JAMES ANANIAS BRYANT, my father, was born Dec. 17, 1920 in a small house along English Creek about 400 yards down the hillside from where he is buried in Bryant-Sisk Cemetery, at the old home place of the Ananias Bryant family. He was the 7th child of Thomas Nelson "Tom" Bryant and Frances "Dollie" Allen. He was named after his two grandfathers, James Allen and Ananias Bryant. His older older siblings were Bart, Rene, Vie, Beulah, Seattle and Ann. Ed was younger.
At the time of Dad's birth, his parents were living on a farm owned by Delia Bryant, Ananias' daughter and Dad's aunt, and her husband Jim Breeden. The farm was part of a larger tract obtained a century earlier by Ananias' grandfather, Tarlton Bryant, with a land warrant he earned through service in the War of 1812.
When Dad was 5, his father died. His mother, with declining health, and her children later moved to Newport near her daughter Beulah and her husband Joe Sweeten. When Dad's mother died, Bart and Rene, in addition to Beulah, had married. The two younger girls were old enough to make it on their own or with each other. Bart took Dad and Ed, ages 11 and 8, to live with him and wife Hassie Allen. Two other men who aided the family after their father's death were Uncle Jim Breeden (husband of their Aunt Cordelia) and Uncle Taylor Bryant. Dad often spoke appreciatively of his uncles Jim and Taylor.
Dad and Mary Florence Clevenger, whom he would marry later, attended Sardis School (Dad transferred from Newport Grammar School), located on land that was part of the Tarlton Bryant homeplace during the first half of the 1800s on upper English Creek. (Tarlton's son, William, campaigned for a community public school after returning from Civil War imprisonment. He donated land for the school before he moved to Texas in the 1870s).
Mom and Dad married in 1940. I was born in 1941. A second son, Glenn Daniel, was born in 1949 and died 10 weeks later. Mom was so distraught with her baby's death that she insisted on no more children, leaving me their only child.
Bart assisted Dad in obtaining a home and farm by becoming co-owner with him. As Dad became financially able, he bought back Bart's half ownership. This farm (located in the Lower English Creek Community off Cliff Road and the dead end of Mint Way) became our homeplace. Mom and Dad lived and farmed there for 50 years and operated James Bryant Grocery on old Cosby Road from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
Dad, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1994 and died 7 months later under home hospice care.
--Gene Bryant
At the time of Dad's birth, his parents were living on a farm owned by Delia Bryant, Ananias' daughter and Dad's aunt, and her husband Jim Breeden. The farm was part of a larger tract obtained a century earlier by Ananias' grandfather, Tarlton Bryant, with a land warrant he earned through service in the War of 1812.
When Dad was 5, his father died. His mother, with declining health, and her children later moved to Newport near her daughter Beulah and her husband Joe Sweeten. When Dad's mother died, Bart and Rene, in addition to Beulah, had married. The two younger girls were old enough to make it on their own or with each other. Bart took Dad and Ed, ages 11 and 8, to live with him and wife Hassie Allen. Two other men who aided the family after their father's death were Uncle Jim Breeden (husband of their Aunt Cordelia) and Uncle Taylor Bryant. Dad often spoke appreciatively of his uncles Jim and Taylor.
Dad and Mary Florence Clevenger, whom he would marry later, attended Sardis School (Dad transferred from Newport Grammar School), located on land that was part of the Tarlton Bryant homeplace during the first half of the 1800s on upper English Creek. (Tarlton's son, William, campaigned for a community public school after returning from Civil War imprisonment. He donated land for the school before he moved to Texas in the 1870s).
Mom and Dad married in 1940. I was born in 1941. A second son, Glenn Daniel, was born in 1949 and died 10 weeks later. Mom was so distraught with her baby's death that she insisted on no more children, leaving me their only child.
Bart assisted Dad in obtaining a home and farm by becoming co-owner with him. As Dad became financially able, he bought back Bart's half ownership. This farm (located in the Lower English Creek Community off Cliff Road and the dead end of Mint Way) became our homeplace. Mom and Dad lived and farmed there for 50 years and operated James Bryant Grocery on old Cosby Road from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
Dad, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1994 and died 7 months later under home hospice care.
