HOSEA BRIGHT BREAZEALE'S SURNAME:
The surname we spell today as "Breazeal" was spelled in numerous ways prior to 1900. Hosea Bright Breazeal himself spelled his own surname in a variety of different ways in his own family Bible. Although he had enough of an education to serve as both a justice of the peace and church clerk, he signed his name variously as "Breazeale", "Brazeal", and "Brazeal."

Hosea Bright Breazeal was born 5 April 1813 in Pendleton District South Carolina, the son of Nancy Breazeal (1791–1841). Nancy, who was not married when her son was born, was the daughter of Joel Breazeal (c1755–1829) and Rebecca Griffin Breazeal (c1760/70–1845+), who had married in Chatam County North Carolina in 1779. There is no record of the identity of Bright Breazeal's father.

Little is known of Bright's early years, but he apparently lived with his grandparents in Pendleton District (now Anderson County) South Carolina. Within a few years of Bright's birth, his mother Nancy Brezeal married a Mr. Lawless, probably either Larkin B., Hiram, or Henry Lawless. Joel's household on the 1820 census consisted of an older male and female (Joel and Rebecca), a male aged 16–26 (apparently their son Joel M. Breazeal), a female aged 10–16 (apparently their youngest daugher Lucinda), a young male child (apparently Bright Breazeal), and several slaves.

Joel Breazeal's married children began moving westward to Tennessee and Alabama a few years before 1820. His son William Breazeal and son-in-law Azariah Cobb were in Tuscaloosa County Alabama by 1823, and in about 1824 Joel sold his plantation in Pendleton District and joined his relatives in Alabama. He bought a 240 acre farm on Bear Creek in southeastern Tuscaloosa County Alabama on 24 January 1826.

Joel Breazeal died on 5 August 1829, and by his instructions stated in his will, the plantation became the property of his youngest son Joel Marshall Breazeal. In 1830, the household of Joel M. Breazeal consisted
of a male aged 20-30 (Joel M. Breazeal), a female aged 60–70 (apparently his mother Rebecca Griffin Breazeal), a male aged 15–20 (apparently Bright Breazeal), and several slaves.

Bright Breazeal's grandmother, Rebecca Brazeal, belonged to the local Baptist church, whose pastor in the 1810s was Elisha Bennett. Bright's aunt, Mary Ann Breazeal, had married Rev. Bennett's son, Stephen Bennett, in 1815. Another of Rev. Bennett's children, Tabitha Bennett, married Archibald Mayfield about 1814 and lived near Joel Brazeal's family.

About 1824, the extended Breazeal and Mayfield families, plus other relatives and neighbors, moved from Pendleton District South Carolina to Tuscaloosa County Alabama. Joel Brazeal purchased a farm on Bear Creek adjoining that of Archibald Mayfield. In addition to begin neighbors, the Breazeals and Mayfields joined the same church, Sardis Baptist Church.

Bright Breazeal joined the Sardis Baptist Church on 3 November 1832 "by experience" and was baptized soon afterwards. In March 1835, the church assigned him to help with a charge of drunkenness and swapping horses against church member Samuel Mayfield, an aged Revolutionary War veteran and Bright's future grandfather-in-law. In May when Breazeal reported his actions, the church charged him with "Making fals statements in the Church". On June 6th, the church excluded Bright from membership over the matter. Considering that Bright married Samuel Mayfield's granddaughter the following year, it appears a strong possibility that he was more lenient on Mayfield than others felt necessary. On 4 November 1837, Bright appeared in the Sardis Church Conference and apologized to the church for his former actions, after which the church restored him to fellowship. The following August, he applied to the church for a letter of dismissal, which the church granted.

Hosea Bright Breazeal married Sarah Elizabeth Mayfield were married on 18 February 1836 in Tuscaloosa County Alabama. They apparently lived on either the Breazeal or Mayfield plantations. Archibald Mayfield died in 1833 and upon Tabitha's death in 1842, Bright Breazeal bought 40 acres of her plantation.

