My Genealogy Hound

Richard T. O’Bryan, was born in Smith County, Tex., in 1848, and is a son of Arnold and Mary (Shepherd) O’Bryan. The father was born in Chatham County, N. C., in 1807, and was a son of William O’Bryan, a native of North Carolina, born about 1773. In 1810 he went to Wilson County, Tenn., and he died in Hickman County in 1828. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and his father, William O’Bryan, was a brother of Daniel Boone’s wife, Rebecca. Our subject’s grandmother, Sophia Thomason O’Bryan, was born in North Carolina, and died in Maury County, Tenn., in 1816. She was the mother six children, of whom Arnold O’Bryan was the second. He went with his parents to Tennessee when three years old, and was reared in Maury County, ten miles south of Columbia. In 1833 he left Tennessee, and came to Arkansas by boat and on horseback. He located in Crawford County, and was engaged by the Government to deal corn and beef to the Indians the first winter, and in the winter of 834 to deal rations to the Cherokee and Creek Indians. July 6, 1837, he married Elizabeth Shepherd, who was born in Fluvanna County, Va., in 1820, and bore him eight children: Elizabeth Ann, died in 1855, aged seventeen; William D., accidentally drowned in Lee’s Creek in 1858, aged eighteen; James A.; Mary Ellen, wife of George Young; Richard T., John C., Robert S., and Sarah C., wife of Thomas R. Daniel, of Van Buren. After his marriage he farmed for seven years near Rudy Station, and then went to Fannin County, Tex. In 1846 he moved to Smith County, and in 1851 located near Sugar Loaf Mountain, Sebastian County. In 1853 he settled near the county seat of Crawford County, where he owned about 500 acres. He is one of the pioneer settlers of the county; for years served as deputy sheriff, and in 1837 as constable. He lost his wife January 12, 1886, and now lives in Logtown. August 14, 1834, he was commissioned by Gov. John Pope captain of the militia of a Crawford County regiment, being the first man appointed to that position. He is a Republican, cast his first presidential vote for Jackson, and his wife was a member of the Christian Church thirty years. Our subject made his home with his father upon the farm until of age. In June, 1870, he married Miss Ann E. Williams, a native of Texas, who died in 1872. The next year he married Addie T. Hanson, who was born in this county, and is the mother of two children: Nettie and Bulila. Mr. O’Bryan is a well-to-do citizen of Van Buren Township. He has eight acres of land, and is engaged in the grocery and liquor business in Logtown, which business he has conducted three years. He is a Republican, and for years was marshal of Van Buren. His wife is a member of the Christian Church.