Earlier in March I wrote about the New Madrid earthquakes – the 1811-1812 quakes, shocks and after shocks that devastated the area where Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee meet. The Mississippi River changed course, the land changed and lakes were made where there were none before. A letter written by Eliza Bryan gives the most memorable account of the earthquake and is included in that former post. In other descriptions several people described one or another of the earthquakes that occurred during that year-long period, but only Eliza describes and compares all three main events. Her account was written four years after the the quakes began.
From Mary Sue Anton’s New Madrid A Mississippi River Town in History and Legend, ‘On March 22, 1816, Eliza wrote to her friend, itinerant preacher Reverend Lorenzo Dow, about the quakes. The time lapse between the earthquakes and Eliza’s letter does not diminish the detail of her description, the voice of an educated person. Her words continue to provide inspiration for many a budding writer’s essays on the New Madrid earthquakes.’ Dinah Martin, Eliza’s mother, was also a well-educated woman. She first married Azor Rees, Eliza’s father, and after his death married David Gray. Four years later in 1804, she divorced Gray for cruelty. In Miss Anton’s book she says, ‘Dinah Gray was a remarkable woman not only for her divorce, but, wrote the Reverend Flint: “She had a wonderful library, was perfectly acquainted with Plato, spoke of him as familiarly as a school boy does of Washington, had all the great ancients, their exploits, and respective merits, entirely at command.”‘ Eliza Bryan was evidently educated as thoroughly as her mother.
Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth Bryan, born Chester Co., Pennsylvania, May 10, 1780, died August 10, 1866, aged 86 years, three months. Hunter-Dawson Cemetery, New Madrid, New Madrid County, Missouri.
Even though Eliza is famous for her letter about the earthquake, not as much is known about her life. She was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Azor and Dinah Martin Rees. The family moved to Kentucky then to New Madrid, Missouri about May 1793. Eliza married a Mr. Bryan, but his first name is lost to us. He served as a surgeon in the American army and died early in life. At the time of the quakes Eliza was a 34-year-old widow. She and her husband had one son, Frederick.
Frederick Bryan died June 9, 1870, aged 64 years, 9 months, 21 days.
His wife was named Margaret.
Margaret, wife of Fred A. Bryan, died August 9, 1903, aged 89 years, 7 months, 3 days.
Not only did Eliza Bryan survive the earthquakes of 1811-1812, but she also survived the Civil War. During March of 1862, when the Union army came to New Madrid, many fled the small town. 82-year-old Eliza was probably among them. She died four years after the war.
The Hunter-Dawson cemetery is a small, family cemetery, for the two families listed. I’ve often wondered why Eliza was buried there – was she a friend of the family? Most likely we will never know, but at least we know the final resting place of the woman who wrote most about the famous earthquakes.
Categories: Family Stories
Great blog, from a very interesting place I enjoyed exploring with you!
This is so interesting. My husband’s third great grandfather, Thomas Heugh Beall, lived in Henderson, Kentucky. He was a cabinet maker by trade and traveled back and forth between Henderson and New Madrid making cabinets. I found him on the 1810 Census in the New Madrid area. Fortunately, he went back to Henderson and was probably there when that big earthquake took place. He died around 1852 in Henderson and his wife Sarah returned to Cumberland, Maryland, where they were from before moving to Kentucky. She is buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Cumberland, and her husband is buried in Henderson. I actually found a picture of his tombstone, which appears to be slowly sinking into the ground.
What an interesting story! So glad he was safe in Kentucky when the earthquake hit!
The only Bryan I know of who was supposedly a surgeon in the Revolutionary War was Thomas Bryan, son of Morgan Bryan and Martha Strode. History and geneaology books refer to him as surgeon, but I couldn’t find any military records that prove it. In any case, he supposedly dies in 1780, so I’m wondering if it’s one of his sons who married Eliza Rees Bryan? (North American families has info on Thomas Bryan, and there’s a SAR application for his son, Jesse, who does end up in St Genevieve, Missouri.)
Jonathan Bryan, son of James Bryan and Rebecca Enochs, also goes to Missouri. I believe it’s his farm where Daniel Boone was originally buried. But he’s in St Charles, Missouri, not New Madrid. I’m wondering if any of his brothers go to New Madrid as they’d be the right age to be a husband for Eliza.
Eliza’s father, Azor Rees is in Lincoln and Bourbon counties in Kentucky during the 1780s, so Eliza might have met her Bryan husband there.
Don’t you love a mystery?
Thank you for the info. Yes, I thrive on mysteries. Will check marriage records in Lincoln and Bourbon for a marriage there.
There are two baptisms for children in New Madrid, Missouri, where the mother’s name is Elizabeth Rees. Check out page 4 and 5 of Early Missouri Archives Vol 2 on FamillySearch:
https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/37736-early-missouri-archives-v-02?viewer=1&offset=0#page=9&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=hunt
The same priest who performed these baptisms also performed the wedding of Daniel Morgan Boone and Sarah Griffin Lewis in St Charles County, MO. Daniel is son of Daniel Boone and Rebecca Bryan, so perhaps that’s a lead.
Eliza uses “Elizabeth” on the 1830, 1840 and 1850 census.
I notice James Bryan (1789 – 1822) was involved with lead mining along with his brother in law, Stephen F Austin. He came from Bucks County PA, not far from where Eliza was born (Chester PA).
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bryan-2715
Some genealogies show James as having a brother named Thomas (born 1807). Their father, Joel, would have turned 64 that year. Perhaps an error in Thomas’ birth year crept into the record?