In August 1838, Bright Breazeal joined Liberty Baptist Church. He served the church in various capacities, including being elected church clerk in June 1846 and serving as such until January 1848. On 15 January 1848, Bright and Sarah applied for letters of dismissal from Liberty Church as they prepared to move away from Bear Creek.

Between 1846 and 1849, Joel M. Breazeal began to sell his farm in Tuscaloosa County in preparation to move west to Pickens County. This probably coincided with the death of Rebecca Griffin Breazeal (she was alive in 1844 but this is the last known record of her). When Joel M. Breazeal sold the last of his father's old plantation on 26 January 1849 and moved away, Bright Breazeal also moved his family away from Bear Creek. He settled about ten miles northwest of the old Breazeal/Mayfield plantations
and bought a farm there.

A few years after the death of their mother Tabitha Bennett Mayfield in 1842, most of Sarah's siblings left Alabama for Arkansas, and Bright's aunt Rosannah Breazeal Cobb and her family also left for Arkansas. Bright Breazeal's eldest daughter Tabitha married on 12 June 1856 and died the following year, on 8 October 1857. A month later, on 23 November 1857, Bright and Sarah sold their Tuscaloosa County farm and moved to southern Union County Arkansas/northern Union Parish Louisiana. Although Bright was listed as a resident of northern Union Parish on 17 December 1858, shortly thereafter he settled next door to his uncle and aunt, Azariah and Rosannah Breazeal Cobb near Caledonia, Union County Arkansas. Also living nearby was Sarah's brother Andrew J. Mayfield and his family (he had married the daughter of Azariah and Rosannah Breazeal Cobb). Bright bought a farm from his first cousins Joel M. and George Cobb either in 1857 or 1858.

Bright Breazeal served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Jackson Township, Union County Arkansas Home Guard during the War Between the States. His eldest son Andrew J. Breazeal died in the service of the Confederate States Army at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on the Mississippi River, on 25 April 1862. His other sons Reuben S. and James K. Polk Breazeal also served in the Confederate Army.

Bright and Sarah Breazeal sold their farm near Caledonia, Union County Arkansas, on 2 November 1866 and moved a few miles south to extreme northern Union Parish Louisiana. They bought a farm north of Spearsville and remained there for the rest of their lives. Bright became somewhat active in local politics, running for police juror in 1873, when he received 165 votes. He also served as a justice of the peace, just as he had in Tuscaloosa County Alabama.

Bright Breazeal joined the New Hope Primitive Baptist Church "on Confession of faith" on 8 August 1872, and he remained a member for the next fifteen years. There is no record that Sarah ever joined, nor any record of her joining another church. He frequently served as the church's delegate to various associational meetings during the 1870s and several times as temporary church clerk. On 10 April 1880, New Hope Church selected Bright Breazeal as their new church clerk, following several months of serving as temporary clerk. He served in this capacity for the next seven years.

In mid-1887, as the Populist movement began in response to the low agricultural prices and years of economic depression, Bright Breazeale and his sons joined the Farmer's Union in Spearsville, one of the first to form in the South. This created a rift in the New Hope Primitive Baptist Church that eventually tore the church apart. The situation reached a boiling point on 12 November 1887, with the church deeming itself out of order and not at peace since Bright, his sons, and a few others "...had joined a secret organization called the Farmer's Union..." At the instigation of N. B. Bird, Sr., the church called a vote, and by a one-vote margin, the church "declared non fellowship for the brethren holding such worldly institutions," meaning the church excluded Bright Breazeal and the others. This event nearly destroyed the New Hope Church, with the membership now cut in half, their pastors, Henry Archer and Woody K. Smith, no longer serving the church, and church meetings frequently cancelled over the next six years. Finally, on 25 February 1893, the church accepted for membership four of the members excluded in 1887, describing them as

"...Illegally & unscripturaly Excluded on the 12 day of Nov 1887 Restord to the full fellowship of the church by Bro. N. B. Bird, Sr. acknowledging his wrong in the exclusion..."

Although this redeemed Bright Breazeal, it was by then a moot point for him, as he had died two years earlier, on 19 October 1891. He and Sarah, who had died in 1888, are buried in the Spearsville Cemetery next to their youngest daughter, Laura Agness, who died in 1912.