Morgan Bryan, II

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 20 May 1729, Yadkin River, Rowan Co, North Carolina
• Other-Begin: Abt 1775, Bryant's Station, Kentucky

Notes:

Other-Begin:
Bryan Station, sometimes written Bryan's Station or Bryant's Station was a fortified settlement in what became Lexington, Kentucky. It was located on what is present-day Bryan Station Road, about three miles north of new Circle Road. It was located on the southern bank of Elkhorn Creek near Briar Hill Road. The settlement was established about 1775-1776 by brothers Morgan, James, William, and Joseph Bryan from North Carolina. [Morgan II, James, William, and Joseph Bryan were the sons of Morgan Bryan I and Martha Strode Bryan of North Carolina. Morgan Bryan II was the father of Susannah Bryan Boren, wife of Bazel Boren. Joseph Bryan was the father of Rebecca Bryan Boone, wife of Daniel Boone. Bazel Boren was a brother of William Boren.] The Station or fort was built in the design of a parallelogram of approximately 40 log cabins. It withstood several American Indian atacks. The most important attack withstood by the occupants of the fort was in August of 1782, during the American Revolution. The Station was besieged by about 400 Shawnee Indians and British Canadians under Captain William Caldwell and Simon Girty. The attackers withdrew from the seige of the Station after Indian scouts reported that a force of Kentucky militiamen were on the way to aid in the Station's rescue..

The Lexington, Kentucky chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument in August 1896 to celebrate the value of a nearby spring in the saving for the fort from the Indian and Canadian attackers. The pioneer women, who were led by Mary "Polly" Hawkins Craig, wife of "Traveling Church" patriarch Toliver Craig, Sr. carried water from the spring to defend the fort against the burning arrows used by the Indians and Canadians. If the fort had burned, the attackers could have reached the women and children who were sheltered there. .

Sources:

James Truslow Adams, Dictionary of American History, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Station .

in brackets: comments by Judy Milum, g-g-g-g granddaughter of William Boren.

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/4299498/person/-1520562816/media/3?pgnum=1&pg=0&pgpl=pid%7cpgNum

Morgan married Mary Forbes (or Forbush) in 1747 in Virginia. Mary was born on 20 May 1729 in Shenandoah Valley, Opequon Creek, Frederick Co, Virginia; died in 1794 in Fayette Co, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Susannah Bryan was born in 1762 in Bryans Settlement, Rowan Co, North Carolina; died in 1836 in Eureka Springs, Carroll Co, Arkansas.

Notes:

Morgan Bryan, born in Denmark in 1671, Morgan was named for his grandmother and was 12 years old when he moved with his family to Ireland, land of his father's birth. He lived in Ireland for the next 12 years and as a young man of 24 migrated o Pennsylvania in 1695 with his brother William, two years after the death of their father. They first seettled in Chester County and lived here for many years. They might have made contact with their many uncles and aunts who had been in Virginia since 1650, but we have no evidence that they did.

Morgan marrtied Martha Strode. She was reported to have been born in Holland about 1678 (a date we question) and her father was probably Edward Strode, a descendant of a famous English family. Edward was a Protestant exile in Holland and was married in France to a Huguenot. It is believed that edward and his wife died at sea on their way to America and that young Martha together with two brothers, Geremiah and Samuel were bound out until they were of age. This event probably occurred before 24 September 1697 because the will of Edward's father on that date refers to his son as deceased. The marriage date of Morgan and Martha is in question. Once source states 1695 when she would have bene 17, which supposedly was two years before she arrived in Pennsylvania, and another source states 1719, when she would have bene 41, too old to have later had nine children. Since the first child was born about 1719, it is our guess that the birthdate given is too early by at least ten years. It must also be noted that if Morgan's birthdate is correct, he would have been 48 years old when his first child was orn. This is possible, and Martha also could have been his second wife.

Eight of their nine children were born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and as a member of the New Garden Quaker community, Morgan had been a successful trader with the Conestoga Indians.

