Jesse O'BYRAN - Trying To Help An American Friend

[Cecilia]

An American friend is trying to find her English roots.  Sadly the only thing she knows about her Great Grandfather is that his name was Jesse O'Bryan she thinks he was born about1849.
The spelling O'Bryan is unusual, and I would think he might well have been Irish.
He went to America where he became a fur trapper and married an American Indian.  Sadly they didn't keep written records as such, everything was passed down by word of mouth.
A mammoth task I think, but I did tell her that if anyone could find information it would probably be someone in Rootschat, so if anyone could find any information it would be fantastic.
I keep recommending this site to my friends, and they have all been most impressed.
Thanks in anticipation, but I will understand if it proves impossible with so little to go on.
Cecilia

[MrsLizzy]

I found nothing in the 1851 census, but in the 1861 census there's a Jesse Bryan aged 13, born about 1848 it says, the son of Jesse Bryan and wife Maria.  They're living in Burton on Trent in Staffordshire and there are two sisters too, Emma aged 16 and Caroline aged 11.  Jesse junior is stated to have been born in Derbyshire.

Jesse senior is a 38 year old slater. 

The entry can be found at RG9, Piece 1965, Folio 75, Page 27.  Sorry there's no sign of any O'Bryans at all.  I checked the original image and it's definitely not a mistranscription - it's quite clearly Jesse Bryan.  If these are the right ones and their name is definitely O'Bryan, then it may be that the enumerator wrote the name down wrong and maybe Jesse either couldn't read or didn't notice. 

In 1871 there's a Jesse Bryan who appears to be the same one, still living at home with Jesse senior and Maria but by now they live in King's Norton, Worcestershire.  Both Jesses are slaters, but Jesse junior is stated to be 32, thus born about 1839.  I've checked both images and there's no mistranscription of the ages.  If one is wrong, I suspect it's the second one, as the first one where Jesse is only 13, gives no occupation for him. 

[Josephine]

Cecilia,

Where did he live in the States?  When did he move to the U.S?  When & where did he die?

Do you have him in any of the U.S. census years?

Regards,
Josephine

[pjbuk007]

Yes, any more scraps of information?  I have had a quick trawl and cannot find anyone in the USA census - there are various possibilities but no close matches.

Remember, O'Bryan would often be misheard/mistranscribed as one of the variants, eg O'Brien, as well as Bryan, Briant etc.  If you could place him in the USA at all after he arrived (eg where did he die?) this would help.