8. Line of Anthony Bryant

This is our reconstruction of Anthony’s family:

Anthony b. ca 1763 in Va d. ca 1809 m. ca. 1788 in Buckingham Co. (Anthony was named after his mother's brother) For more about his possible revolutionary service, click here.

Wife Rhoda Ann b.ca 1770 [1] d. aft. 1830 m. ca. 1788 in Buckingham Co, Va d. aft 1830 in Adair Co, Ky. (Middle name probably Ann as several descendants named "Rhoda Ann.") SHE WAS NOT RHODA HARDIN. THAT WAS A MUCH YOUNGER WOMAN WHO MARRIED A WILLIAM BRYANT. NOR WAS HER SURNAME PRICE.

Children:

Fact vs. fiction in family stories

Our original family information about Anthony Bryant comes from a letter sent on October 29, 1929 from Samuel Anthony Bryant of Memphis, Texas to his sister-in-law Virgie Bryant, widow of Bluford Emmett Bryant. Based on this letter, Virgie wrote her husband’s bio.[2] Discussing Bluford’s antecedents, she made the following statements in italics. Note: each of the italicized claims is followed a summary of the facts--as we know them. 

Claim 1: Anthony Bryant was an Irishman who with his wife settled in Virginia shortly before the Revolutionary War.

Facts:  Anthony was born in Colonial America, as were his siblings. His father may have been born in the colonies as well. His mother certainly was.  Our starting point for his DOB was the age of his oldest son, David (ca 1789). From that we deducted 22, because it was uncommon for a male of that era to marry before the age of 21, and pregnancy takes nearly a year. That led to an initial DOB for Anthony of bef. 1767. Most recently, we found indications that Anthony enlisted in the Revolutionary War. Since 16 was the minimum age, our estimate for his DOB dropped further to ca 1763. Interestingly, Anthony did not show up on the personal property tax rolls in Buckingham Co, VA with his father, John Sr., until 1788 at which point he was listed as a tithe. The first appearance of a tithe supposedly indicated that a son was 16. Anthony was closer to 25. Record keeping was far from perfect, but his delayed appearance could suggest that he left the county for a period of time, following the Rev. War, and returned in 1788. (This is the year he probably married Rhoda, most likely a neighbor.) Notably, his older brother John Jr. also popped up as a tithe that year, so it's possible that they had been traveling together, perhaps surveying in the Kentucky Counties of Virginia where John Jr's son Randolph was b. in 1786.

Claim 2: He died at his home near Blue Ridge about the year 1800.

Facts: “Blue Ridge” refers to the mountains; his home was in the Virginia foothills. Anthony Bryant was listed on the  Buckingham Co. tax lists. In Nov. 1806, he went to court and won a judgement of 11 pounds against Robert Logan for a debt owed. Land records indicate that he bought and sold property on Rock Island Creek in Buckingham Co. until 1810. However, some of these transactions were obviously done by an heir, because Anthony was not on the personal property rolls for 1807, the year 1808 is missing, and the 1809 listing said, “Bryant, Anthony estate.” Furthermore, he was not listed in the 1810 federal census. Therefore, Anthony died 1807-1809. He probably died ca 1809, since that's the best fit for Rhoda's youngest girl (DOB ca 1810) in the 1820 census.

Claim 3: Anthony’s widow with her four boys and three girls moved to Green County, Kentucky in 1805. The boys were David, Price, Willis and Richard.

Facts: Anthony’s widow was Rhoda Unknown. They had eight children: four boys and four girls. The sons by birth order were David P., Richard B., William Price, and Willis O. The girls were Sarah, Nancy S., Millie W., and unknown. The family was still in Buckingham Co. in 1810, when David was listed as head of the household in the census, indicating that he was the oldest son. At that time, the family was living on Rock Island Creek very close to Austin Bryant. Several of the boys appear to have served in the War of 1812 either in Va or Ky. David was probably the last to leave Virginia. He did so by 1815, because he married Elizabeth Puryear in Green Co. that year.[3]

Claim 4: In 1824, the four boys decided they were not far enough west and went to Missouri to locate homes. On their return, David died and was buried on the Cascaskia River. The other three boys moved to Missouri as arranged.

Facts:  The year of the scouting expedition to Missouri was either 1822 or 1823, because Elizabeth received guardianship of her children on 17 Nov. 1823. A competing narrative states that David died in Kentucky, after the trip. The river is now known as the Gasconade. Willis O. with his wife Bardney, along with his sister Millie Ware and her husband William Adams, moved to Gasconade Co., Missouri ca Aug 1825. Per a different family story handed down in the Adams family, Millie and William didn't like the fever, chills, and snakes of Missouri and moved on Illinois. Richard B. left Kentucky for Missouri about a decade later. William Price moved from Kentucky to Indiana where he lived for at least 20 years before moving briefly to Missouri.

