Census Sightings: Terrell Bryan, 1870

Terrell Bryan, my great-grandfather, was a fairly easy guy to find. I have his bible so important dates are at my fingertips. I have followed his family's trail from NC to GA and LA. I have his military service record from the CSA, his application for a Confederate Pension, and bits and pieces about his life in local and national newspapers. 

Terrell is found in the 1850 Bienville Parish, Louisiana census as a teenager and in the Erath County, Texas censuses of 1880, 1900, and 1910. In 1920, he was living with his daughter, Dollie Wylie, in Bronte, Texas. The 1860 census for Bienville Parish is considered lost and most of the U. S. Federal Census for 1890 was burned. However, where was Terrell in 1870?

During the last 10+ years, my searches for Terrell and his family in the 1870 census have been unsuccessful. I assumed that Terrell and his family were omitted by chance or, maybe, by choice. 

However, when searching for former slaves that Terrell inherited from his father's estate, I came across the Thomas Briant family in the 1870 Bienville Parish census and I believe that it is Terrell and his family. 

My reasons are as follows:

• In 1864, Frances and her four children, Emily, Caroline, Sam, and Mary were listed in Lot #1 on Reddick Bryan’s Partition of Slaves and this lot was drawn by Harriet Bryan for her husband Terrell. Many former slaves were living with former slaveholders in 1870. Look at the document above to see a Frances and four children living with Thomas Briant's family. 

• A Thomas Briant was not on any other census record in Bienville Parish. And, I did not find him in the deed index even though the census record indicates that he owned land.  Terrell Bryan did own land. 

• We are looking at a copy of the original or even a copy of a copy when we look at a census record. The person who copied this has legible handwriting  but I suspect that the actual census taker, H. J. Twitchell, did not. Terrell's half-brother, John Regan, was written as John Cregan, my great-great-grandmother is listed as Sarah instead of Elizabeth, Wimberly is written as Wimbly throughout the census, and many, many names were butchered on this local census record. 

• The number of children is a perfect match. All ages matched except Hollen (listed as Sarah) who was listed as five years old on the census, but would not have been five for another month. I listed the ages of family members as of the date of the census, July 6, 1870, on the comparison below.  

What do you think? Is this the Terrell Bryan family? 

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: Confirmation

This confirmation photograph belonged to my husband's parents. My father-in-law said that it was a cousin of the Quinn/Murray family, but was not sure who. I enlarged the photograph until I could see the ribbon. The confirmation took place at St. Paul's Church in May of 1927. The boy would have been born in about 1920. It is difficult to tell the exact day. I thought the 13th or the 18th, but neither are Sundays. Were confirmations always on Sundays?

Edward Dawson, son of Margaret Quinn and Harold Dawson was only two years old in 1930.

Patrick and James McGing, sons of Kate Murray and Peter McGing were also too young.

Mary Quinn Meaney and her husband, Lawrence had a son, William, who would be the correct age. They lived in Louisville, Kentucky where there is a St. Paul Church, but the age of the church is unknown.

The most likely candidate is Francis Meehan, age 9 in 1930, son of Sarah Murray and Edward Meehan. In 1920, Meehan family lived on at 218 117th Street in NYC, just down the street from a St. Paul Church at 113 East 117th Street.

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: A Bryan Family Daughter

This tintype was found in Terrell and Harriet Bryan's family bible. The dress appears to have some lace on it and look at her stockings. Do you see stripes? I am looking for a Bryan or Albritton family member with a duplicate copy of this picture. 

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: Redic E. Bryan, a Tintype

Redic Eli Bryan  1870 - 1929

My father identified this as his father, Redic E. Bryan, as a young child. This tintype was found in Terrell and Harriet Bryan's family bible along with many other very old photos. I wondered how Dad knew that this was his father, as his father died when he was very young. I assume that Dad's older sisters told him that this was his father, but decided to compare it to other photos of Redic. The following photo has also been identified as Redic. Look at his chin and his eyes. In my opinion, there is no doubt that child in the above tintype is Redic. 

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: Five Mystery Photos from the Quinn Family Collection

These are photos of persons that I would like to identify. They belonged to my husbands family. I suspect that they are Quinn or Murray family pictures. However, there is a small chance that these are my mother-in-law's Driscoll / Staubach family pictures.  To see more about these families, click on the "My Families" tab at the top of this page. 