In 1730, Quakers in Pennsylvania formed a Company under the leadership of Morgan Bryan and Alexander Ross for the purpose of making settlements in Maryland and Virginia. Permission was then gained from the quaker Meeting of Chester County to build a meeting house in Virginia. On 28 October 1730, Governor Gooch of Virginia granted a right to survey and lay out 100,000 acres west of the Opeckon River (just north of present day Winchester, Frederick, County). In 1734, Morgan led a group of Quakers in the building the "Hopewell Monthly Meeting" of Frederick. This settlement flourished for many years at Frederick Town, later named Winchester. Here, where their last child was born, the family lived for over ten years, and son Joseph was first married.

1734 petition for two more meeting houses (Presbyterian) one near Morgan Bryan's home; (this petition was signed by James Cole and William Rentfroe)

Sometime about 1745/46 Morgan moved with his wife and eight children up the Shenandoah Valley to the Big Lick at the head of the Roanoke River where land was more plentiful. His oldest son, Joseph, who by now had a family of his own, stayed in Winchester. The family did not like this new area in Roanoke County and in the fall of 1748 they all moved again to the Forks of the Yadkin in North Carolina. Morgan's brother William who had always lived close by up to this point decided to stay in Roanoke County Virginia where he presumably died.

"Morgan Bryan, the first to travel this way, had to take the wheels off his wagon and carry it piecemeal to the top, and had been three months on the journey from the Shanidore [Shenandoah] to the Etkin [Yadkin]." http://www.americanhistory.com/history/COSW/COSW02.mgi

As some of the earliest settlers in this part of the Yadkin River Valley, Morgan, Martha and eight of their children selected the choice pieces of land in an area that was afterward called "The Bryan Settlement." Their nearest neighbors were about 60 miles away. The Bryans claimed large acreages in Rowan County, parts of which are now in Wilkes County, and some 5000 areas in the northeast section of what is now Davie County, from Dutchman
s Creek into Farmington, Smiths Grove, and the Bend of the River sections of the county.

Morgan lived here for the rest of his life surrounded by his family. Martha died first, the date and place require explanation. Most early biographers of the family state that Martha Strode Bryan died in Virginia in 1747, but in teh Bryan Papers deposited by the Rev. John D. Shane with the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, is the following:

Martha Bryan died August 24, 1762
Allenor Bryan died Oct 21, 1772
Morgan Bryan died Apr 3, 1763, Easter Sunday

These records given to Lyman Draper are a part of the "Shane Collection: Bryan Family Papers; MS/SH18/B84, Item 2." This document is more likely to reflect the true record of Martha's death since Morgan Bryan did die 3 April 1763 in Rowan County, North Carolina at age 92 and left a will dated 28 March, recorded in Will Book A, Page 13 as follows:

"I Morgan Bryan of Rowan County living in perfect mind and memory, blessed be God for his mercies, so dispose of my worledly estate as follows, vis. first, I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Thomas Bryan my mansion house and plantation, also my part of a Negro boy named Jack, also my wagon and wagon horse called Black and the necessaries belonging to the wagon and my plow and utensils thereunto. Two brood mares, viz. a mare called Brown Dent and her yeard and her colt, a cow called Josie and her calf and one called Brown and her calf; also my bed and furniture after my decease reserving a sufficient living for me from the land while I live. Second, I give and beqeueath unto my beloved daughter Elinor Linville all my wife's wearing apparel. I give and bequeath unto my granddaughter Mary Forbes my great pot and five shillings Sterling. Eight pounds proclamatin to my beloved sone James Bryan. I reserve for my funeral charages and sickness. I give and bequeath Joseph, Samuel, Morgan, John William, James and Thomas and my daughter Elinor Linville all the rest of my real and personal estate to be equally divided amongst them, together with that part of my estate which they have already received. I do nominate and appoint my beloved sons John Bryan and William Bryan to be Executors ratifyng and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament, whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this March 28, 1763.

