This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/5R.2ADI/921.3 Message Board Post: Baptism records in the Church of the French Refugees at Manakintown in the Parish of King William, Virginia show Lazarus John Bryars born September 12, 1739 to parents, Edward and Sarah Bryars. A brother's birth, Jean, is recorded on July 9, 1731. It is known that there were numerous other children, but those birth recordings have not been found. This Lazarus John Bryars had to be the father of the Lazarus John Bryars that came to Baldwin County, Mississippi Territory around 1800. Family stories state that he came from Charleston, South Carolina on horseback, carrying a blacksmith's anvil. Another story says that he and a friend named "Smith" came to the area first around 1796 to do a survey for the federal government. Around 1800, Lazarus brought his two motherless sons, Lazarus, Jr. and Charles, whose mother was a "Sizemore," with him. He remarried and had two other boys, Ethelbert and Stephen. His second wife died and on October 4, 1816, he married Mary Smith in Mobile County. They had two sons, Green Berry and Red Berry. Lazarus was appointed Justice of the Peace in Baldwin County, Mississippi Terrtory on December 27, 1809. He is listed in the 1810 census of Baldwin County with a family of 6 and 3 slaves. He was commissioned as Captain in the Baldwin County 8th Regiment (militia), Mississippi Territory on April 9, 1810. After the August 30, 1813 massacre at Ft. Mims, where Creek Indians killed over 550 people, he filed a claim to the federal government for losses of livestock and personal belongings to marauding indians. Ethelbert Bryars was named administrtor of his father's estate on October 24, 1832. Charles was appointed guardian for Red Berry Bryars, "a minor heir of Lazarus J. Bryars, deceased."