Evelyn is married into the Bryan family. Her husband, Ira Bryan, has a family connection to the Hillsgrove area. Their ancestral home as she understands it was up Elk Creek on the way to Hoagland's Run, where the Baseball Camp's playing fields were located in 2008. Many of the Bryan family ancestors are buried in the Bryan Cemetery and an old handwritten map is revealing in this regard. Let's hear directly from Evelyn as she describes her first efforts to locate the Bryan Cemetery:

The Bryan Cemetery Sketch
Forks Township, PA
Created by Myrtle Bryan Blanchard
About 1968
Photo Contributed by Evelyn McCarty Bryan

The map sketch shown above was produced from memory by Myrtle (Bryan) Blanchard. Born May 31, 1895 in or near Elkland, PA, she was the daughter of Charles ("Charley") and Emma Jane (Leibold) Bryan; she died in September 1977 in Madison County, NY. Myrtle had a brother named Arthur Bryan, three years older than her. On February, 1918, she married Corporal Melvin Dannelley, son of William Dannelley and Nancy ______ (see notice below). He was on military duty and posted to Fort Hancock, NJ at the time of their marriage in Elmira Heights, NY. Melvin was born June 01, 1893, most likely in Troy, PA, and died June 1971 in Florida. She then married (2) James Lyon Blanchard, son of James Blanchard and Kerzel Wamsley. He was born November 25, 1898, and died in October 1969, and appears to have been previously married as well. Myrtle had five known children from her first marriage, and three from her second. Myrtle May Bryan should not be confused with Mertie Jo Bryan (b. May 28, 1876 and d. 1956). She was married to the Rev. Stewart Engler, per Evelyn Bryan, our contributor, and was the daughter of Benjamin Huckell Bryan and Philena Arvilla (Little) Bryan, whom we discuss at length further down this page.

To understand this map and therefore make some sense of the cemetery layout, we first have to realize that the cemetery rests on the original old Bryan homestead near the Loyalsock Creek two miles outside of Forksville, PA. Ira is a descendant of Samuel Bryan (1762-1841) and his first wife, "Miss" McCarty [likely carrying the birth name of Elizabeth and a descendant of Silas McCarty]. The McCarty family came to then Lycoming, and later Sullivan, County from Bucks County, PA to the south. Silas, the presumed father of Miss McCarty never left Bucks County. His grandsons, Benjamin, Isaac, William and Silas [all sons of Benjamin McCarty], actually first came to the Muncy area of Lycoming County in the 1780's. Benjamin's brother Thomas, another son of Silas, came a bit later. Then, Joel McCarty, son of Thomas, first came to what is now Sullivan County in the early 1800s. But they aren't the subject here; the Bryans are. "Miss" McCarty, wife of Samuel Bryan, died between 1808 and 1815.

The original settler ancestor, Samuel, and his first wife, Miss (Elizabeth ?) McCarty, are buried at the Bryan Cemetery, which is the subject of this page. Several of their inlaws, children and descendants are also buried here, since they stayed in proximity to where Samuel first settled.

So, let's turn first to the details of the handwritten sketch pictured above. Imagine the sketch has been rotated 90 degrees to the left so that Myrtle's notes are upright; that is the orientation from which the following comments are made. Myrtle wrote all over the sketch and we have to work hard to make out what she wrote and, in some cases, what she may have intended. On the right hand side of the rotted sketch, she noted:

Let's look at the individuals listed as actually being buried at this cemetery and what we can make of these confusing entries at the top of the rotated sketch:

