Page Name

DAVE BRYANT HISTORY

A Letter from the Past

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LETTER FROM DAVE C BRYANT
DATED DECEMBER 31, 1964

DEAR SADENA (BRYANT) KELLEY A COUSIN

IN JANUARY, 1915, MY BROTHER, WILLIAM AND I VISITED IN WAYNE
COUNTY KENTUCKY FOR ABOUT 25 DAYS. WE VISITED WHERE OUR
FATHER'S WERE BORN, NOT FAR FROM MONTICELLO AND BURNSIDE
KENTUCKY. AFTER VISITIN(G) UNCLE SHIRD BRYANT AND NUMEROUS
COUSINS, WE VISITED A GREAT UNCLE OF MY AND YOUR FATHER'S. HIS
NAME WAS JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT AND HIS AGE THEN WAS
NIGHTY-FIVE. HIS SISTER, EDITH ROBINSON, WAS NINETY-SEVEN. BOTH
WERE BORN IN SEQUACHIE VALLEY, TENNESSEE. AT THE TIME OF THEIR
BIRTH, SEQUACHIE VALLEY WAS PART OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
OUR GRANDMOTHER BRYANT TOLD ME TO SEE THIS GREAT GREAT
UNCLE AND THAT HE OUGHT TO HAVE AN OLD FAMILY BIBLE AND
RECORDS OF THE BRYANT FAMILY AND THAT THE FIRST BRYANT WHO
CAME TO AMERICA IN 1730 AND ALSO MADE A COPY OF A DIARY HE KEPT.
UNCLE JOHN HAD THEM AND I READ THEM MANY TIMES AND I MADE
PENCILED COPIES WHICH I KEPT FOR MANY YEARS.
THE BIBLE AND DIARY WERE THE PROPERTY OF JAMES CROMWELL
BRYANT, THE FIRST TO COME HERE IN 1730. HE GAVE THE RECORDS TO A
GRANDSON WHO WAS BORN IN 1760. IN 1800 THIS GRANDSON, JOHN
CHARLES BRYANT, AND FOUR BROTHERS MOVED TO THE CAROLINA
COUNTRY AND SETTLED IN WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS SEQUACHIE
VALLEY, TENNESSEE.
A NOTE IN THE DIARY SAYS- I MAKE MY LAST ENTRY TODAY AND
GIVE THESE TO MY GRANDSON, JOHN CHARLES BRYANT DECEMBER 10,
1776.
JOHN CHARLES BRYANT WRITES IN THE DIARY THAT HE GAVE THE
RECORDS TO HIS SON, HENRY CHARLES BRYANT. HE IN TURN GAVE THEM
TO HIS BROTHER, JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT.
OUR OWN GRANDFATHER DID NOT KEEP A RECORD AS HE COULD
NOT WRITE. HIS NAME WAS JAMES PRESTON BRYANT. HE SERVED IN THE
UNION ARMY DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

YOURS TRULY
D. C. BRYANT (DAVID CRAIG BRYANT)


I, DAVID CRAIG BRYANT AM THE SON OF:

THE RECORDS WERE PASSED DOWN FROM FATHER TO SON UNTIL THEY
REACHED HENRY CHARLES BRYANT. HE GAVE THE RECORDS TO HIS
BROTHER JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT, BECAUSE HIS SON WENT TO THE
MEXICAN WAR IN 1848 AND DID NOT RETURN.

I SAW THESE RECORDS WHEN I VISITED MY GREAT GREAT UNCLE, JOHN
CROMWELL BRYANT IN KENTUCKY IN 1915. HE WAS 95 YEARS OLD AT
THE TIME.

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM THE DIARY AS I REMEMBER.

THE FIRST BRYANT TO COME TO AMERICA WAS BORN IN 1710 NEAR
LONDON, ENGLAND. HE WAS THE SON OF JOHN CHARLES BRYANT OF
LONDON. JAMES CROMWELL BRYANT WAS APPRENTICED BY HIS FATHER
TO A COOPER FOR EIGHT YEARS TO LEARN THE TRADE. DURING
TIME FOR HIS LABOR HE RECEIVED ROOM AND BOARD AND SOME
SCHOOLING. HE COULD DO SUMS, READ, AND WRITE AND WAS IN THE
SEVENTEENTH YEAR (age) AND TWO MONTHS ON HIS FIRST JOB. IN APRIL
OF 1728 HE WAS SHANGHAIED, FORCED INTO THE KING'S NAVY. THE
KING'S OFFICERS SURROUNDED AND RAIDED A PUB WHERE THEY WERE
DRINKING ALE AND CAPTURED THIRTEEN YOUNG MEN. HE WAS PLACED
ABOARD A SHIP AND NEVER SAW ENGLAND AGAIN. HIS FIRST SHORE
LEAVE OR LIBERTY WAS IN MAY OF 1730 IN BOSTON HARBOR ABOUT THE
MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON. HE SAYS BY SUNDOWN HE WAS FAR
OUTSIDE OF TOWN. HE DID NOT RETURN UNTIL 1731 WHERE NEAR
BOSTON HE WORKED AT HIS TRADE. IN NOVEMBER OF 1731 HE MARRIED
NANCY O'SHAWNESSEY, A TRADER'S DAUGHTER.

IN HIS DIARY HE SAYS HE HAD THREE SONS AND SEVEN GRANDSONS IN
THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY AND THAT HE LOST ONE SON AND TWO
GRANDSONS. A GRANDSON WRITES THAT HIS GRANDFATHER DIED IN 1780
AT THE AGE OF SEVENTY.

JOHN CROMWELL BRYANT, BORN IN 1825 WRITES THAT HIS FATHER
MOVED TO WAYNE COUNTY KENTUCKY IN 1810 WITH HIS BROTHER(S),
SHELBY BRYANT FROM SEQUACHIE VALLEY, TENNESSEE AND TWO OF
HIS UNCLES TOM AND WILLIAM WENT TO TEXAS THE FOLLOWING YEAR.

YOURS,
DAVID C. BRYANT

THIS INFORMATION WAS SENT TO MY MOTHER SADENA ELLEN BRYANT
KELLY WHO WAS A COUSIN TO DAVID CRAIG BRYANT. I COPIED THIS
INFORMATION DIRECTLY FROM THE ORIGIONAL LETTER.
DENNEY H KELLEY

CHILDREN OF JAMES and ELIZA JANE ROBINSON BRYANT