Allen Family Tree » William Smith Bryan II (1685-1789)

Personal data William Smith Bryan II 


Household of William Smith Bryan II

He is married to Margaret Brockers or Watson.

They got married in the year 1719, he was 34 years old.


Child(ren):

  1. Mary Bush Bryan  1710-????
  2. William Smith Bryan  1716-???? 
  3. John Andrew Bryan  < 1717-1799 
  4. Margaret Bryan  1719-????
  5. Joseph Josiah Bryan  1742-????


Notes about William Smith Bryan II

William and his wife Margaret, and family migrated from Bainbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland in the year 1718, bringing with them a letter of commendation from Ballyroney Presbyterian Church. After sojourns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, he moved into Virginia around the year 1730 and finally settled in the Roanoke community about the year 1746. This became his home until his death in 1789 at the age of 101 years. They were both buried in the grave yard that is on the Bryan Homestead, or the Great Springs place in Salem VA

Wm. Bryan & Margaret sent their little son, John, to the woods to cut a stick for the handle of a hook used in weaving, and he was arrested for "poaching". After much trouble and expense, he got him cleared and immediately sailed for America in 1718. He was quoted as saying "timber is free and there are con constables". They were from Ballyront, County Down, and the neighboring town was cakked Bryanford, beig named from some of the family. About 1745 he, with his son James, and David Bryan (a son or brother), and probably other family members, moved to and were the first settlers at the location presently known as Roanoke. He settled at "Lake Spring" and David se6ttled at "Big Lick", both are now suburbs of Roanoke City.

He and his son, William III, settled on a fine body of land in Roanoke Valley in 1749, They built their cabin beside Lake Spring. He had made a preliminary visit to the section in 1746. The town reservoir is at the top of a high tower on the ridge out of which Spring Lake flows. On the narrow, level top of the reservoir hill, overlooking the town of Salem, is an old graveyard. At the end is a monument in memory of William Bryan I, William Bryan II and Margaret Bryan, wife of William II, erected by a grateful descendent, Thornton Whaling, D.D.

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Timeline William Smith Bryan II

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    When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin:
    Bonnie Crum, "Allen Family Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/allen-family-tree/P1652.php : accessed May 6, 2025), "William Smith Bryan II (1685-1789)".