The Brisson-Guyton cabin at Harmony Hall Plantation
White Oak, NC
Photo by J Scott Brisson
The Evidence Timeline
From tax records, census reports, publications, and one sweet letter, we've pieced together some of Huldah's story. With so little to go on, and the discoveries lacking both order and context, interpretations of the evidence varied substantially. The brick wall was quite stubborn.
1. The 1763 Tax Records
John Russ, Sr. and Mary Russ are included (separately) on the 1763 Bladen County, North Carolina Tax List. Are they Huldah Russ Brisson’s parents? The extended Russ family were gradually migrating north from the Charleston area around this time, but the names of their children are not given. No one has been able to establish Huldah's connection to the three Russ brothers; John, Thomas, and Jonadab who migrated to Bladen County.His brothers' stories are told by June M. Gardner in her book The Sojourners, available on Amazon or at the Bladen County Historical Museum.
To research, click the image at right for NC tax website.
2. The 1802 Letter
The portrait at right is Mary Calloway Brisson, beautiful bride of Joseph Guyton.
She was the daughter of Civil War soldier Anthony Brisson, Jr,
granddaughter of Anthony D. Brisson,
great-granddaughter of Huldah Russ.
I like to think they resembled each other.
According to Joseph's great-grandson Larry Guyton, the young couple bought 450 acres from the descendants of Dr. Neil Graham in 1898. Dr. Graham had built a house on the property around 1827, and his practice was located about a mile away at White Hall Landing, a ferry crossing on the Cape Fear River. There was also a general store, a school house, and a post office at the landing. Once they settled in, Joseph built a small saw mill and the couple made their living farming corn and tobacco, raising hogs, and logging on the Cape Fear.
Generations later in 1985, Larry purchased that home from another descendant. He went through the old belongings; a spinning wheel that belonged to Mary's mother Nancy, portraits of the young married couple, a trunk filled with old documents saved by Mary Calloway Brisson. Among these documents was a mysterious letter written by her grandfather to his mother, Huldah Russ Brisson.
Below is a photo and transcript.
Mr. John Russ 141/2
Barfields Mills on the River Pee Dee, South Carolina
Waltham August 30, 1802
Dear Mother and Sister,
I received your kind letter on the 29 of August which gave me infinite satisfaction and which dispelled those clouds of anxiety which made me unhappy. It has excited such emotions as are experienced only by those who have a knowledge of a Parents and Sisters welfare so near and dear to them. I now experience a pleasure I never felt before in hearing from a Grand Parent and other near relatives whom I never knew in their society. I think you must be happy.
What a journey you have undertaken. What dangers you have surmounted in finding the friends of your youth to introduce to them your fatherless children.
I remain in the same place where you left me at the S. and agreeable to your commands I shall stay there and in the neighborhood till I again hear from you. I enjoy very good health and that yours may be continued is the prayer of your obedient son.
Anthony Brisson
P.S. Your friends are all happy to hear of your safe arrival and tender their love to you with wishes for your health and prosperity.
3. The 1850 and 1860 Census Reports
Huldah's son Anthony, who wrote the letter in 1802, began appearing in Bladen County census reports beginning in 1810 and every decade thereafter until his death.
It is intriguing that two consecutive Bladen County censuses reported differing birthplaces for Anthony. The 1850 census gives Massachusetts; the 1860 census indicates France. We found it understandable that Civil War loyalties would frown on those born in a northern state, but both reports ultimately proved erroneous. Perhaps 13-year-old Elendar Brisson, who was living with and perhaps caring for her aunt and uncle in 1860, misreported his birthplace. Did she not know the truth, or were they hiding something?
4. The 1862 Medical Record
Also discovered in Mary Calloway Brisson's home was an accounting of medicines charged to her father's account in 1862, three years before the end of the Civil War. Mary's father was Anthony Brisson, Jr, a senior reserve private. An expert on his service is our cousin Donald Kinlaw, a trusted contributor to the research.
5. The 1885 Newspaper Articles
Two decades later, world news organizations reported a story that changed the entire narrative. Henri Brisson, the President of the French Chamber of Deputies, took over as prime minister of France following a highly publicized scandal in the French government.
A local newspaper publisher recognized that Henri's family name precisely matched that of its local citizens. The Bladen Bulletin's Robert Henry Lyon, an attorney, must have done some investigating. The 1840 census at right shows that Lyon lived in the same tax district as Anthony D. Brisson. The article gives us Huldah's father's name: John Russ, and contains the first and only suggestion that her husband was a ship captain.
This article piqued the interest of a state newspaper called Raleigh Weekly Register, which republished it as a human interest story.
For more information on Prime Minister Brisson, see The Other Bourges Brissons tab, and fact-check both articles at newspapers.com.
THE BLADEN BULLETIN
Picked up and reprinted in the
RALEIGH WEEKLY REGISTER
Bladen and France: How Small a World We Inhabit
22 July 1885
Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, John Russ, who was a merchant doing business in Elizabethtown, went to Wilmington for the purpose of buying goods to replenish his stock. Wilmington was at that time a small town with only a few hundred inhabitants, and did not then have brokers, factors, banks and commission merchants from whom money could be borrowed or advances on goods obtained, and consequently when anyone sold anything to another they had to receive the money directly from the party to whom they had made the sale. Russ met in Wilmington a young Frenchman who was a captain of, and in charge of a schooner or vessel of some sort, which had brought into the port of Wilmington laden with goods and merchandise of various sorts, and finding it difficult to sell all of them, he proposed to sell to Mr. Russ the whole of what he then had at a reduced price. This offer Mr. Russ accepted, but because of the want of business facilities, it was necessary for Russ to come home to get the money – he having gone down in a rowboat laden with corn, and, as a matter of politeness as well as convenience to Russ, he invited the Frenchman home with him, which invitation was accepted.