That is what Myrtle wrote in 1968. This evidence and whatever we can find in the census or other historical records is all we have to go on in reconstructing this family and its homestead cemetery plot identifications--i.e., the Bryan Cemetery. Myrtle made a few other comments as well. One comment in the left hand margin of the rotated sketch states that her grandfather was born in 1826, but that, other than him, there were "more" children from the second marriage of Samuel Bryan to Catherine Hinkle Osler, who had "6 or 8" of her own [this sum is debatable as we will discuss below]. The children of Samuel and Catherine were therefore, as she points out correctly, half siblings of the children of Samuel and his first wife, Elizabeth ["4 of them", she reports]. Myrtle also attached a note at the bottom of the rotated sketch, partially legible, where she notes that her grandparents, Albert and Elizabeth (Campbell) Bryan, are not buried in this plot. They left the farm to her father, Charley Bryan, after most of his four children were born there. Instead, they are buried at the Fergerson Cemetery at Ferguson Tree Farm, Upper Fairfield Township, Lycoming County, PA, per a separate history entitled "Descendants of Albert Bryan" provided to us by Evelyn McCarty Bryan. That listing reads as follows:

Just looking at this listing, one has to wonder if the three children listed there as dying in 1882 may not be the same three children who died at the Bryan homestead. These could just be markers in honor of those children. After all, Catherine Ann (Bryan) Norton, just as was the case with Margaret (Bryan) Black, was a full sister of Albert Bryan. As for the other two listings here, we just don't know who "Lizzie" and the "Infant" are related to at this time.

Returning once more to the Norton-Bryan connection, we also know that Samuel and Catherine (Bryan) Norton are buried at the Bear Mountain Cemetery near Estella Township, Sullivan County, PA. They share a stone there. Samuel died February 7, 1899, aged 86 years, 11 months and 16 days. Catherine died February 6, 1887, aged 73 years and 6 days.

Let's take a moment also to address the Osler connection to Samuel Bryant's second wife, Catherine (Hinkle, by birth). According to the History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, by John F. Meginness (1892):

Here is a second quotation from Meginness with respect to the Bryan family:

Evelyn also mentioned Samuel L. Bryan (b. 1839, d. 1902), son of Joseph and Joanna (Wetheral) Bryan, and his wife, Rebecca C. Bryan *, (b. 1845) being buried in Forksville, presumably at Fairmount Cemetery. She says that she has seen their graves there. If they are buried there, they don't show up on the transcription currently listed for that cemetery. Perhaps they are buried at Bryan Cementery, and this is the "second" Samuel and wife who seems to be shown on the top row of the rotated sketch. We just do not know. Samuel L. Bryan, a veteran of the Civil War [Co. C, 12th Regmt, PA Vols] would have been the youngest child of Samuel and Catherine (Hinkle) Osler Bryan.
This "Samuel" also may have had a first wife named "Elizabeth", since that is how his wife is named in the Federal census for 1870 and 1880 for Elkland, PA. But, the 1900 Federal census for Forks Township, PA lists "Rebecka", born in 1845. We don't know if this is the same person under different names or not, at this time.

As we indicated earlier, Ira Bryan was a descendant of Benjamin Huckell Bryan of Elk Creek. Benjamin was Ira's grandfather. What do we know about these 'Bryans'? We are indebted to Larry Pardoe for much of the following background information. First, we know that they are descendants of Samuel and Elizabeth [?] (McCarty) Bryan. Their fourth known child, Joseph Bryan (1805-1877), married Joanna Wetheral (1815-1896) on October 16, 1834, per the Docket of E. J. Eldred *, Esq. It was this couple that first resided on the property shown below where Benjamin Huckell Bryan and his family eventually lived. Joseph had several children, including Benjamin and his younger brother Lawson, who both served in the Civil War.
* Note: The Docket lists her name as "Anna Walderaldo" of Elkland, but spelling was not a great strength of records kept in the Docket.

