Answers=Questions

Here's the obituary of Sam Bryant as published on July 4, 1951, in the Corpus Christi Caller.

Before I read the obituary, here's what I knew about Sam Bryant: he was the son of Guy and Maria Bryant (see 1900 census, Aransas county, Texas). His siblings were named Mandy, Hattie [my great-grandmother], Aldelia, Thomas, Ada, Pearl, Monroe, and a half-brother, Isaac Pane. (see 1900 & 1910 censuses, Aransas County, Texas). His draft card from World war I gives his birth date as March 2, 1881. Aransas County records compiled online indicate that his parents weren't married until June 28, 1882 (their surname is rendered as "Bryan" in these records).

Sam married a woman named Ida [who I actually met in 1962], and they had a son named Oscar, born in 1905 (see 1920 census, Aransas County, Texas). Curiously, no mention is made in the obituary of Oscar. According to the Social Security Administration, an Oscar Bryant born in 1905 died in Brazos County, Texas, in 1976.

The mention of the surviving siblings is particularly interesting. I know that Sam's sister Hattie died in 1944. Family legend holds that Monroe had wanderlust and spent time outside Texas. He died in Sacramento in 1953. I don't know what became of the others, except Pearl. As far as I know, Pearl Bryant married Eddie G. Richardson in 1916 (see volume 3, Aransas County Marriage Records). They had four children, the youngest of whom was born inn 1924. The surname "Pullam" is unfamiliar to me from family lore. I do know that Pearl lived in Taft, San Patricio County, Texas, for awhile. I visited her there in 1962 at the cafe she owned.




I went looking for "Pearl Pullam" in the available records to no success. But I did find a fair number of Pullams in Aransas, Nueces, San Patricio, Kleberg, and Goliad counties, all of which are more or less adjacent to each other in south Texas.


So as often happens in genealogy, the answers to some questions just lead to more questions.



Pearl Bryant Richardson? or Pearl Bryant Pullam?