Bryan Bruin was born in about 1719 in Ireland, likely in Tir Bruiun of County Roscommon. His parents have not been identified. Bryan Bruin immigrated to the Pennsylvania Colony at Philadelphia in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and perhaps earlier. He migrated from Pennsylvania to Fredrick County, Virginia before 4 Jul 1755, having spent sufficient time in Philadelphia to establish contacts with merchants and financial institutions that would later supply his business on the Virginia frontier.

On 4 Jul 1755, Bryan Bruin received 400 acres of land “adjoining Jacob Hites patent land on the branches of Opedkon” as a grant from Lord Fairfax. Lord Fairfax would grant substantial land to Bryan Bruin in a number of tracts. This grant was among the earliest.

Before 1756, Bryan Bruin and Elizabeth Humphreys married in Frederick County, Virginia. At their marriage, Bryan was about 38 years of age, and Elizabeth Humphreys was about age 24 years. Elizabeth was very likely a daughter of Ralph Humphreys and Hannah Humphreys (Walker) of Frederick County. In 1756, a son, Peter Bryan Bruin, was born to Elizabeth and Bryan Bruin at Winchester in Frederick County, Virginia. Peter B. Bruin was the only known child of Bryan and Elizabeth Bruin.

On 1 May 1757, Bryan Bruin and his wife Elizabeth Bruin (Humphreys) witnessed the Will of Terrill Riley in Frederick County, Virginia.

On 17 June 1758, Bryan Bruin "received of George Washington, Esq. five pounds and ten shillings Virginia currency for rent of my house as a hospital for the Virginia troops." James Craik, who was Washington's personal physician as well as the surgeon at Fort Loudoun at Winchester, certified the receipt.

On 4 May 1760, Bryan Bruin acquired one-half acre of land in the town of Stephens City of Frederick County, Virginia for 10 pounds current money of Virginia.

Bryan Bruin appeared on a Frederick County, Virginia tax list submitted by Mr. Nelson to Thomas Caton on 2 Jan 1762. Bryan Bruin owed 140 pounds of tobacco in taxes.

On 13 Jul 1762, Bryan Bruin acquired 247 acres on the Old Waggon Road and Little Cacapehon. George Washington surveyed this land on the Little Cacapon River for Isaiah Phipps on 23 Apr 1751.

Between 6 Jan - 21 May 1763, Bryan Bruin acquired 1,543 acres of land by grants from Lord Fairfax. With the exception of 278 acres in Frederick County, all of this land was in Hampshire County, Virginia.

On 3 Oct 1770, Bryan Bruin acquired land in Frederick County, Virginia formerly know as Captain James Ball's Horsepen Tract, excepting the dwelling of David Barton. from Elias Edmonds and Elizabeth Edmonds (Miller)

On 17 Dec 1788, at Natchez, Bryan Bruin witnessed a deed by Phoebe Goodwin to Henry Manadue for 600 arpents on Cypress Swamp.

On 14 May 1790, Bryan Bruin witnessed the signing of a treaty between the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indian Nations and the Spanish at the Savior of the World Parochial Church of the Fort at Natchez.

On 11 May 1796, Bryan Bruin appeared before Father Isidro Quintero at Natchez, Mississippi, and testified in proceedings against Father Gregory White, pastor of Colescreek, because of the immoderate use of liquor. The proceedings were conducted in Spanish, and Conrado Herold interpreted for Bryan Bruin. Bryan Bruin said that he had seen White drunk and in bed, that he had not seen him drinking except at the table a few times, if he drank to excess it was outside as he could declare since he lived at the rectory with White. Bruin was Irish, a widower and a Catholic and was 77 years of age.

Notes and Comments

On 11 May 1796, Bryan Bruin stated his age as 77 years in testimony regarding incidents occurring at the Catholic Church Rectory in Natchez, Mississippi. This statement is the primary evidence for estimating his date of birth as 1723.

