- 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
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