Martha Bryan

Martha married Edward "Ned" Boone in 1758 in Yadkin River, North Carolina. Edward (son of Squire Boone, I and Sarah Morgan) was born on 30 Nov 1740 in Exeter Twp, Berks Co, Pennsylvania; died on 6 Oct 1780 in Boonesboro (Blue Licks), Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Charity Boone was born on 11 Oct 1758 in Rowan Co, North Carolina; died in 1853 in Winchester, Pike Co, Illinois.
2. Joseph Boone, Sr was born about 1760 in Rowan Co, North Carolina; died in 1847 in Shelby Co, Indiana.
3. Jane Boone was born on 18 Sep 1762 in Rowan Co, North Carolina; died on 1 Dec 1812 in Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.
4. Mary Boone was born in Nov 1764 in Rowan Co, North Carolina; died on 28 Sep 1825 in Clark Co, Kentucky.
5. George Boone was born on 28 Apr 1767 in North Carolina; died on 10 Jun 1841 in Philpot, Daviess Co, Kentucky.
6. Sarah Boone was born on 6 Mar 1771 in Rowan Co, North Carolina; died on 18 Jul 1866 in Tennessee.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Property: 12 Apr 1744, Frederick Co, Virginia; from Alex Ross

Notes:

(WFT Vol 2, No 3979)
Joseph Bryan was the first of our direct Bryan ancestors to be born in America. Some reccords indicate the year as 1719 and others show 1720. Born in Chester County, PA, Joseph lived there until 1734 when he moved with his family to Virginia. is father, a leader in the formation of a new Quaker settlelment at Frederick Town (now winchester), was one of the builders of "The Hopewell Monthly Meeting of Frederick".

It was here in about 1737 that Joseph first married and the name of his wife remains unknown. They probably had only two children, both daughters, and the best guess is that the first was Martha, born about 1737 and named for Joseph's mother. Rebecca, the second daughter, was born 9 January 1739.

Most biographers of the Bryan family appear to have been unaware of Joseph's first family and have attributed all of his children to his second wife known as "Aylee." Her real name was Alice (as proven by legal documents) and her surname was probably Linville. "Aylee" was no doubt a family nickname. This oversight will no doubt be perpetuated forever, because some researchers use material distributed or published in the past as factual. The clue to the fact that Joseph was married twice can be found on page 508 of Hazel Atterbury Spraker's "The Boone Family," published in 1922. Then on page 509 of this book, Joseph Bryan, Jr. states that he was the half brother of Daniel Boone's wife (Rebecca). None of the numerous volumes in our collection of Boone family history contain this vital information. Bobbie Callaway, historian for the Callaway Family Assocaition, has long suspected that Martha and Rebecca Bryan were the offsprings of a first wife, and that Joseph Jr. was not the oldest son of Joseph, as has been published over and over. As one of the most competent reseasrchers it has been our privilege of knowing, Bobbie has gathered sufficient data to show Joseph Jr., who lived to age 92, was born about 1752 when Rebecca was approximately 13 years old.

Before the Reolutionary War most eligible men served in the Colonial Militia when called upon to do so, and Joseph was no exception. In Augusta County Virginia Court records dated 15 September 1742, we find the following entry: "Joseph Bryan delinquent at muster of Capt. Hugh Thompson at Court Martial. Later excused when returned bearing Arms".

The first deed recorded in Frederick Co., VA, dated 13 April 1744, shows that Joseph Bryan purchased land from Alexander Ross. We presume that Joseph and his young family lived in the Winchester area of Frederick County until his first wife died.

Indications are that Joseph then moved up the Shenandoah Valley to Augusta County with his father and the rest of the family in about 1746, where he married his second wife Alice. He remained here after Morgan Bryan and family moved to North Carolina on 1748, probably because of his new family ties. It is believed, however, that his two daughters, Martha and Rebecca went to North Carolina with their grandparents and lived with them until both were married. This part in the life of Rebecca no doubt gave rise to the erroneous assumption that Morgan and Martha (Strode) Bryan were her parents.

We believe that Joseph and Alice lived in Virginia until about 1755 where their first two children, Samuel and Joseph Jr., were born, and then decided to join the rest of the Bryan Family in North Carolina. An Augusta County Court record dated 20 March 1755 stated that Daniel Harrison initiated a suit against Joseph Bryan regarding an attachment levied on Joseph before his removal from the County. This attachment assured Harrison of collecting any debts when Joseph's property was sold.

Once in North Carolina, Joseph settled in what is now Davie County and seems to have prospered. He was described by George Soelle, a Moravian minister who preached in many parts of the County, as a "well-to-do polite and affable man who cannot read, but well-to-do." He lieved here for about 43 years where the rest of his family was born and grew up.

By this time much of his family had moved to Kentucky, and even at the age of about 78 undertook his last big venture. He and Alice moved to Kentucky in 1798 where two of his sons and a son-in-law had established large plantations. He acquired an estate of about 14,000 acres at Floy's Fork, Shelby County. He died early in 1805 at age 85 in Jefferson County and left a will dated 20 Nov. 1804 in which he names his second wife and all of his surviving children, including his daughter Rebecca Boone. The will follows:

Jefferson County, KY
will Book 1, p. 158.

In the name of God Amen; I Joseph Bryan of the County of Jefferson, State of Kentucky, being weak in body but of sound and perfect mind and memory, blessed be almighty God for the same, do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following (that is to say) after my lawful debts are settled I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Alee a gray mare, a bed and furniture and thirty dollars, either cash or property. I also bequeath to my sons, Samuel, Joseph and John Bryan the sum of fifty dollars each, either cash or property. I also give and bequeath unto my youngest son John Bryan one negro man names James and all the farming tools. I also bequeath unto my daughters Martha Boon and Rebecca Boon the sum of twenty dollars each, either cash or property. I also give unto my other daughts, Mary Howard, Susanna Hinkle, Aylee Howard, Phoebe Forbis and Charity Davis the sum of fity dollars each. I also give and bequeath unto my daughter Elinor Adams a negro woman named Jean. I also give to my grand daughter Aylee Adams one negro girl named Sarah. I also give and bequeath unto my grandson Noah Adams one negro boy named Sapio. I also give unto my grandson Jacob Adams one negro boy named Bob. I also give and bequeath unto my grandson Wilah Adams a negro girl named Lottie. And Ido hereby appoint my two sons Joseph and John Bryan executors of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills sand testaments made by me. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twentieth day of November 1804.
Joseph Bryan (Seal)
Signed, sealed and published as his last will and testament in the presence of us: Edward Cox Sr., David Enochs, Ephraim Hampton

Property:
Alexander (Ross) (b. 1682 c.) sold a 214-acre section of patent land . . . to Joseph Bryan on 12 April 1744.
Alexander Ross was his father's partner.

Joseph married Hester Hamdon (or Hampton) about 1736. Hester was born about 1720; died about 1739. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]