Sources

Hofstra, W. R. A parcel of barbarian's and an uncouth set of people: Settlers and settlements of the Shenandoah Valley. Pages 87-114 In Hofstra, W. R. (Ed.) George Washington and the Virginia Backcountry. Madison House, Madison, Wisconsin, 1998.

King, J. Estelle Stewart. Abstracts of Wills, Inventories, and Administrations Accounts of Frederick County, Virginia. 1743-1800, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1982.

Virginia Colonial Land Office Patents, 1623-1774. Virginia State Land Office. Northern Neck Grants H, Page 648, Reel 293.

14 Mar 1765 Pennsylvania Gazette of Philadelphia.
To be sold, 323 Acres of land, on the South Branch of Potomack, in Hampshire County, Virginia, joining Lines with Romney, the County Town. There is a Fort on the Premises, and some other Improvements; about 80 Acres of clear Land; the Soil very rich. For Terms apply to Bryan Bruin, in Winchester, or Joe Pearsall, living on the Premises aforesaid, who will shew the same. (Source: University of Virginia Libraries, Electronic Text Center)

On 5 Aug 1770, Bryan Bruin of Frederick County, Virginia purchased from Ralph Humphreys of Hampshire County, Virginia for the sum of 5 shillings Lot 19 containing one-half acre with all its houses, buildings, orchards, gardens, meadows, ways, paths, water course, profits, commodities, hereditaments and appurtenances, lying on Loudoun Street in the town of Winchester, Virginia, also Lot 45 containing 5 acres with all its appurtenances, they being part of a larger tract once containing 499 acres known as "Commons" for the town of Winchester, Virginia, granted to the town by Lord Thomas Fairfax to John Humphreys (eldest son of Ralph Humphreys deceased) on 15 May 1753 he conveyed it to said Ralph Humphreys, signed by Ralph Humphreys, received by James Keith, County Clerk. The deed was recorded on 7 Aug 1770. (Source: Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book 13; Page 401)

On Page 402 of Deed Book 13, a near identical deed is recorded; however, for 300 pounds instead of 5 shillings.

Formerly Captain James Ball's Horsepen Tract, excepting the dwellingof David Barton. Acquire from Elias Edmonds and Elizabeth Edmonds (Miller).

Bryan Bruin appears on the 1783 tax list for Donegal Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. He was assessed tax on 400 acres of land. Ohio County, Virginia bordered Donegal Township on the west, and this property was in the vicinity of other land Bryan Bruin owned in northernmost Virginia (West Virginia).

Indenture between Joseph Darlington of Adams County, Territory of U.S. Northwest of the Ohio by Peter Bryan Bruin, Esq. of the County of Pickering in the Mississippi Territory, his attorney on the one part, for $855.05 for 500 acres of land. Signed in the presence of William Scott, William Atchison, Bryan Bruin. William Scott, one of the justices of Pickering County.

Land

On 4 Jul 1744, Lord Fairfax granted Bryan Bruin 400 acres adjoining Jacob Hites patent land on the branches of Opedkon. Lord Fairfax granted substantial land to Bryan Bruin in a number of tracts. This grant is among the earliest identified.

Petition to the Spanish Governor of Louisiana
Bryan Bruin and Peter Bryan Bruin
31 Mar 1787

On 31 Mar 1787, Brian Bruin petitioned the Spanish Governor of Louisiana to permit settlement:

Señor Governor: Bryan Bruin, in his name and that of Peter Bryan Bruin, his son, and his family, and of Raphael Humphreys, Michael Reilly, William Glisson, Michael McKiernan, Lawrence McKiernan, Patrick O'Farrel, Patrick Tirnan, James Murphy, Francis Taggirt, Patrick Kernan, and their families, has the honor to represent to your Lordship that they desire to come from the province of Virginia to establish themselves under the government of your Lordship, in any part of this province on the Mississippi River that you may judge to be most suitable.

The only and principal reason which impels the petitioners to take this step is that they profess the Apostolic Roman Catholic Religion, but have not the free use of it by the Constitution of the United States. They therefore desire to live in a country like this, in which, besides the peace and quiet which all its inhabitants enjoy, they may without fear or suspicion exercise the acts of the religion in which their fathers brought them up, at the same time conducting themselves properly in the shelter of the wise laws of Spain.

