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Submitted: 12/4/19 • Approved: 12/5/19 • Last Updated: 12/8/19 • R239073-G0-S3
July 29, 1816 - January 1, 1898
NEEDHAM AUTRY DAVID "NAD" BRYANT was born on 29 July 1816 in Moore County, North Carolina to Elisha B. Bryant (1794 - 1864) & Sarah Autry (1798 - 1864).
NAD Bryant moved to Montgomery, Tennessee in 1837 with his brother M. A. Bryant. M. A. was a civil engineer & NAD was a teacher through 1838. In 1839 they went to Arkansas, visiting the famous "fountains of health," the Hot Springs. While in Arkansas, M.A. was employed at Iron Sulphur Springs & NAD continued teaching school on the Sabine River. It soon became known that NAD was licensed to preach the gospel, and the whole colony assembled on Cane Creek, beneath a large brush arbor to hear the sermon of the youthful and earnest "boy preacher." The colony was grateful and requested other sermons, however, he later returned to Tennessee and entered the Methodist Episcopal Church Traveling Ministry.
NAD was first married to Sarah E. Joslin on 24 Dec 1845 in Davidson County, Tennessee, and they had FOUR children of record:
John Clarke Bryant (1847 - 1847),
William Summerfield Bryant (1849 - 1895),
Thomas Lafayette Bryant (1850 - 1896), and
James Hart Bryant (1853 - 1921).
Sarah passed away on 26 May 1854 in Durhamville, Lauderdale Co, Tennessee. NAD was married a second time to Virginia Caroline Ingram on 27 May 1856 in Hardeman Co, Tennessee, and they had FIVE children of record:
Annie E. Taylor (A.E.T) Bryant-Hendricks (1858 - 1887),
Charles Wesley Bryant, Sr. (1859 - 1934),
Mattie McNeill Bryant (1862 - 1863),
Joseph Johnson "John" Bryant (1865 - 1934), and
Sue "Susie" Idella Bryant-Byrd (1869 - 1952).
During the annual conference, NAD was assigned to the North Alabama Circuit, and his first appointment was at Decatur; the seat of wealth and refinement. He disarmed the critics, and made such an impression that he gained a reputation for sincerity and eloquence. Due to his reputation, he was greeted by an enthusiastic and mighty assemblage whenever it became known that he would fill the pulpit. Rev. Bryant was one of the most able and influential ministers of the Methodist Church. He is of so earnest, firm, and yet sympathetic a nature, that he has the power of calling back to the fold the most hardened sinner, of comforting the afflicted, and guiding the young into the paths of truth and morality.
In 1870 Rev. Bryant formally withdrew from the traveling ministry, and became a local minister for Hardeman County, Tennessee. In 1883, he made an extensive tour through Texas, and in 1885, he moved to Texas with his family. Thirteen years later, NAD passed away on 1 January 1898 in Weaver, Hopkins County, Texas, and was buried in the Family Plot at the Pine Forest Methodist Cemetery, Hopkins County, Texas.
*Photo & Biography by Mark Morrow
Contributed on 12/4/19 by ashaw444
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Record #: 239073