Lawson Bryan died in Andersonville Prison, GA, as a prisoner during the Civil War. His mother later applied for his pension. In that pension, it is reported that Lawson helped support his family or origin while he was serving in the Army. She was able to obtain support for herself and her four children at home as a result, since the father, according to Evelyn McCarty Bryan, was not very responsible. There is another mysery related to this family and that is how Benjamin came to have the middle name Huckell, which is the surname of a prominent Hillsgrove area family in the 19th century. We are not sure why at this time. There were certainly Huckell neighbors not far away, and Lawson actually provided labor for a Huckell employer before the War borke out. The 1872 topographical map shown below has several place indicators on it for homes and enterprises. For example, "B. Huckle"'s home is located on a road just south of Hillsgrove and slightly south of where the Loyalsock Creek takes a bend after going through Hillsgrove. The map also shows a "B. Huckell S.M." (presumably, a saw mill), further south of Hillsgrove along the Loyalsock Creek near the bend before it heads west and into Lycoming County. At the same time, as to Benjamin Huckell Bryan's home, if you look north of Hillsgrove and follow the Loyalsock where if comes in from the northeast from Forksville near the Bear Mountain area, you will notice Elk Creek that apparently empties into the Loyalsock at this split. On the west side of Elk Creek is marked "B. Bryant". This would have been Benjamin Huckell Bryan's home.

Benjamin Huckell lived in the Plunketts Creek area where Joseph Bryan also lived, before both came to Hillsgrove. We know that the Bryans and Huckells were related to each, as indicated below, from that earlier existence. The extended Huckell, Bryan, Lewis, Rogers and Snell families, among many others, were interrelated by marriage and descent in the Hillsgrove area. You can learn more about these relationships at Settlers Page XIV, which contains a section on the Huckell family.

Let's recast what we know about the Huckell and Bryan families and their prior relatonship. Thomas Huckell, who married Sarah Ann Lambert, came to America and settled first in Northumberland County at the end of the eighteenth century. This couple had a son named BENJAMIN who died in England. Yet another son, John Huckell, who was born in England and came to America with his parents, married Ellen Little. As you may recall, Benjamin Huckell Bryan married Philena Little. In turn, John and Ellen (Little) Huckell also had a son named BENJAMIN who died young. John and Ellen were also the parents of Reverend Daniel Thomas Huckell (1833-1896), a prominent figure in Sullivan County history. Rev. Huckell married Catherine M. Fleming (nee Osler), the widow of Daniel Fleming, who died in the Civil War. Catherine's parents were John H. and Jane (Myers) Osler. John H. Osler's biological father, Jeremiah Osler, was killed in the War of 1812, after which his mother, Catherine (Hinkle) Osler, remarried to SAMUEL BRYAN. There is a biographical sketch of the Osler family reproduced below. The import of this summary is that plenty of family history lay behind the decision by Joseph and Joanna (Wetheral) Bryan to name their son Benjamin HUCKELL Bryan.

You undoubtedly noticed the Little family connections to both the Huckells and Bryans as well. Larry Pardoe commented in October 2010 as follows:

You can learn more about the Littles at The Little Family: An American Odyssey.

The Benjamin Huckell Bryan Homestead
Elk Creek
Near Hillsgrove, PA
About 1890-1892

The adults in this photo are Benjamin Huckell Bryan, about age 52, and Philena Arvilla (Little) Bryan, about age 39.
The identities of the children depend on which child is actually Benjamin Franklin Bryan, born April 25, 1890. That appears to be the child behind the dog. Even though this child seems to be dressed in female clothing, it was not uncommon for male infants and toddlers in those days to be dressed in "female" clothing. Any way, the photo has to be prior to April 14, 1894 when the father died. If we are right about Benjamin Franklin, the children, l to r, would be:
Ira L. Bryan, b. abt 1877 about age 15; Joseph F. Bryan, b. 1873 about age 19; Benjamin Franklin Bryan, b. 1890, about age 2; Hattie Bryan, b. about 1888, about age 4; and Elsie Minerva Bryan, b. 1884, about age 10. Missing from the photo would be three daughters: Myra b. 1872, Mertie, b. 1876 and Eliza E., b about 1879. If the child behind the dog is not Benjamin Franklin, then the photo must have been taken about 1890 just before or after Benjamin Franklin was born. Then the child behind the dog would be Hattie, the next child would be Elsie and the final child would be Eliza E. Bryan, b. about 1879, age about 11.