--Gene Bryant
JAMES ANANIAS BRYANT, my father, was born Dec. 17, 1920 in a small house along English Creek about 400 yards down the hillside from where he is buried in Bryant-Sisk Cemetery, at the old home place of the Ananias Bryant family. He was the 7th child of Thomas Nelson "Tom" Bryant and Frances "Dollie" Allen. He was named after his two grandfathers, James Allen and Ananias Bryant. His older older siblings were Bart, Rene, Vie, Beulah, Seattle and Ann. Ed was younger.
At the time of Dad's birth, his parents were living on a farm owned by Delia Bryant, Ananias' daughter and Dad's aunt, and her husband Jim Breeden. The farm was part of a larger tract obtained a century earlier by Ananias' grandfather, Tarlton Bryant, with a land warrant he earned through service in the War of 1812.
When Dad was 5, his father died. His mother, with declining health, and her children later moved to Newport near her daughter Beulah and her husband Joe Sweeten. When Dad's mother died, Bart and Rene, in addition to Beulah, had married. The two younger girls were old enough to make it on their own or with each other. Bart took Dad and Ed, ages 11 and 8, to live with him and wife Hassie Allen. Two other men who aided the family after their father's death were Uncle Jim Breeden (husband of their Aunt Cordelia) and Uncle Taylor Bryant. Dad often spoke appreciatively of his uncles Jim and Taylor.
Dad and Mary Florence Clevenger, whom he would marry later, attended Sardis School (Dad transferred from Newport Grammar School), located on land that was part of the Tarlton Bryant homeplace during the first half of the 1800s on upper English Creek. (Tarlton's son, William, campaigned for a community public school after returning from Civil War imprisonment. He donated land for the school before he moved to Texas in the 1870s).
Mom and Dad married in 1940. I was born in 1941. A second son, Glenn Daniel, was born in 1949 and died 10 weeks later. Mom was so distraught with her baby's death that she insisted on no more children, leaving me their only child.
Bart assisted Dad in obtaining a home and farm by becoming co-owner with him. As Dad became financially able, he bought back Bart's half ownership. This farm (located in the Lower English Creek Community off Cliff Road and the dead end of Mint Way) became our homeplace. Mom and Dad lived and farmed there for 50 years and operated James Bryant Grocery on old Cosby Road from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
Dad, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1994 and died 7 months later under home hospice care.
--Gene Bryant
At the time of Dad's birth, his parents were living on a farm owned by Delia Bryant, Ananias' daughter and Dad's aunt, and her husband Jim Breeden. The farm was part of a larger tract obtained a century earlier by Ananias' grandfather, Tarlton Bryant, with a land warrant he earned through service in the War of 1812.
When Dad was 5, his father died. His mother, with declining health, and her children later moved to Newport near her daughter Beulah and her husband Joe Sweeten. When Dad's mother died, Bart and Rene, in addition to Beulah, had married. The two younger girls were old enough to make it on their own or with each other. Bart took Dad and Ed, ages 11 and 8, to live with him and wife Hassie Allen. Two other men who aided the family after their father's death were Uncle Jim Breeden (husband of their Aunt Cordelia) and Uncle Taylor Bryant. Dad often spoke appreciatively of his uncles Jim and Taylor.
Dad and Mary Florence Clevenger, whom he would marry later, attended Sardis School (Dad transferred from Newport Grammar School), located on land that was part of the Tarlton Bryant homeplace during the first half of the 1800s on upper English Creek. (Tarlton's son, William, campaigned for a community public school after returning from Civil War imprisonment. He donated land for the school before he moved to Texas in the 1870s).
Mom and Dad married in 1940. I was born in 1941. A second son, Glenn Daniel, was born in 1949 and died 10 weeks later. Mom was so distraught with her baby's death that she insisted on no more children, leaving me their only child.
Bart assisted Dad in obtaining a home and farm by becoming co-owner with him. As Dad became financially able, he bought back Bart's half ownership. This farm (located in the Lower English Creek Community off Cliff Road and the dead end of Mint Way) became our homeplace. Mom and Dad lived and farmed there for 50 years and operated James Bryant Grocery on old Cosby Road from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
Dad, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1994 and died 7 months later under home hospice care.
--Gene Bryant
