Andrew Jackson Bryan and Mary Jane Boyett Family

Andrew Jackson was born on 27 Dec 1857 to Jesse Oliver Bryan and Sara Ann 
Boyett in the Rose Hill community of Covington County, Alabama. Few details 
are known of his early life during the Civil War and reconstruction years. Andrew 
went with his family to Texas in the 1876-1878 time frame.  In 1880, he was back 
in Covington County and married Mary Jane Boyett.  Andrew and Mary Jane 
were living with her father’s family when the 1880 census was taken.  

In 1883, Andrew built a log house, approximately 16 by 22 feet in size, on 160 
acres of land located about nine miles north of Opp and five miles SE of Rose 
Hill.  Good Springs Creek runs through the property and provided the power to 
operate the grist mill he built and operated there.  The mill continued to operate 
well after 1900. Remains of the dam and the millpond are still visible in 2000.  He 
filed a homestead application in which he stated that he had cleared about 10 
acres for cultivation and grew corn, peas, collards, potatoes, sugar cane and 
vegetables. He had also built a smoke house, corn crib and stable and owned a 
horse, two cows and eleven hogs by 1888. He was granted homestead patent 
number 7559 on the property in 1891.

In addition to farming and operating the grist mill, Andrew also bought and sold 
several parcels of property in the vicinity of his home.  

Andrew and Mary Jane were the parents of five children:

1. Arthur Lee, called Lee, was born July, 1881, died May, 1959.  He married 
Martha G. Balkom.
2. Jesse Oscar, called Oscar, was born 16 July, 1883, died 17 February, 1970.  
He married Sarah Eleanor King who was known as Sadie.
3. William George, called Will, was born 23 February, 1886, died 24 May 1968.  
He married Stella V. Henderson.
4. Fannie, born 5 August, 1888, died 29 November, 1963.  She married Harvey 
Balkom, the brother of Martha.
5. Emma, born 2 February, 1892, died 23 March, 1976.  She married Henry 
Melton Cannon.

Andrew had a twin brother named George Washington who moved to Greenville 
in Butler County, Alabama.  He was killed there in the line of duty as a deputy 
sheriff in 1904.

Andrew was described as a slender man who wore a handlebar moustache, just 
under six feet tall with a florid complexion.  One grandson described him as “red 
as a tomater.”  He loved to laugh and loved children. 


In 1895, Andrew and Mary Jane and their five children left Covington County and 
moved to near Portland in south Walton County, Florida.  The lumber industry 
was flourishing in that area and offered the promise of a better life.  They 
remained in the Walton/Okaloosa County area until death. 

Andrew died 4 Oct 1937 and is buried at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, DeFuniak 
Springs, Florida.  Mary Jane died 21 Oct 1946 and is buried beside her husband. 

Sources:  US Census, Tombstone inscriptions, Bureau of Land Management 
Records, Covington County Land Records, interviews and and personal 
knowledge of the writer.


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