John Bryant, of Scituate

John Sr. was a house carpenter by trade and lived on the second Herring Brook at Scituate. It is stated that his chief interests in life were two: the colony’s legal courts and the begetting of children. He was married three times and the father of 19 issue. Link: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bo1940/htm/page12.htm

John Bryant was born abt 1618 in East Greenwich County, Kent, England and died on 20 Nov 1684 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA. [1] [2]

Parents: Unknown Bryant and Anne Bryant, who married 2nd to John Doaner. [3]

Married:

1. on 16 Nov 1643 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA to Mary Lewis b c: 16 Nov 1629 in Brenchley, Co. Kent, England, daughter of George Lewis (1600-1663) and Sarah Jenkins (1603-1636). [6]
2. 22 Dec 1657 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA [4] to Elizabeth Wetherell b: Abt 1639 in Duxbury, Plymouth Co., MA, daughter of Rev. William Wetherell (1606-1684) and Mary Fisher (born abt. 1609 and died unknown). [5]
3. on 1 Apr 1664 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA to Mary Hyland b: c: 27 Mar 1631 in Tenterden, Co. Kent, England and died aft 1702 in Scituate, Plymouth County, MA; daughter of Thomas Hyland (1604-1683) and Deborah ??. [7] She married 2nd in 1685, Scituate MA to Robert Stetson (1615-1702).[8]

Children of John Bryant and Elizabeth Wetherell:

1. Daniel Bryant b: Abt 1659 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA c: 5 Feb 1658/59 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
2. Mary Bryant b: 19 Jan 1660/61 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA

Children of John Bryant and Mary Lewis:

1. John Bryant b: 17 Aug 1644 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA c: 23 Mar 1649/50 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
2. Hannah Bryant b: 25 Jan 1644/45 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA c: 23 Mar 1649/50 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
3. Joseph Bryant b: Abt 1647 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
4. Sarah Bryant b: 29 Sep 1648 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
5. Mary Bryant b: 24 Feb 1649/50 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
6. Martha Bryant b: 26 Feb 1651/52 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
7. Samuel Bryant b: 6 Feb 1653/54 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA

Children of John Bryant and Mary Hyland:

1. Elizabeth Bryant b: Aug 1665 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
2. Joseph Bryant b: May 1667 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
3. Benjamin Bryant b: Dec 1669 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
4. Joseph Bryant b: 18 Feb 1670/71 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
5. Jabez Bryant b: 18 Feb 1671/72 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
6. Ruth Bryant b: 16 Aug 1673 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
7. Thomas Bryant b: 15 Jul 1675 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA c: 19 Sep 1675 in Norwell, Plymouth, MA
8. Deborah Bryant b: 22 Jan 1675/76 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
9. Agatha Bryant b: 12 Mar 1677/78 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
10. Anna Bryant b: 28 Nov 1679 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA
11. Elisha Bryant b: 12 Dec 1681 in Scituate, Plymouth Co., MA

Notes

John Bryant, eventually became the head of the line now known as the John Bryant line of Scituate, Massachusetts. Over a period of 45 year, the colony records outline the life of this cantankerous man, whose chief interest seems to have been the colony's legal court.

He made his court debut as a teenager in 1638, charged with drinking inordinately at John Emerson's house. He was released with admonition, but James Till was whipped "for alluring" John to drink. Three years later, 1641, he was in court "for drinking tobacco upon the highway."

Sources

• The New England Bryant Site
• The Bryant Family of Kent County, England and Plymouth, Mass., by Edna Bryant Cole
• Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal ..., Volume 3 By Ellery Bicknell Crane p 11
• The Genealogy of Willian Cullen Bryant by Bud Bryant (1999)
• The New England Historical and Genealogical Register Publication: Boston, MA: New England Historical and Genealogical Society Page: Vol 48, pages 56-53
• Vital Records of Scituate, Plymouth, MA - To the Year 1850, Volume II - Marriages & Deaths
• The New England Historical and Genealogical Register Publication: Boston, MA: New England Historical and Genealogical Society Page: Vol 9, page 313
• A Genealogical Dictionary of The First Settlers of New England, Before 1692, Volume #4 By James Savage
• Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families, Volume 1 (Google eBook) Amos Otis F. B. & F. P. Goss, 1888 - Barnstable (Mass.).  Page 150

Citations

1. Bryant
2. NEHGS
3. The six of them boarded a little ship known as the Handmaid, on August 10, 1630 and two months later, October 29, 1630, they landed in Plymouth Colony. (Cole)
4. NEHGS page 315
5. WILL. WITHERELL of Maidstone schoolmaster and MARY his wife Three children One servant arrived on the ship Hercules in 1634. Savage.
6. Came over from East Greenwich, Kent, England prior to 1633. 1634 at Plymouth, 1637 at Scituate, and removed to Barnstable in 1640. NEHGS, Vol. 2, page 64
7. They lived at Tenterden, England prior the coming New England. First recorded as a proprietor of Scituate, Ma. in 1637, and took the oath of allegeance there on 2/1/1638/39. NEHGS, Vol 66, page 67.
8. Vital Records of Scituate, p. 444