. 

 He is Span Regan on the Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers. Span is found in the Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869.  He signed his name as Span Regan although, in two of three sections completed by a county official, his name was written as Span Rigen. 

On December 15, 1867, in a document giving Terrell Bryan Power of Attorney, Span signed his name Span Regan. 

Span Ragan was listed with his family on the 1870 United States Census. 




Span died in 1875. Obituaries, cemetery records, and written family histories all record his last name as Ragan. Old letters, written by his wife to Joseph B. Bryan in the early 1880s, show that she signed her name as Ragan. And, Ragan is the surname used by his children and their descendants. 

I've always wondered why Span Regan changed his name to Ragan. Now, I don't believe he did.



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

Ancestry.com. U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865

Ancestry.com. U.S. Army Indian Campaign Service Records Index, 1815-1858

Ancestry.com. Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869

Ancestry.com. Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1893

Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census

Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census

Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census

Ancestry.com. Pubic Member Trees

"A History of Savannah and South Georgia - William Harden."  Google Books https://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_Savannah_and_South_Georgia.html?id=zv9HAQAAMAAJ. Accessed 15 Mar. 2020.

Family photographs and documents from the collection E. Ragan Pruitt. Used with permission. 

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.

The transcription of the Reddick Bryan Bible was found at the DAR library in Washington DC by Diana Bryan Quinn on July 7, 2010.  This bible record was submitted in 1950 and found in Louisiana Bible Records (1950), Louisiana DARGRC report S1v25. These records were submitted by Mrs. John Newton Pharr of the New Iberia Chapter of the DAR. 

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Lucy Smith Lawson Wimberly

Written on the note attached: My grandmother Wimberly's cap - Josie Cook.

This cap was found in a trunk containing notes, photos, and more preserved by generations of women - most recently the daughters of Marguerite Cook Clark. 

Josie Cook was the biological daughter of Sarah Margaret Wimberly and Joseph B. Bryan and the adopted daughter of their siblings, Alice Mary Wimberly and James Bryan. Josie's Grandmother Wimberly was Lucy Smith Lawson Wimberly, mother of nine children including Sarah Margaret and Alice Mary. Other children were John Lawson Wimberly, Charles Perry Wimberly, Frances Louisa Wimberly, Hugh Andrew Wimberly, Thomas Henry Wimberly, Roger Lawson Wimberly, and Martha Elizabeth Wimberly. 

Lucy Smith Lawson, born on November 23, 1806* in Georgia, was the daughter of Roger Lawson and Lucy Parrotte.  She married William Wimberly in Twiggs County, Georgia on June 20, 1825. In 1837, she traveled from Twiggs County to Northwest Louisiana and settled in the area later known as Bienville Parish. Lucy wrote the following letter to her sister soon after moving to Louisiana. 

Lucy's siblings were John, Hugh, Andrew, Roger, Alice, Martha,
Elizabeth, and Mary. John, Andrew, and Roger settled in Northwest
Louisiana. Hugh lived in Canton, Mississippi. Her sisters moved to
Louisiana as well. Elizabeth died soon after settling in Louisiana.
Martha married Anderson Caldwell, Allice married twice and is buried
in the Wimberly Cemetery and Mary married a Mr. Harris and lived near
Homer, Louisiana. 

Marguerite Cook Clark had a transcription of the letter as well as a copy of the original in her files. The original, said to be in Josie Bryan Cook's scrapbook, has not been located. A transcription of this letter can also be found on page 100 of the Wimberly Family History compiled by Vera Meek Wimberly in 1979.

Lucy Smith Lawson Wimberly died on October 16, 1844 and is said to be the first person buried in the Wimberly Cemetery. 

* Birthdates vary among sources. 

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

© 2019

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.

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