The
Name: According to the excellent online reference source, About.com, the surname Bryant
is of English and Celtic derivation, from a root that means "hill." Alternative
spellings include BRIAN, BRIEN, BRIANT,
BRIENT, BRYAN, O'BRIEN, and BRYAND.
Our Bryant Family
originated in North Carolina. Three brothers, Alfred, Ben and Tom were
born between 1825 and 1840. At this writing (November 2004), their parents
are unknown. Since Alfred's birthplace is actually said to have been
Tennessee (on the 1880 federal census), the family may have been in one of the
border counties along the Great Smoky Mountains, such as Swain, Graham, or
Haywood Counties, North Carolina. This is the area near present day Great Smoky
Mountain National Park and the reservation of the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians.
The Bryant brothers eventually migrated to south Texas, settling
on the Gulf Coast in Refugio (part of which later became Aransas), Nueces, and
San Patricio counties. Alfred and Ben were farmers; Tom and Alfred's son
Guy were butchers. The family acquired a fair amount of land around the
Corpus Christi area and appear to have been part of an active black community in
the region at the time.
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