The family after Anthony's death

Within a few years of her husband's death, Rhoda had moved to Ky. She and son Richard B. were listed on the 1813 (June 16) Green Co. tax rolls under the name "Breant." Both owned land. The first four marriages of her children were reported in Green Co and that's where Rhoda signed a power of attorney, authorizing son William Price to return to Buckingham Co, Va and sell the family property on Rock Island Creek. The focal point for the Bryants in Green Co was SE of Campbellsville in the vicinity of Robinson Creek and Bryant Lane.

Adjacent Washington County, Ky was a secondary nexus. David P. and wife Elizabeth had their oldest son, Anthony Murray Bryant, in Washington Co. in Dec 1818.  They soon returned to Green Co, but Rhoda remained in Washington Co. for several more years. In June 1819, Nancy S. married Thomas Higgins in Washington Co. In 1820, Rhoda was ennumerated there as "Rhody Briant." Living with her was Willis (16-18), Millie (16-25), Unknown daughter b. 1810-20, and 1 slave. A cousin of Rhoda's children, Allen Bryant (son of Austin), also appears to have been living in Washington County.

In contrast, David P., Richard B., and William Price were in Green County for the 1820 census. The fact that Rhoda, a widow, continued to live apart from her oldest sons for several years suggests that she may have had other family members, such as siblings, in the area. Living near Rhoda in 1820 was Mathew Bates, a Revolutionary War soldier. (Mathew is not a candidate for a sibling, because his father left a will, naming his children.) About 1823, Willis married Bardny Bates, daughter of Matthew.  

In 1824, Rhoda signed a note instructing the Green County clerk to issue a marriage certificate for her daughter Milly. (See an image of the note on Milly's page.) Her handwriting and signature are a clear indication that she was literate. One of Matthew's sons, Squire Bates, provided security for the 1824 marriage of Millie Bryant and William Adams. 

On 20 Sept 1825, Rhoda sold her land to a neighbor, Joel Coppage. The land was on the big south fork of the Rolling Fork (part of the John McIntire 1,000 acre survey) in the part of Washington Co that became Marion. Teste: Rhoda Bryant, Travis Coppage, E. Adams (Milly's father-in-law), Jas A. S….(probably James A. Sanders whose daughter, Rebecca, married Richard B. Bryant), and Joseph Adams (Milly's brother-in-law). It appears that Rhoda was then living in Green Co, probably with Richard.

Willis and Bardny along with Milly and her husband migrated to Missouri. The timing of their departure may have been shortly before Rhoda's transaction, since it's peculiar that Milly's husband was not one of the testes on the land transaction, while his father and brother were among them. 

By 1830, Rhoda was living with her son Richard B. in Adair County, Ky.[4] They were next door to both a Hardwick family (a grandaughter of Rhoda would later marry a Hardwick in Indiana) and Randolph Rice (an old family friend and relative from Buckingham County). Two households away was James Sanders. His daughter Mahala was the third wife of Richard B. The Bryants also lived in the thick of a lot of Winfreys -- more old friends and relatives from Buckingham Co. Rhoda's youngest daughter (unknown) was also living in the household. Rhoda died after 1830. In 1840, in Pulaski, Mo., Willis had a girl 20-29 in his household -- perhaps his youngest sister.

For more information about Anthony's descendants, continue to the next chapters.

[1] Rhoda was listed as over 45 in the 1820 census, indicating a DOB before 1775. She was probably at least 18 at the time of David's birth ca 1789, leading to a better estimate of bef. 1771. If Rhoda was the oldest woman in the 1810 Buckingham Co. census, then her DOB was even earlier: before 1765. There is one other census to factor in. The 1830 Adair census gave her a DOB of 1770-1780. If she was enumerated correctly, her DOB was abt. 1770, and she was not the oldest woman in the 1810 census. Also of note: daughter Millie Ware Bryant stated in the 1880 census that her mother was b. in Va. 

[2] http://www.okgenweb.org/~okwashit/bits/bryant-bluford.htm

[3] David probably stayed in Buckingham County, settling his father's estate. That process was interrupted by the War of 1812 in which he appears to have enrolled. He probably moved to Green Co, ca 1815, when he married. His last year on the personal property tax rolls in Buckingham County was 1816. 

[4] The older woman in Richard's 1830 household could not have been his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Bailey Rice. In 1824, Elizabeth remarried Laban Hunt. The comingled Hunt-Rice family was ennumerated in Green Co, Ky in 1830; they later moved to Macoupin Co, IL. There are no other options for the identity of the older woman living with Richard in 1830 other than Rhoda.