Page 102 - The Ancestry of Francis Bryan (1770-1863)

SOME FRANCIS AND PHOEBE FAMILY FACTS:
1. Of Francis and Phoebe's twelve children, three died in infancy: Jannett, Sampson and Soloman.
2. One of their sons, Joseph, died as a young man. He was Abraham's twin. 3. Of the eight who survived to adulthood, seven were men and one was a woman.
4. All of these eight children married, some more than once.
5. All but one of them had children.
9. The road on which Francis and Phoebe lived was called Cherry Lane. The following description pops up on Google maps:
Cherry Lane is an unincorporated community located in the Cherry Lane Township of Alleghany County, North Carolina. The community was settled around 1838 and was named for the cherry tree-bordered lane that led to the home of local resident Frank Bryan.
6. All of the children established their households in close proximity to Francis and Phoebe. All except my second great grandfather, John Bryan. He stayed in North Carolina during his first marriage. After the death of his first wife in 1845 he moved to Indiana. He was in his early forties when he left North Carolina. He raised his second family in Indiana.
7. The life span of the eight adult children ranged from 58 to 89. None of them matched Francis' 93 years.
8. Francis planned to live to be one hundred years old. He drove in a new fence post for every year of his life, and expected to have 100 of them. He fell into a fire pit and died as a consequence of his injuries at age 93..
9. Phoebe Woodruff's brother, John Woodruff, moved "next door" to Francis and Phoebe. It is said that Francis walked every day to visit his brother "John". I believe that he walked to visit his brother-in-law, just down the road. To this day there is an intersection between Cherry Lane and Woodruff Road in Cherry Lane Township, North Carolina. (See next page).
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