If you have similar pictures or information about these pictures, please contact me. 

These are not labeled, but this might have been taken in Ireland. Look at the stone wall in the background. Tell me what you think.  I believe that this is a Quinn / Murray photo as many other Quinn / Murray photos from Ireland had tape across the top.

This looks like the Quinn home outside of Kinvara. 

Does anyone have a picture of this child? 

Unlabeled Photo

Glenn - 9 weeks

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: More Hats

Whit Bryan (1920-2001) and James Richardson (1930-1988)

Last week, I posted a picture of two unknown women with interesting hats. This week, I am posting a picture of two men in hats; my Dad and my Uncle Jimmy. Dad, with the cowboy hat was from West Texas, and Uncle Jimmy grew up in New York. They led very different lives, but were linked by family as they married sisters. 

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: Texas Girls with Hats

Friends or cousins of Floyd W. Thompson (1889 - 1968)

This photograph belonged to my second cousin-once-removed, Juanita Thompson Gleghorn. On the back was written, I want to paint their hats. These were some of Dad's friends or cousins. I am sure that Juanita wrote that as she loved to paint. 

Juanita's father Floyd W. Thompson, the son of Martha "Mattie" Hairston Chisum Thompson and John Thompson, was born in Erath County, Texas.  Floyd moved to Baylor County, Texas in 1905 to help my great-grandfather and his uncle, Phillip A. Hairston, on his farm. Floyd married Ora Cox in 1912 and lived for many years in Baylor County. Judging by the clothing, this picture was taken in the early 1900s. 

In addition to Juanita's note, there is some very childish writing on the back (see below). One word appears to be "Rose." If you can decipher any of the other childish writing, please comment below or send me an e-mail. And, if you have any idea as to the identity of these two women, please contact me. 

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: John Foley of Boston

On the back of this photo is written April 1942, Ma and Johnnie. My husband's Aunt Kitty identified him as John Foley and his mother as a Quinn cousin that she visited in Boston. Mrs. Foley was Cecelia Quinn, born in County Galway. She married Michael Foley. And, just this week through a search on Ancestry.com, I found her great-granddaughter and am learning about another branch of the Quinn family! 

Diana

© 2013

Change

One item, not mentioned below, is the blank book "The History of Our Family." It's a blank book with places for me to hand-write about my family. I really wanted to do this, but my blog has now taken the place of a family book. 

This is not a post about genealogy, but a post about how fast things are changing in this digital world. I am cleaning my house. Not just vacuuming, but taking everything off of every shelf, cleaning, reorganizing, and recycling. I am having fun as I have found old postcards, books with inscriptions from family members, and more genealogical treasures. However, I am amazed at how many items on my bookshelf have become unnecessary in such a short period. Here are just a few:

• Travel Books and Maps - I took three trips last summer and never used travel books or maps. 

• Magazines - I found a stack of Ancestry.com magazines and a National Geographic (1981) that had wonderful pictures of Ireland. I read very few magazines. I saved these for content, but it's now content that I can find on the Internet. 

• CDs - I was so excited to receive my 1880 United States Census and National Index twelve years ago. Now, it's much easier to search at Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org for census records than to search through all of those CDs. 

• Reference Books - Grammar handbooks, a medical dictionary, and a world almanac are all things that I haven't used in many years. Google is my friend. J

• User's Guides - The last item is my Pack-Mate Users Guide that I received with my first computer in 1988. The Guide has over 120 pages. The computer had MS-DOS and 1 MB of RAM. At that time, you definitely needed a manual. 

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: Goats

This is from my father's family's photos. The picture belonged to my grandparents, Redic Bryan and Myrtie Hairston. At first glance, I thought that it was a boy with puppies, but now am sure that they are goats or sheep. This is probably a boy - I'm looking at the overalls and haircut, but you never know. 

Does anyone else in the Bryan/Hairston family have this picture? Family names are Bryan, Hairston, Noah, Thompson, Hammett, Chisum, Gresham, Wylie, Biggs, Keith, Gilbert, Latta, and Criswell. 

Diana

© 2013