Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

A lost patent for Richard Braswell to be precise. I did a prior post for this Bryant fella and tracked some of his Isle of Wight/Southampton, VA land holdings. I’ve ventured into his history a bit now and see it is likely he was the father in law of Richard Braswell as well as John Dew and Mathew Selar. (per his will of 1731)

This stellar bit of detective work on my part came about not thru my Holmesian insights but merely sheer dumb luck… I was looking for a missing patent for Mr. Braswell and ran across a deed from 1740 that lays out the sordid details…

I have still not found the missing Braswell deed from 1706 but feel compelled to share the James Bryant info… which I shall do...Viszt… as they used to say… (a little colonial history there as Rush used to say…)

The pertinent details start out thusly: William Bryant and wife of Edgecombe County to Thomas Uzzell of Nansemond County, Va. May 20, 1740. 1000 pds. for “a certain plantation” plus 100 A. Land on NS Meherrin River “being plantation whereon James Bryant formerly Lived and part of the patent Granted to Richard Braswell... so you see I am not pulling your leg…

Like I say… I am still looking for that damn missing patent… you folks may poke and prod thru the sordid details as you see fit… my footnoting and source details are horrendous at best and I offer no excuses other than to advise you to simply deal with it…

This is the general area where I think James Bryan[t] was living ca. 1708…

A John Britt is mentioned in one of the references as well as a “Duke” guy which I also cannot find… that is primarily why I suspect the land is in this specific area (but then, this Britt placement can be changed if necessary) it is a guess right now…

Putting on my “historian’s cap”… isn’t it interesting that in 1706 and 1708 when Braswell assigned this land to Bryan[t] that the 1710 Tuscarora “war” had not yet taken place. It was only after the Indians were no longer a threat that the floodgates for settlement were opened. Note in one of the patents shown below for John Dew (near Kerby’s Creek) that mention is made of the “Roanoke path”. I suspect that was the original “Indian Trail” leading to the Occoneechee Neck and perhaps Foltera Fort. It just seems like a lonely place in 1706… except for Indian Traders… and their cohorts.

To add a bit more complexity to this mystery… note the “William” Braswell in the map lower right above… in the references to Bryant in 1714 he is dealing with this William Braswell/wife Mary… is he selling him property? Any one have any insights to what was going on? just curious…

a prior post: