Ananias "Nias"/"A.S." Bryant was a prominent farmer and logger in the Lower English Creek Community at the turn of the century (end of 19th, beginning of 20th). His farm, which straddled the creek, was part of a larger tract purchased in the early 1800s by his grandfather, Tarlton Bryant, who came to Cocke County from South Carolina soon after the turn of that previous century. Bryant-Sisk Cemetery, where Ananias and many members of his family and descendants are buried, was originally part of that property.

In 1867 Nias married Sarah Sisk, a granddaughter of Revolutionary War veteran Bartlett Sisk. Nias and Sarah were parents of a dozen children (7 buried near them in Bryant-Sisk). Three of their sons (Add, Judd and Lee) moved to Missouri, where they raised families.

"Ananias" is a biblical name, with 3 characters in the Bible named Ananias, including a disciple of Jesus Christ. The initial "S." was for "Sodie" (Sodi), an Old Testament name. Nias considered himself a follower of Christ. (See cutline under the PB hymnal photo to the right). Nias was an active Primitive Baptist at the time his denomination was beginning to consider less rigid interpretations of the Scriptures. His uncle Brummit Bryant had been a Primitive Baptist minister. Two of Nias's sons, Joe and Lee, became Primitive Baptist ministers. His grandson Dan Clevenger (son of Lucinda) became a founder of a spin-off congregation of the Big Pigeon Primitive Baptist Church.

Nias died at age 66 in 1916. Listed on his death certificate as undertaker was James Breeden, a son-in-law (husband of Cordelia). After Nias's death, James and Cordelia Breeden became owners his farm.

Nias had 7 siblings. His brothers were Aaron, Judd and Thomas. His sisters were Martha (died as a teenager), Emma (Mrs. Sam McNabb of Ark.), Julia (Mrs. Clinton Holloway) and Mary (Mrs. J.A. Clevenger).

BRYANT-SISK CEMETERY: In the late 1800s there were two Bryant cemeteries in the English Creek Community, both on Tarlton Bryant properties (about a mile apart). Tarlton had owned an Upper English Creek farm, his homesite left to son Brummit, and a Lower English Creek farm, left to son Hardy. The "Old Bryant Cemetery," the Tarlton Bryant Family Cemetery, was on the upper tract; the "New Bryant Cemetery" was created on the lower tract. The first burials in the new cemetery may have been a few slaves from the area. Sisk family burials may have preceded Bryants. These earliest graves were marked with fieldstones. The first chiseled inscription on a fieldstone was in 1878. The first incised lettering on a cut stone was in 1888. There is an engraved stone for Revolutionary War veteran Bartlett Sisk, who died in 1840. His war memorial stone was placed Bryant-Sisk decades later, after his gravesite could not be determined, as the old Big Pigeon Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, where he was buried, had deteriorated over the years from lack of maintenance. Hardy's sons Aaron and Ananias are buried there. A third son, Judd, is buried across the road in the Click-Hannon Cemetery. A third and more recent Bryant cemetery is the Will Tarlton Bryant Family Cemetery, also on the Upper English Creek tract.

[Research by Gene Bryant, whose father, James ANANIAS Bryant, was a grandson of Nias. Thomas Nelson Bryant, one of Nias's sons and James's father, was living at Nias Bryant's old home place when James was born.]