In order to accomplish it with the permission of your Lordship they beg you to permit them to bring with them all the utensils and tools necessary for farming, carts, wagons, wheelbarrows, saddles, millstones, both large and for hand use, clothing, beds, and house furniture, nails, locks, hinges, hooks, bolts for the doors of houses for the use of families. They also wish to bring provisions for twelve months for each white or black person, including flour and a sufficient quantity of rum, brandy, or other spirits for the daily provision of each person, consisting of half a pint for each individual, together with the necessary quantity of salt, sugar, coffee, chocolate, pepper, mustard, and vinegar for the said year, with every species of seed for gardens, and habitations. They need to bring the arms necessary for hunting, fish-hooks, nets, and fishing tackle, as well as a sufficient number of horses, stallions, and mares to establish the breeding of saddle and draft horses, some sheep, rams and ewes, all their negroes, male and female, whether they come by sea or down the Ohio.

They beg your Lordship also to let them know how many acres of land you can give them for each family in any one of the following places: Bayou Pierre, Houma Chita, Thompson's Creek, Baton Rouge, Barrancas Blancas, or in the neighborhood of Manchak. Under these conditions they petition your Lordship for permission to establish themselves under the laws of the Spanish Government, and to enjoy the said administration of your Lordship, for whose life they will pray incessantly to the Most High.

New Orleans, March 31, 1787
Bryan Bruin

New Orleans, April 20, 1787

I grant permission to the Catholic families above-mentioned to come to establish themselves in this province in any of the places designated, which they may find vacant, where I grant to each family twenty arpents fronting on the banks of any creek or the Mississippi, with forty arpents in depth, reserving to myself the concession of a second forty arpents when they have sufficiently proved that they will establish themselves on the first. In regard to the utensils and other goods which they mention, they may bring them on condition of not making them an object of trade, and of employing them solely for their own use. In the matter of sugar and brandy they will take care not to bring a greater quantity than that which is necessary for their journey, in view of the fact that the introduction of these articles from foreign colonies is prohibited.

Estevan Miro.

(Source: Kinnaird, L. American penetration into Spanish Louisiana. In Bolton, Herbert Eugene (Ed). New Spain and the Anglo-American West: Historical Contributions. Los Angeles: Lancaster Press, 1932.)

"Five or six retailers were operating stores in Winchester by 1757. The most prominent merchants in Frederick County, however, between the French and Indian War and the out-break of the Revolution were three individuals, Bryan Bruin, Philip Bush, and his brother Daniel, all of whom had left Philadelphia for Winchester about 1756, and acquired lots and stores there and in the newly chartered town of Stephensburg. At the same time, they retained their links with Philadelphia and were instrumental in involving Philadelphia dry goods firms in the Virginia backcountry. Bruin used his lots in Winchester and his rural holdings in Frederick and Hampshire Counties to develop a line of credit with the Philadelphia firms of Owen Jones and Jones and Wister. Retail trade in the back country was organized locally, in contrast to tobacco-producing areas, where the consignment system in the Tidewater and the factor-store system on the Piedmont were controlled by British mercantile firms. This meant that back country communities eventually exerted greater control over their trading practices and patterns while relying on the generous credit of wholesalers in port cities from Philadelphia to Richmond. Local, rural, and urban real estate was used as collateral in acquiring favorable credit terms. Winchester's most prominent merchants, Bryan Bruin and the Bush brothers, incurred much larger debts with a number of merchants in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Fredericksburg. In the process of credit extension achieved was the primacy of Winchester as the preeminent trading center for the entire northern section of the Virginia backcountry."

Source: Hofstra, William R., George Washington and the Virginia Backcountry, William R. Hofstra (Ed.), Madison House, Madison, Wisconsin, 1998, 87-114, “A parcel of barbarian's and an uncouthset of people: Settlers and settlements of the Shenandoah Valley.”