Bryant (Bryan, Brian) Ward seems first to appear in Cherokee country about 1745. North Carolina Colonial Records Vol. 4, pg. 766 and 767, 4-15-1745 show Bryan and Edward Ward, Bladen County filing land claims. Pg. 896, 10-11-1748, New Bern Council, grants Edward Ward, 200 acres and Bryan Ward 300 acres. Other records show several papers concerning dealings with Bryan Ward as a trader. One, from the Executive Letter Book, is dated New York, Nay 20, 1787. Another from the same book and under the same date deals with a separate transaction. There are two others from the State Records of North Carolina. One dated Fayetteville, 241h November 1790, and the other is undated. A Georgia Paper lists Bryan Ward as owing 800 dollars per S. Heard's account, 18, June 1780.
#2 Eyewitness to the Battle of Taliwa in 1755 when he met Nancy who was to become his 2nd wife. Bryant was already referred to as the 'Old Trader' for having been in and out of the Cherokee country for almost 10 years at that time.
#3 North Carolina state Records Vol. 20, pg. 701-702 and Vol. 22, pg. 801 and 802 name and identify him by Trade, location, character, wealth, and dates him as aging in 1790.
#4 Military Pay Roll of S. Heard who according to Gen. Chandler's Rev. Records of Ga., Vol. 2, 1778-1785 was inspector of Provisions purchased by all Commissaries and later became President of State Council, place Bryan Ward as an important supplier of material to the Colonial Military.
#5 The Springplace Moravian Mission West:pg. 55 tells that 'Brian Ward had served in the British army during the colonial wars in America. Dar has established that Brian also served on the side of the Americans. He was a descendant of the Irish nobility and was a relative of an officer in the British army, by the name of Ward. When his military service ended, his wife having died in Ireland,' (this was not so, he was separated from her and returned to her after he separated from his second wife Nancy, in the Cherokee nation. Anna is well documented in deed's and his will. He told everyone in the Cherokee Nation he was a Widow, and Married Nancy. Then returned to his Irish wife, who came to America to join him in about 1764.)
'Brian Ward became a trader among the Cherokees, Under a tribal law instituted at an early date, no white man could remain permanently in the Cherokee country and have a protection of the Cherokee Chiefs unless he married into the tribe and made his home in the tribal domain.'
#6 His Last Will and Testimement: gives credence to the separation reunion story. The 900 acre, Franklin County Ga. grant was Bounty granted for Military service. Knight's, Roster of Georgia's Rev. Sol. , Bounty Surveys, Pg. 412, their importance to us is the date of grant 1785, sale 1790 and the will 1815 naming sons Bryant, Samuel and John.
#7 Bryan's only other identified child was Elizabeth Ward dau. of Indian Nancy. John Ward, and Elizabeth, and her husband, Gen. Joseph Martin, were close friends is certified by the fact that the families remained friends in close contact until long after the removal west.
There are over 60 John Ward's listed on ship board passenger lists during the time when John and Anna could have arrived. There are 35 Anna's. As of yet there is no proof to establish that Anna was his 1st wife or just his 3rd wife. There are researchers who believe both.
Bryan was about 95 when he died.