Person:William Bryan (1)

[last accessed 9 Dec 2012]
BRYAN, WILLIAM Ancestor #: A016289
Notice: PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED WITH AT LEAST ONE PREVIOUSLY VERIFIED PAPER - SEE ANCESTOR’S FULL RECORD (WHY?)
Service: VIRGINIA Rank: PATRIOTIC SERVICE
Birth: 3-6-1733 CHESTER CO PENNSYLVANIA
Death: 5-30-1780 KENTUCKY CO VIRGINIA
Service Source: RANCK, HIST OF LEXINGTON, KY, P 70
Service Description: 1) DEFENDER OF FORT

Comments
1) SON WM. B.12-7-1760 KILLED 3-10-1780 BY INDIANS
2) THE SARAH M. WM CHINN WAS DAU OF JAMES BRYAN,JR.FROM DRAPER MSS 22C6

(7) Mary BOONE, b 14 Nov 1736 Exeter, Berks Co, PA d 6 July 1819 Ravens Creek, Harrison Co, KY at the home of her step son John SMITH. Mary m1 William Morgan BRYAN, Capt b 7 March 1733 Orange Co, VA d 30 May 1780 Bryan Station, Fayette Co, KY. On 19 Sept 1818 in Pendleton Co, KY Mary m2 General Charles SMITH, Jr b 15 April 1735 of Harrison Co, KY d 26 Oct 1821 Harrison Co, KY. This was m3 for Genl SMITH

William Bryan, an uncle of Rebecca (Bryan) Boone married Daniel Boone's sister, Mary about 1755 in Rowan County where the Boones and Bryans were neighbors. It is believed that it was at their wedding that Daniel and Rebecca first met. Olive Boone, wife of Nathan Boone, the youngest child of Daniel and Rebecca, stated that she had heard them say that the first time they ever saw each other was at a wedding.

They were married in a triple wedding ceremony with two other couples. Daniel's father, Squire Boone, performed the marriage ceremony, as the Justice of the Peace. According to Nathan, the young couple lived for awhile in a house on the property of Squire Boone, before moving to a place of their own.

Bryan's Station
Marker Number 21
County Fayette
Location Bryan Station Pk., 5 mi. N. of Lexington
Description Camping place in 1775-76 of the brothers Morgan, James, William and Joseph Bryan. In 1779 was fortified as a station which in Aug. 1782 repelled a siege of Indians and Canadians under Capt. William Caldwell and Simon Girty.

... William Bryan was born in Pennsylvania in 1733 and moved to Rowan County, North Carolina with his father, Morgan Bryan. It was there that he married Mary Boone, born 1736 in Pennsylvania, sister of Daniel Boone, to which was born five sons. Three of these sons were killed in the early days of Kentucky and Mary Boone Bryan with her other two sons returned to North Carolina till after the war. They returned to Kentucky, going down the Licking River to a spot eighteen miles from the mouth of the river and established their home known as Bryan's Ford. Mary Boone Bryan lived her remainder of her life and died in 1819 on the farm of her son, Samuel Bryan.

the area now known as Fayette County. The Bryan family is very much entrenched in the early history of Kentucky as evident by the their migration into central Kentucky and establishing one of the fortifications that was able to withstand the Indian attacks from the north during the Revolutionary War. In 1779 and 1780 William, James, Joseph, Morgan, George, Samuel, David and John Bryan all entered for land tracts lying in the area of the station they had built named Bryan Station. The land tracts totaled about 13, 000 acres and the brothers felt they were erecting Bryan Station on land that was included with these entries.

Bryan Station was established by four brothers, William, Morgan, James, and Joseph Bryan and William Grant, all who had brought their families, with their possessions, from the valley of the Yadkin River in North Carolina. William Bryan was considered to be the leader of the party, while William Grant was a relative since both had married a sister of Daniel Boone. Most of the men had large families, with some of the children grown which was an advantage since they needed men to fight the dangers on this new frontier. Two other men from Virginia, William Tomlinson and Cave Johnson, joined the party and helped them build the fortifications. The party followed the trail of other settlers and reached Fort Boonesboro on the Kentucky River, where they added needed supplies before pressing on to the area they would select as Bryan Station.

This piece of land was later determined to be a tract of one thousand acres that had been surveyed in 1774 by Colonel John Floyd for Colonel William Preston of Virginia. The cabins were placed in a parallelogram, 600 feet long by 150 feet wide on a high spot near a spring. Others joined the party and the number of cabins was about twenty with blockhouses built at each comer of the enclosure. During the winter of 1779-1780 a court was held at Bryan Station to settle land claims and give the settlers the certificates for the land they claimed. The certificate gave the pioneer 400 acres of land actually settled and and a pre-emption right to purchase at a price one thousand acres more adjoining his settlement, provided the settlement had been made before January 1, 1778, and on land to which no one held legal claim. It was at this time the Bryans discovered they had erected the station on land which did not belong to them.

The Indian threat was always at hand, but with crops to be planted and game to be shot the men had to venture out into this danger. During one of these hunting trips William Bryan took six men while James Hogan took the other half of the party to secure meat. James Hogan and his men were able to avoid the Indians but William Bryan's men ran into an ambush, during which William Bryan was fatally wounded and died a few hours later back at the station. Many facts led to the Bryans to abandon the station and go back to North Carolina by August of 1780, their leader was killed, the Indians had captured Ruddles and Martins Stations which were not too far from Bryan Station, and the land was not theirs. Many other families also elected to return with the Bryans to North Carolina not to return to Kentucky till later. During the winter of 1780 and spring of 1781 a great many other settlers reached the area and used the vacant cabins of Bryan Station before going on to other settlements, many of these were from Spotsylvania County, Virginia.