Fifth Generation

132. Peter Lenoir Bryan^{3,20,52,173,174}. Birth: 1 December 1822, Sevier County, Tennessee.

Census: 1840, McMinn County, Tennessee, Age 15-19, enumerated household of his brother James C. (Jim) Bryan.

Census: 1850, McMinn County, Tennessee, 23rd Subdivision, McMinn County, Tennessee, 22 Aug 1850; p.223a, dwelling number 29, family number 28; Bryant Peter 27 m w farmer $1000 TN; Matilda 26 f w TN; Mary M. 3 f w TN; Allen 13 m w TN attended school; Fisher Rebecca 12 f w TN attended school; Bryant Sarah 1 f w TN.

Census: 1860, McMinn County, Tennessee, Town of Athens, McMinn County, Tennessee, 27th & 28th Jul 1860, Athens PO; page 350a, dwelling number 831, family number 807; Bryan Peter L. 37 m w merchant $1000/$200 TN; Anna M. 35 f w TN; Mary M. 13 f w TN attended school; Sarah E. 10 f w TN attended school; Lucy R. C. 8 f w TN attended school; William H. 5 m w TN attended school; Daniel H. 3 m w TN; Alice A. 9/12 f w TN; Thos. G. 24 m w clerk in store /$1000 TN.

Census: 1870, Bradley County, Tennessee, Dist. 7, Bradley County, Tennessee, 29 Jul 1870, Cleveland PO; page 337a, dwelling number 76, family number 76; Bryan Peter L. 46 m w farmer $3000/$1600 TN; Ana M. 45 f w keeping house TN; Mary M. 22 f w TN; Sarah E. 21 f w TN; Lucy C. 18 f w TN; William H. 16 m w farm laborer TN; Daniel 13 m w farm laborer TN; Alice A. 10 f w TN; Thomas 8 m w TN; Joseph 5 m w TN; James C. 1 m w TN.

Census: 1880, Bradley County, Tennessee. Dist. 7, Enumeration District 5, Bradley County, Tennessee, 14 Jun 1880; p.251d, dwelling number 307, family number 307; Bryant P. L. 57 head male married white, farmer, born TN, father and mother born TN; A. M. 55 wife female married white, keep house, born TN, father and mother born TN; Malicia 30 daughter, female, single, white, at home, born TN, father and mother born TN; Daniel 22 son, male, single, white, laborer, born TN, father and mother born TN; Thomas 18 son, male, single, white, laborer, born TN, father and mother born TN, attended school; Joseph 16 son, male, single, white, laborer, born TN, father and mother born TN, attended school; Felix 11 son, male, single, white, laborer, born TN, father and mother born TN.

Death: 28 August 1889, age 66, [Bradley County], [Tennessee].

Burial: about 30 August 1889, at Tasso United Methodist Church Cemetery Tasso, Bradley County, Tennessee. Buried in old section by the church. Grave marker: Peter L. Bryan; has Masonic emblem.

1860 McMinn County Tennessee Census, NA #M653-1262, Athens Twp, Pg. 350, Family 807, Peter L. Bryan age 31, Anna M. 35, Mary M. 13, Sarah E. 10, Lucy R.C. 8, William H. 5, Daniel H. 3, Alice A. 9/12 and Thomas G. 24, Clerk.

Peter was describes as age 41, 5'11, fair complection, blue eyes, light hair, occupation farmer in his military discharge record by reason of Phissisis Pulmonaris. 31 Jul 1863, Cleveland, Bradley co. TN.

1870 Bradley Co. Tennessee Census, NA #593-1515, 7th district, Cleveland, Pg. 337, Family 76, Peter L. 46, Ana M. 45, Mary M. 22, Sarah E. 21, Lucy C. 18, William H. 16, Daniel 13, Alice A. 10, Thomas 8, Joseph 5 and James C. 1.

Peter died at his daughter Betty's home.

