Crawford Co., AR - Biographies - Richard T. O'Bryan

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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Richard T. O'Bryan, was born in Smith County, Tex., in 1848, and is a 
son of Arnold and Mary (Shepherd) O'Bryan. The father was born in 
Chatham [p.1181] County, N. C., in 1807, and was a son of William 
O'Bryan, a native of North Carolina, born about 1773. In 1810 he went 
to Wilson County, Tenn., and he died in Hickman County in 1828. He was 
a soldier in the War of 1812, and his father, William O'Bryan, was a 
brother of Daniel Boone's wife, Rebecca. Our subject's grandmother, 
Sophia Thomason O'Bryan, was born in North Carolina, and died in Maury 
County, Tenn., in 1816. She was the mother of six children, of whom 
Arnold O'Bryan was the second. He went with his parents to Tennessee 
when three years old, and was reared in Maury County, ten miles south 
of Columbia. In 1833 he left Tennessee, and came to Arkansas by boat 
and on horseback. He located in Crawford County, and was engaged by 
the Government to deal corn and beef to the Indians the first winter, 
and in the winter of 1834 to deal rations to the Cherokee and Creek 
Indians. July 6, 1837, he married Elizabeth Shepherd, who was born in 
Fluvanna County, Va., in 1820, and bore him eight children: Elizabeth 
Ann, died in 1855, aged seventeen; William D., accidentally drowned in 
Lee's Creek in 1858, aged eighteen; James A.; Mary Ellen, wife of 
George Yount; Richard T., John C., Robert S., and Sarah C., wife of 
Thomas R. Daniel, of Van Buren. After his marriage he farmed for seven 
years near Rudy Station, and then went to Fannin County, Tex. In 1846 
he moved to Smith County, and in 1851 located near Sugar Loaf 
Mountain. Sebastian County. In 1853 he settled near the county seat of 
Crawford County, where he owned about 500 acres. He is one of the 
pioneer settlers of the county; for two years served as deputy 
sheriff, and in 1837 as constable. He lost his wife January 12, 1886, 
and now lives in Logtown. August 14, 1834, he was commissioned by Gov. 
John Pope captain of the militia of a Crawford County regiment, being 
the first man appointed to that position. He is a Republican, cast his 
first presidential vote for Jackson, and his wife was a member of the 
Christian Church thirty years. Our subject made his home with his 
father upon the farm until of age. In June, 1870, he married Miss Ann 
E. Williams, a native of Texas, who died in 1872. The next year he 
married Addie T. Hanson, who was born in this county, and is the 
mother of two children: Nettie and Bulila. Mr. O'Bryan is a well-to-do 
citizen of Van Buren Township. He has eighty acres of land, and is 
engaged in the grocery and liquor business in Logtown, which business 
he has conducted three years. He is a Republican, and for two years 
was marshal of Van Buren. His wife is a member of the Christian 
Church. 

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