Notes and Links

• m. Laura Battle Verner (1884-1973) of Columbia SC, on June 17, 1904, in Rockingham NC.
• Children:
  • Lewis O'Bryan, Jr.; b. May 21, 1906, Georgetown SC; d. Mar. 14, 1929, New York City, unmarried.
  • William Augustus O'Bryan (1914-1967); b. June 24, 1914, Kissimmee FL.
    • m. Carolyde Izola Phillips (b. Oct. 10, 10, 1915), and had 2 children.
  • Mary Catharine O'Bryan (1916-___?); b. Feb. 21, 1916.
    • m. John "Jack" Goodrich Jennings; and had 3 children.
  • Ada Allen O'Bryan (1920-2001); b. Dec. 25, 1920; d. Apr. 28, 2001, Redmond WA.
    • m. John K. Gewinner; and had 3 children.

Brief Biography:

After his marriage to Laura Battle Verner (1884-1973) in 1904, they settled in Georgetown SC, where their first child was born in 1906, while he was practicing law there.

Three years after the birth of their first child, the family moved to the then booming city of Cleveland Ohio, where they lived briefly in a "tent" (probably temporary housing at a construction site) on the shore of Lake Erie. From there they moved to New York City, where Lewis was a Junior Partner in an NYC law firm for about a year.

In 1911, Lewis and his family moved to Kissimmee FL, where Lewis opened his own law firm, was the attorney for the City Council, and became the Mayor of Kissimmee.

He was elected to the State Legislature and served on the Florida Governor's Staff as America entered the First World War in early 1917. He was instrumental in devising the means of the first national draft for military service.

Lewis died on Dec. 14, 1937 and was buried in the O'Bryan plot in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Kissimmee FL.

Lewis O'Bryan's father, Laurens Burton O'Bryan (1853-1887), was born in Walterboro SC in 1853, and married Ada Byron Allen (1857-1922) on June 25, 1877. Laurens died in 1887, at the age of about 34, after about ten years of marriage.

Ada Byron Allen's paternal granmother was Ann deWees, daughter of Cornelius deWees, whose deWees ancestry is well known back to the late 1500's Holland.

Lewis O'Bryan's paternal grandfather was Lewis O'Bryan, Jr. (1808-1880), a State Senator from the Parish of St. Batholomew in South Carolina. Senator Lewis was born on Aug. 8, 1808 in Colleton District, SC., the son of Lewis O'Bryan (Sr.) and Margaret Gascoigne.

Lewis O'Bryan, Jr. attended schools in Philadelphia and married Eliza Inabinet on May 31, 1835, according to one family record. However, new information suggests that Eliza was born in 1827, and his marriage to her may not have occurred until after 1850, and he may have been her 2nd husband. If this is correct, then her father was James Inabinet (1793-1849), who has a known Inabinet ancestry back to origins in Bern, Switzerland, and her mother was Nancy Anne Moorer (1802-1878), of Orangeburg District SC.

Lewis O'Bryan, Jr. earned his living as a rice planter in "Round O" SC. He was a member of the Southern Rights Commission of 1852, and was elected to the SC State Senate.

Lewis O'Bryan, Jr. died in Walterboro, SC on Aug. 19, 1880. His father, Lewis O'Bryan (1773-1849) is buried in the Island Creek Cemetery in Walterboro SC.

References:

• The Battle Book by Herbert Bremerton Battle, 1923.
• The Verner Genealogy, by Clara Verner Wallace.
• Cornelius deWees of SC, on-line web page, by Judith Presnell Canant.
• deWees genealogy, on-line web page, by Judith Presnell Canant.
• Descendants of Josiah Allen, Sr. , an on-line web page, by AE & Judith P. Canant, Lakeland, FL.
• Inabinet ancestry, an on-line genealogy by Gerald and Tammy Howard Westmoreland
• Correspondence with John Phillips "Flip" Jennings.
• Letters by Mary Catharine (O'Bryan) Jennings.