Elizabeth Cate Manly - Peter Lenoir Bryan, 3rd child of William and Lucy Bryan Cate, was born in Sevier Co, TN December 1, 1822. He was named for his illustrious grandfather, Peter Bryan, "The Signer", and we have wondered if "Lenoir" was in honor of Gen. William Lenoir. Bettie Bryan Julian said his middle name was for a friend of the family. He was not quite 17 when his parents died. He received a good education for the day, having attended Holston College at New Market, Jefferson Co, TN. It was perhaps while he was in school there and away from his immediate family that he experienced terrible homesickness. Thereafter he was always very sympathetic with anyone of the same "complaint". His daughter Bettie began teaching when she was just a slip of a girl. One Sunday afternoon she told her parents how she dreaded to go back to her boarding place over on the west side of the county. Her father said, "Ann, get your satchel. We'll take her back and spend the night".
Peter was tall, blond (perhaps like his mother - so many of the Cates were. She may have had red hair). He was athletic. One of his daughter Bettie's favorite stories concerned the time when he was the hero in an athletic contest at Holston College. The Holston lads were about to "get beat" in broad jumping relays, when the old "Marster" said "Br-ring out Br-ryan!" and the tide was turned.
After his parents' deaths, he lived on the home farm, served as guardian for the younger children part of the time. He farmed for about 12 years, then he moved to Athens, where he was in the mercantile business for seven years. In the meantime, he married Anna Matilda Horton (Ray, Tennessee cousins, p 482; Goodspeed, p 964.) Her small brunette good looks complemented his tall, erect blondness, and their nine children were physically and mentally balanced.
The Bryans and Hortons were strong Confederate sympathizers, and when the War broke out lent their support in every way possible. Merchandising was difficult. People were leaving the county in hordes - many of them with big charge accounts on the books that would never be paid. Peter Bryan's health was not too good, and he sold his store, came to Bradley county where be bought 320A just north of Chatata, a village now known as Tasso. With his six children, his going to war would have caused extreme hardship, but he went to "be examined". When he returned, he said, "Ann, I don't know whether to be glad or sorry. They won't have me." They had told him he didn't have but one lung and not long to live. (He did live, however, till 1889 - 24 years after the close of the war). His permanent discharge somehow escaped the ravages of time, and through the courtesy of Mary Alice Shambaugh Dantzler, a copy follows:
R. M. Cox J. W. Gray
Major and Commandant Surgeon P.A.C.S.
Camp of Instruction Chief Ex. Surg.
TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
I certify that P. L. Bryan, born in Sevier Co, Tn, age 41, ht 5'11", fair complexion, blue eyes, light hair, occupation farmer, enrolled in the 7th Dist., Bradley co, in the State of Tennessee is this day permanently discharged and exempted from conscription, by reason of Phisisis Pulmonaris.
J. W. Gray, P.A.C.S. Examing Board
Cleveland, this 31st day of July, 1863 E. E. Westbrook
I. I. Asinith
Goodspeed says, "Peter Lenoir Bryan is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church south, a Master Mason, and a Democrat. He is a generous supporter of all educational enterprises". To elaborate a bit, he evidently did not join the church until he was grown, for Bettie Bryan Julian used to say she was the first of the family to join - at least at Tasso. Her mother, who came from a family active in the Cumberland-Presbyterian denomination probably had belonged at Horton's Campground. Peter Bryan helped haul the logs for the first Methodist Church in what was then Chatata, after he had furnished a large log house for services to be held in 1866, 1867, and 1868. He lies in the churchyard now, surely one of the most peaceful spots to be found anywhere. A treasured legacy is his Master Masons Diploma, which was signed January 1, 1869 by William G. Horton, A. C. Robeson, and George W. Ross, Athens, TN.
Peter Bryan was a worker. On his farm he had orchards of every known fruit, and the "women-folks" were kept busy, preserving and drying them. The "dry-kiln" they had was quite a curiosity for the day. In watermelon time most of the population of Tasso found it convenient to pay calls. They picked up chestnuts by the bushel. peter Bryan was not a financial tycoon, and perhaps worried unduly over his finances. In his worn file case, he kept every scrap of paper relating to notes, taxes, etc. He found time to serve his county as a justice of the peace and had many friends. His children, most of them, were unusually well-educated for the day. Bettie told me that once a sister complained to their father that "Bet" didn't help enough with the housework, whereupon he replied, "Don't you complain of Bet to me. I haven't bought a dress for her since she was 16." She had begun teaching and used her meager salary to continue her education at Chatata Seminary. "Lis" stayed home and helped raise the younger children. "Liney" married young, as did "Allie" when the charming Jim McFarland came up from Georgia to go to school. "Bill" became a doctor; "Tom" a teacher and preacher; "Joe" and "Felix" lawyers. "Dan" did not get as much formal education as his brother, but I have always heard of his wit and intellect, and that he could escort a young lady down the church aisle with more grace than anyone.