Morgan Bryan"

Signed, Sealed, Published and Pronounced by the testator in presence of us - Morgan Bryan Jr., Anthony Heaverloe, Mary (X) Forbes: Proved July Court 1763.


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Morgan Bryan was also discussed in the historic records of Alexander Ross (see the Individual Page for Alexander Ross in this file):
Alexander was taxed from 1718-1730 in West Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He and Morgan Bryan petitioned the Council of the Colony of Virginia on 28 October 1730 that there were 100 families desirous of settling in Virginia and requested 100,000 acres on the west and north side of "Opeckon" to the North Mountain and along the River Cohongarooton (Potomac River). With the advice of the Council, the Governor gave permission to Ross and Bryan to take up the 100,000 acres; patents would be granted, providing that the 100 families were present and dwelling upon the land within two years.
...

Alexander (b. 1682 c.) sold a 214-acre section of patent land . . . to Joseph Bryan on 12 April 1744. (son of Morgan Bryan)
...

Frederick County, Virginia, Hopewell Friends History [database online], Orem, UT: Ancestry.com, 1997:

In the State Land Office at Richmond are to be found recorded in Book 16, pages 315-415, inclusive, the patents issued to the settlers who came to the Shenandoah Valley under authority of the Orders in Council made to Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan. All bear date of November 12, 1735, and recite that the grantee is one of the seventy families brought in by them, and excepting location and acreage, are alike in wording and conditions, and are signed by William Gooch, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony at that time. . . .

These patents were issued under the seal of the colony and were grants from the Crown, free of any obligation of feudal services to the Fairfax family, who claimed the land as lords proprietors of the Northern Neck of Virginia. The sixth Lord Fairfax, who later established his home at Greenway Court near Winchester, instituted many suits against early settlers in the Shenandoah Valley, but it does not appear that any Friend who claimed under Ross and Bryan was ever ejected from his land.

Although it is specifically stated that seventy families have been "by them brought in to our said Colony and settled upon the Lands in the said Order mentioned," only thirty-six patents issued to thirty-four grantees have been found. The names of these grantees are here given, together with sundry information gathered from the minutes of various Friends' meetings, from the records of the counties of Orange and Frederick in Virginia, and Chester County, Pennsylvania.
...
The Frederick County records show but one conveyance (from Alexander Ross) &, (Deed Book 1, page 75), and that is to Joseph Bryan, son of his partner Morgan Bryan, to whom he sells 214 acres on April 13, 1744. No other sales appear in the records, and as he bought no additional land, he could hardly be considered a speculator in land, as some have claimed.
...
The identity of all 70 families who settled in Frederick County, VA by 1735, in the geographic area of the Bryan-Ross land order, is unknown to the compiler. However, each person listed below was a grantee in at least one patent dated November 12, 1735 to real estate in this area:
7. Bryan, Morgan, Sr.

(5) Following is a listing, in page number order in VA Patent Book 16, of the 40 patents which were executed and delivered on November 12, 1935 to members of the "70 families" who settled in Frederick County, VA by 1735, in the geographic area of the Bryan-Ross land order:

1. Pp. 315-318, Morgan Bryan, 400 acres
2. Pp. 318-320, Morgan Bryan, 264 acres

18. Pp. 356-359, Morgan Bryan, 450 acres
29. Pp. 390-382, Morgan Bryan, 1,020 acres

7. Bryan, Morgan, Sr. - By most accounts, Morgan Bryan was born in Denmark, about 1671, of English-Irish parentage, and came to America from northern Ireland in 1695 at the age of 24 years. The earliest known record on Bryan is the listing of his name on a 1719 tax roll in Chester County, PA. The migration pattern of the Bryan family was from Chester County, PA to VA.

Morgan married Martha Strode in 1719 in Chester, Pennsylvania. Martha was born in 1678 in Holland; died on 29 Aug 1762 in Bryans Station, Rowan Co, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"The family of Strode, which is stated to derive from the Dukes of Bretagne, was founded in England by one of the soldiers of the Conquest, Sir Warinus de la Strode, Lord of Strode, in Dorsetshire, whose immediate successors enjoyed large estats in the counties of Dorset and Somerset England to the eight of whom in direct line we pass."

