The Bryans of Cass County
The Cass County Bryan Family extends back to the 1600’s in Isle of Wright County, Va. to Wm. Bryan and wife, Anne Rarabeau. In 1722 these two moved to Albemarle Precinct, later Bertie Co., N.C. Their son, Wm. Bryan (17241785) and wife, Elizabeth Smith; through Wm. Bryan (1747-1800); to Wm. Bryan (1781-1842) wife, Martha, who were parents of the first Bryans of Cass Co., Tex.
They were married in N.C., and several of their children were born there, but they moved first to Ga. when other relatives went there, but later went to Hardeman Co., Tenn. by 1820, where they remained until 1836. In 1836, they decided to go to Texas. They were “caught in a flood on the Tennessee River” then the Mexicans closed the border to new Emigrants to Texas, so they remained in Ark.
In 1842 tragedy struck the family, both Wm. and Martha and their youngest child, Sarah, all died within a short time of Dysentery. After their deaths the children, now with their families, made plans to continue their long-interrupted journey to Texas. Ellen Patrick Bryan, oldest son, and family were the first to go in 1842. The other children and families went in 1845. (Wm. Osborne Bryan, Elizabeth Bryan, and John Arthur Bryan.) These families first settled near Jefferson, Texas, at Mt. Zion. Wm. Osborne owned a store there until 1855, when he died prematurely at age 42. He was buried at the Pruitt Cemetery in Mt. Zion, where eighty-five years later his remains were stolen in his Iron Vault and never recovered.
At the time of Wm. Osborne1s death, the Bryans were moving to North Cass County where they had bought several sections of land. Mary Simmons Harris Bryan, widow of Wm. Osborne, took her family and continued the planned move. The year was 1855/56. In the new land they opened a Sawmill, Syrup Mill, and the new place became known as “Bryan’s Mill”, Texas.
Harvey Curtis Bryan was only one year of age when his father, Wm. Osborne, died at Mt. Zion, and his mother, Mary Simmons (Harris) Bryan came to Bryans Mill. Harvey married Verona Frances Hardy, daughter of Rev. Geo. Chappell Hardy of Union Chapel Community. Harvey’s mother gave him one-half section of land. He cut trees, hauled them to the mill, cut them, hauled them back by oxen and built his house. The house is still standing in good repair, one hundred years later.
A daughter, Maggie Bryan griffin lives in the old house Harvey built. The Bryan children: Wm. George (1880-1959), married Willie Ingram and they lived at Avery, Texas and had eight children; Annie Laurie (1881-1887, infant death); Mary Eleanor (1883-1941) married Foster Billiard and they had five children; Harvey Claiborn (1885-1967), married Fredda Fanning, they had no children: Era Verona (1887- ) married John Thomas Carlton, they had two children and lived in Montgomery, Ala; Eunice Lilian married Reddick P. Rutland of Douglassville, Tex.; Maggie Bryan married Isaac Leslie Griffin, who lives on the old “Bryan home place;” Mabel Myrtle married Jas. Caldwell Morris of Douglassville; Winfred Jas. Bryan (1899-1900 infant death); Corrie Bryan, who married Maxwell Steger, lives at Lubbock, Texas,