The Bryans had native intelligence and wit in abundance. They laughed at jokes, then explained them to others who failed to catch the point! Bettie always said her father was so sympathetic with those who were sick he made the well ones ill, waiting on them. He had a high temper, but a big heart. After his wife's death, he was lonely and depressed. He died at his daughter Bettie's home.
Once a very strict teacher was in charge of the school his children attended. Students were being beaten unmercifully. Peter Bryan went to the professor, and courteously but firmly announced: "Sir, I want my children to obey. But, if they come home in the condition of others I have seen, I'll not wait to come for you through the door. I'll come in by the window or through the wall". He meant it.
Beulah Julia Cate in a letter to the cousins who made up the "Round Robin" of correspondence included the following regarding her grandparents, Peter Lenoir and Anna Horton Bryan:
January 29, 1960
"As I haven't been anywhere to gather any news and as I am the only one who remembers both of our grandparents, I am going to write some of my memories of them. I was a little over nine years when Grandma died in March 1886. She was 62 years old - hadn't been well, but died of a congestive chill. I remember she was tall and slender, straight too. She had real dark eyes, dark brown hair, and Mamma said when she was younger fair and rosy cheeks. she was outspoken but kind. A woman in Tasso said after she died, "The poor, sick people will surely miss Mrs. Bryan and her basket of food". She was proud. I have the chest Mamma said she always kept her best clothes in, neatly folded. I have heard that when she was a girl her parents lived close to Horton's Campground. Her father was an elder in the church. she had one sister older than she, who married young. Grandma was the only girl for a while and had nice clothes. She would dress up on Sunday mornings and take a pitcher of water and a glass to the stand for the preacher. The people all saw her! What about that? She didn't have an easy life; no woman does who has nine children. I remember when there were five boys and Aunt Malissa at home. I remember best the ham, gravy, dried fruit, good sorgum, butter and biscuits. Talk about company! After Grandma died, Uncle Dan and Aunt Kittie, who were living with them when she died, stayed on till they sold the farm, not too long after her death (the farm was sold to the family of the late Harry Carbaugh, prominent civic and political leader of Chattanooga. He was born on the farm). Grandpa lived with them briefly after they moved to Rossville, Ga. He died in August 1889 at my parents' home (Uncle Joe died there, too). Grandpa was a progressive man - tried to educate all his children, helped with schools, was justice of the peace, helped build the Methodist Church at Tasso. He had a high temper, but was kind and had lots of friends. My Paul (Paul L. Cate) has his coloring and puts me in mind of him, though he has the quick Julian walk".
A prized possession, handed down by Bettie Bryan Julian, is Peter L. Bryan's day book. It is a wonderful commentary on the times, 1845-1865. The first entry is: "Dec 20, 1845 - bought for Emmaline Bryan one bonnet, six yards of alpaca, $4.50; one yard cambric, and a "ribbond", 20 cts." Emmaline was getting ready for Christmas. On Christmas Day, 1858 the store in Athens was open for business. A pair of boots sold for $3.00, a scarf and shawl for $3.50, four dozen eggs for .40 cents, and a bushel of apples for 50 cents. The last of the book was used after the family moved to Bradley Co. Their neighbors, the Kiblers, are mentioned. Charley "Acison" (Spelling was not one of P. L. Bryan's best subjects!) was a cobbler. He had been mending shoes for "Joe, Dan, Bill, wife, Bet, Lis; making them for Allie, Lina, Tom and Felix. Charley was a handyman; he worked in the garden, made rails for the hog pen, "peeled" fodder; made nails, hooped barrels, etc.
Peter Bryan had owned 160a, which he bought from Daniel Horton in McMinn Co 1852 (McMinn Co DB K, p 318). Then in 1857 and 1860, he bought town lots #81 and #82 in the city of Athens. These lots were on the SE side of the public square, and the store and residence were located there.
Life was extremely hard during the Civil War, and complicated by Peter Bryan's ill health. since the Bryan's farm was intersected by the East TN and GA Railroad, they were subjected to much bother and ravaging by the Yankees. Payments for the farm were laboriously amassed in confederate money, which became worthless about the time they were due. Bettie Julia Bryan said the young children played with "bills" for years.