There is much written about Colonel William Strode as he was one of five who condemned and ordered the execution of Charles I of England. That seems to be the reason that his family would turn up abroad, as the Restoration would have been unsafe for them had they remained in England. Colonel Strode was buried in Westminster Abbey.

From: Some Boone Descendants, St. Charles District (MO), by Lillian Hays Oliver.

Notes:

Francis Bryan III was born in 1630. Most researchers indicate that he was born in Gloucester, Virginia, but his appears to be in error since both of his parents lived in Ireland until 1650. Francis III no doubt saw the new world for the firt time at about age 20 when the Bryan family was exiled to the Virginia Colony.

We know nothing about the life of Francis in Virginia, but with the end of the Commonwealth and the reestablishment of the Monarchy under Charles II in 1660, he no doubt felt that it was safe to return to Ireland. Thus, in 1667 after 17 years in Virginia, he left for Ireland with the intent of reclaiming his father's estates. He was 37 years old at this time which gives rise to the possibility that he couldhave been married a first time in Virginia.

The presence of Francis III in Ireland was anything but welcomed by English officials, and in particular by those now in possession of his father's lands. He was so threatened that he fled to Denmark, which had become a haven for persecuted protestants whose cause had been championed by the Duth Prince of Orange. Francis III soon married Sarah Brinker, a cousin of the Prince of Orange, and their first son, Morgan Bryan, was born in Denmark. He was finally permitted to return to Ireland in 1683.

Here a little background history will help to understand the future moveemtns of Francis and his family. The Dutch Prince William of Orange married Princess Mary, daughter of King James II of England and though her father was Roman Catholic, she embraced the Protestant cause. The three year rein of James II was one of turmoil and William of Orange and Mary were invited by the protestant controlled Parliament to assume the Throne. One 5 November 1688 William landed at Brixham, Devon, with a sizable army and quickly advanced to London and took the Throne on Christmas Day, and forced James II into exile in France. They officially became King William III and Queen Mary II in February 1689. The deposed King James II did not accept his fate and with the help of the Franch managed to raise a Catholic Irish army. King William's army met the forces of James Ii at the Boyne River about 25 miles north of Dublin and here took place the historic "Battle of the Boyne" on 11 July 1690 where the forces of James II were soundly defeated. Francis Bryan III was a standard bearer to King William in that battle.

Francis died in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1694, the Country of his birth, and spent much of his adult life fighting to restore his lost heritage. A descendant of the leading families of both England and Ireland, he began his life as a defendant of the Roman Catholic Church and ended as a staunch Protestant. He had lived 31 years in Ireland, 17 years in Virginia, and 15 years in Denmark.

Francis married Sarah Brinker about 1670. Sarah was born about 1645; died after 1686. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

William was probably born in the early 1600's in County Clare, Ireland, and lived during a time of great religious and political turmoil. When much of
England's ruling class followed the Crown in the break with the Pope in Rome, the growth of Pruitanism again split the nation which culminated in the English Civil War. This war began in 1642 and ended in 1651 with the establishment of the Commonwealth by Oliver Cromwell, and the beheading of King Charles I. The war was also referred to as the "Pruitan Revolution" because so many of the King's opponents belonged to the Pruitan Party of the Church of England.

This brief sketch of English History is related only because of the impact it had on our Bryan family, since William Smith Bryan supported the losing side. The defeat of the King resulted in his exile to Virginia in 1650 "as a rebellious subject." Thus the family of William Smith Bryan, including eleven sons and three daughters along with a shipload of chattels, landed in Gloucester County, Virginia, on the York River across from present day Yorktown.

We presume that William Smith and wife Catherine lived here for the remainder of their lies, and that most of their children melted into the growing Colonial society. The exception was their oldes son, Francis III, who returned to Ireland.

William married Catherine Morgan about 1625. Catherine was born about 1600 in of, Virginia; died after 1650 in Gloucester Co, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]