Key Facts

Parents:	uncertain
Born:	unknown
Died:	sometime before 13 December 1785 location unknown
Buried:	unknown

Problem: Unresolved Who is 1447Alice's father? In 1818 North Carolina's Supreme Court heard a case titled Bryan v. Griffin, which centered around an inheritance dispute. The court gathered facts about the family relationships involved in the dispute.* The case file is lengthy and at times confusing, so the notes by Brent and Martha Brian are helpful. The informants (or "orators" as they're called in the case file) introduced on page 4 include several children of 1447Alice's siblings. As such, they would likely be familiar enough with the families involved that their first-hand knowledge and testimony can be considered trustworthy. Now consider the following excerpt from the case file:1 1447Alice's siblings Sarah (married name Griffin), Lewis, Joanna, Mary, and Elizabeth named in an 1818 court case file. Full page.1 Based on the above record, to identify 1447Alice's father we might look for other records of men who meet the following criteria: • surname Bryan • in North Carolina • died sometime roughly in the mid- to later 18th century Rationale: If 1447Alice's unidentified father is considered to be generation 1, we see that the 1818 court case file includes orators from generation 3 (e.g., Lewis Griffin, Rebeca Griffin, Alice Griffin, Asa Bryan, Elizabeth Bryan) and generation 4 (e.g., Roderick Powell and his wife Sally of Green County; Shadrack Coward). The orators must be adults since they spoke in court in 1818, so we can roughly estimate that generation 4 was born, say, around 1785. Assuming 25 years between generations, generation 3 thus would be born roughly circa 1760, generation 2 circa 1735, and generation 1 circa 1710. If generation 1 then lived 60 years, its members may have died circa 1770. These estimates are very rough, obviously, so we should remain open-minded to any deaths in the mid- to later 18th century. • had six children named Sarah, Lewis, Joanna, Mary, Elizabeth, and Alice. The record that best matches the above criteria is the nuncupative will of John Bryan of Beard's Creek, Craven County, North Carolina, who gave his will shortly before his death on 31 October 1741. In it he names a son Lewis Bryan, a daughter Sarah Bryan, and appoints Sarah to "bring up his small children being three in number till such times as they arrive to the age of maturity." 2 As you can see, however, John Bryan only refers to five children in his will: Lewis, Sarah, and three minors not named.2 In contrast, the 1818 court case file names six siblings: Sarah, Lewis, Joanna, Mary, Elizabeth, and Alice.1 Although some researchers have cited John Bryan's will as evidence that he is 1447Alice's father, I've never seen an explanation of this discrepancy in the number of his supposed children (5 versus 6), nor can I think of one. If he had a wife who was pregnant at the time of his death, wouldn't he have mentioned her in his will? If he somehow bizarrely forgot one of his children while dying in bed, wouldn't he have been reminded by those around him? If one sibling was deliberately excluded from the will due to some malicious intent, a lawsuit probably would've occurred, especially since John gave a nuncupative will, but I find no such record. In light of this major, unexplained discrepancy, how can one be confident that John Bryan is 1447Alice's father?

1447Alice married 1446Jonas, as is plainly stated in the aforementioned 1818 court case file:1

1447Alice's marriage to 1446Jonas is proven in a later court document. Full page.1

The informants for the 1818 court case file stated that "Jonas Griffin and Alice his wife removed from North Carolina to the State Georgia many years ago," 1 but it's more likely that they moved to South Carolina (not Georgia), since 1446Jonas was a resident of South Carolina when he wrote his will.3 The court's informants were probably more so familiar with 1446Jonas' daughter 723Janet, who did in fact migrate to Georgia, as the informants themselves mention in their very next sentence.1 1447Alice's and 1446Jonas' other two children named in the case file are Major Griffin and Jonas Griffin [Junior];1 her husband's will clarifies that they also had a son Benjamin Griffin.3

1447Alice is conspicuously absent from her husband's will, dated 13 ___ 1785 (The month was not written.),3 so she probably had died by that date.

Footnote:

*	These relationships are repeated in a later North Carolina Supreme Court case, i.e. case #1333 in 1826. You can see the #1333 case file here. The relevant family relationships are on page 5 of this case file, but the language here is identical to the 1818 file; large sections are copied verbatim.

Sources Cited:

1: North Carolina Supreme Court, case files for case #160 (Bryan v. Griffin, 1818), page 8. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99QK-SV64?lang=en&i=14>, accessed 1 July 2025. This source will hereafter be cited as "Bryan v. Griffin." The relevant portions read, "The Brothers and sisters of Sarah Griffin the mother of Moses Griffin were Lewis Bryan Joanna Bryan Mary Bryan Elizabeth Bryan & Alice Bryan all of whom are dead leaving issue" and "the said Alice Bryan was the wife of Jonas Griffin" and "Jonas Griffin and Alice his wife removed from North Carolina to the State Georgia many years ago your Orators have heard and believe the said Jonas & his wife left issue Major Griffin Jennet now the widow of John Brutin & Jonas Griffin, who reside in Georgia or in parts unknown to your Orators." Page 13 states that "the foregoing is a True Copy of the Original Bill filed the 22d of Feby 1818, and of the amended filed March Term 1818." The orators are introduced back on page 4 (which is not explicitly numbered on the page itself).

2: Craven County, North Carolina. Grants, wills, deeds book for the years 1741-1751, pages 120-121. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-898M-VC2H?lang=en&i=376>, accessed 6 July 2025.

3: Kershaw County, South Carolina. Wills book A1 (1782-1823), pages 326-327. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939L-JWSX-6K>, accessed 30 June 2025.