Peter Lenoir Bryan and Anna Matilda (Matilda) Horton Marriage: 14 July 1846, McMinn County, Tennessee.^20,175 Marriage certificate issued July 13, 1846. Married by William Rucker, J. P. McMinn County, Tennessee Marriage Register C, page 140.

Anna Matilda (Matilda) Horton^3,52,174,175, daughter of Daniel B. Horton and Mary Needham,. Birth: 1 August 1824, Washington County, Tennessee.

Missing from census: 1840,. She was married in 1846, so she should have been enumerated in her father's household in 1840. Her father was from Washington County, Tennessee and he was enumerated in the 1850 census in McMinn County, Tennessee. However, the family has not been found in the 1840 census.

Census: 1850, McMinn County, Tennessee, Matilda 26 f w TN.

Census: 1860, McMinn County, Tennessee, Anna M. 35 f w TN.

Census: 1870, Bradley County, Tennessee, Ana M. 45 f w keeping house TN.

Census: 1880, Bradley County, Tennessee. A. M. 55 wife female married white, keep house, born TN, father and mother born TN.

Death: 28 August 1889, age 65, Bradley County, Tennessee.

Burial: about 29 August 1889, at Tasso United Methodist Church Cemetery Tasso, Bradley County, Tennessee. Buried in old section by church. Grave marker: Anna M. Bryan, wife of P. L. Bryan.

Peter Lenoir Bryan-558 and Anna Matilda (Matilda) Horton-554 had the following children:

+392	i.	Mary Malissa (Lis) Bryan-611.
+393	ii.	Sarah Elizabeth (Bettie) Bryan-612.
+394	iii.	Lucy Caroline (Liney) Bryan-624.
+395	iv.	Dr. William Henry (Bill) Bryan-625.
+396	v.	Daniel Horton (Dan) Bryan-626.
+397	vi.	Alice Ann (Allie) Bryan-627.
+398	vii.	Thomas Lenoir Bryan-731.
399	viii.	Joseph Allen Bryan^3,52,176. Birth: 11 November 1864, Bradley County, Tennessee. Census: 1870, Bradley County, Tennessee, Joseph 5 m w TN. Census: 1880, Bradley County, Tennessee. Joseph 16 son, male, single, white, laborer, born TN, father and mother born TN, attended school. Death: 30 January 1896, age 31, Bradley County, Tennessee. Burial: after 30 January 1896, at Tasso United Methodist Church Cemetery Tasso, Bradley County, Tennessee. Buried in old section by church by his mother. Joseph went to East Texas as a young lawyer, contracted tuberculosis and died at the age of 32 at the home of his sister Betty Julian in Bradley Co. He never married. He had taught school. Beulah Julian Cate always spoke of him with great affection, commenting on his gentle nature. One of her prized possessions was a letter from him in rebus form. Uncle Joe wrote: "You will excuse this poorly written letter of foolishness, and it may be that I will have something to write about next time. I am, as ever, your affectionate uncle, Joe A.B." His handwriting was beautiful. Uncle Tom related the following amusing incident in an article he once sent to the Cleveland Herald: "My little brother, Joseph A Bryan, wanted some mail. (It sounded big for a boy's name to be called at mailtime.) He wrote up north for a catalog about stationary steam engines. They sent the catalog, wrote him several letters, and sent him samples of the steel from which the engines were made. Then they wrote their agent, Mr. J.M. Crow of Cleveland, to go see Mr. J.A. Bryan at Chatata and sell him an engine. Mr. Crow got on the train. When he arrived in Chatata, he asked M.L. Julian where Mr. Bryan lived. Julian said, 'There is no Mr. J.A. Bryan - just a small boy by that name'. Julian saw into it and knew Joe just wanted to get some mail. Crow closed his fist, stamped the ground, and took the first train for Cleveland.".
+400	ix.	Felix Grundy Bryan-734.