Page 28 - The Ancestry of Francis Bryan (1770-1863)

CHAPTER TWO
MARGARET STRODE IS THE WIFE OF WILLIAM BRYAN, SR. AND
MOTHER OF MARGARET BRYAN Who were Margaret’s parents?
William Bryan, Sr. (1685-1789) certainly is her father. There is decent documentation and DNA evidence. But there is a mystery concerning his wife or wives. I have rarely seen a family tree on Ancestry, or on Family Tree DNA, that does not reference a “Margaret” as William’s wife.
The next question is this: Did William have one or two wives? It is very possible for him to have had two wives, or more, given his longevity. He lived to be 104! I am also finding sibling relationships to Margaret that suggest that they are half , not full, siblings. At this point in my research I am not going to try to answer the question of a third wife. I am fairly certain that there were at least two. William Bryan, Sr. did not leave a will.
DNA evidence suggests that William most likely had two wives. The only point that is important to this current quest is that I have identified that William’s wife, or, at least, one of his wives, was Margaret Strode and that Margaret Strode was Margaret Bryan’s mother.
The children of William Bryan who are well documented are:
John Andrew Bryan (1712-1799) married Mary Margaret Morrison
Mary Catherine Bryan (1719-1730) married Philip Bush
William Bryan II (1724-1805) married Margaret Watson
James Bryan (1726-1816) married Elizabeth Singletary
David Bryan (1721-1767) married Elizabeth Bryan
....and now we confirm:
Margaret Bryan (1730-1782, estimated dates) married Joseph Love.
I will now refer to her as Margaret Strode Bryan only as a way to distinguish her from the many other Margaret Bryans on our tree. There is no evidence that she had a middle name.
On the following page are two screen shots of the ThruLines DNA matches between Margaret Strode Bryan and her sister Mary Catherine and her brother James. In the first screen shot I have not opened the arrows showing the full tree connections due to space.
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