Bryans of Craven & New Bern
…Random notes… attempts to build a framework
It is well known that several BRYANS were “merchants”… businessmen or whatever convenient term might be more appropriate… I may build upon that premise to see where it leads.
Traci the Librarian and I bumped heads on this issue… but she dazzled me with facts. This factoid is centered near the Chowan River but these Bryans eventually made their way to New Bern by about 1740 or so. I suspect Lewis Bryan was scoping out the New Bern area as early as 1708… he had some dealings with a Thomas Harris and John Simmons who had property on the Trent River nearby. Unfortunately Lewis Bryan (from Nansemond) would not live to see his sons’ success… he died about 1718 seemingly in what was Chowan “precinct” at the time, near the River.
While I respect the work of Hugh B. Johnston of North Carolina, I will point out my disagreements… and I think he would take it all in stride… his articles struck me that way. A critique of one of his takes of one of the Bryans of Nansemond:
This little ditty is just a glimpse of some of the “networking” we have uncovered between the Bryans and others between say, the Indian Traders in Occoneechee Neck, the Chowan River “merchant shippers” and likely the New Bern merchants leading to shipments out of Port Beaufort leading to the Bahamas and possibly all the way to England. I think this is just a taste of the shipping activity of the era…