Arriving at Elizabethtown, the home of Mr. Russ, Capt. Brisson, for that was the Frenchman’s name, was introduced to a beautiful and intelligent young lady, the daughter of Mr. Russ; in consequence of this newly formed acquaintance, Capt. Brisson remained longer than was absolutely necessary to receive his money. In fact, Capt. Brisson soon discovered that he loved Miss Russ and that his love was reciprocated; having made this discovery he proposed marriage and his proposition was accepted, and thereupon Capt. Brisson was united in marriage to Miss Huldeth Russ, and immediately left Elizabethtown for Wilmington in company with his wife.
After arriving in Wilmington he quickly arranged his business and sailed out of the harbor, carrying his wife, and arrived at a French port. Brisson continued in active business and prospered in all his ventures, and in a short time, he was a wealthy man, possessing much influence. The result of this union was the birth of one son, which was the only child ever born to them; this son married and had two children, of whom one came to North Carolina and to Bladen county, as he had heard his mother and father speak of the place of their father and mother’s marriage. This son was the stock from whom all the Brisson family now living in Bladen County is derived; the other son remained in France and obtained very much power by reason of the political influence he possessed and was finally elected President of the French Chamber of Deputies and was successor to Gambetta.
This is the history of the family as we have heard it from antiquarians. It may not be correct in detail, but the leading facts are all true we believe. It is a history that will excite the pride of the relations of the French nobleman.
Three months later, Lyon published an article which indicates a large inheritance. Suddenly the story was interesting. Unfortunately, only the second article, transcribed below, survived. The first one did not resurface until years after the online newspaper archive newspapers.com was established in 2012.
THE BLADEN BULLETIN
Elizabethtown, North Carolina
8 October 1885
M. Brisson, President of the French Chamber of Deputies, France, is having the Brisson pedigree compiled. Great numbers of the descendants of Old Brisson, the ancestor, who married Miss Russ here and went to France, live in Bladen County. Monsieur Brisson, the President of French Deputies is unmarried and worth about three million dollars, and in the event of his death, there are people living here who would be his heirs and inherit his property and now is the time for them to have the relationship established.
It has occurred to us that there may be persons living here other than the Brissons who are related to the President, the relatives of Miss Huldeth Russ, who married Captain Brisson, undoubtedly would be so related.
A History of North Carolina, p. 336, shares the following information about Robert Henry Lyon:
His mother Mary Jane Lucas' ancestors were French Huguenots from Charleston.
This may explain why Anthony was erroneously reported to be a Huguenot.
His grandfather, the elder Robert Lyon, owned the Wayside Inn in Elizabethtown, a rest stop on the Cape Fear River for travelers to and from Wilmington.
This may explain the speculative John Russ story.
The elder Robert lived in the same district as Anthony D. Brisson, and they were about the same age, according to the 1840 Bladen County census.
This first article erroneously reported that Huldah and the Captain had one son, born in France, who married and had two children. It speculates that one came to Bladen County (Anthony), and the other was elected President of the French Chamber of Deputies (Henri). However, neither the math nor the facts check out:
Henri was born in France in 1835; Anthony in Guadeloupe in 1782. That's a 53 year age difference.
Henri Brisson's father was easily researched. His name was Louis Adolphe Brisson (1802 - 1885), buried at the Cimetière des Capucins in Bourges, France.
Henri's cousin Eugène Brisson and sister Amelie (who married Eugene) are also buried there.
Henri Brisson’s mother was Adelaide Froment (1816 - 1898).
Adelaide (Adele for short) was buried January 1896 in the parish of Saint Pierre-le-Guyard, (also spelled St Pierre-le-Guillard).
She lived in a comfortable home there, rented for her by her son Henri Brisson, who visited her often when she fell ill. (La Libre Parole, 7 October 1898).
Henri had two sisters, Anne Claire and Edmé Amelie, but no brothers.
Regarding the second article:
No evidence of Henri having the Brisson pedigree compiled has been found.
“Old Brisson, the ancestor, who married Miss Russ here and went to France” was actually only 31 years old when he died in Guadeloupe.
The President of French Deputies was not unmarried, contrary to what the article states.
Was he worth $3 million?
No published document indicates Henri's net worth, although a figure quoted in the articles surrounding how much the French government invested in the activity that brought about its scandal. Henri's cousin Eugène married Henri's sister, making them brothers-in-law as well as cousins. Though Henri outlived Eugène, the Bladen article was written seven years before Eugène's passing, so in 1885 both his wife Julie and his cousin Eugène were very much alive. Henri had inheritors.
*The parish of St Pierre-le-Guillard is only 4 blocks from Anthony D. Brisson's great-grandfather Louis Brisson's parish of St Pierre-le-Marché. They are likely related through their ancestors, and further research is underway to determine the exact relationship.
In 1938, this article was published in the Robesonian. Written by another of Huldah's descendants, the Reverend Curtis Brisson, the story was shared at a Brisson family reunion in St Pauls, North Carolina. While the story was largely delivered in humor, it too references the President of the French Chamber of Deputies and a large estate.
THE ROBESONIAN
15 July 1938
St. Pauls News
Anthony, the progenitor of the Brisson clan in America, was born in France about the year 1780. Upon reaching the age of 20, France was in the convulsions of the first revolution and life and property were very unsafe for the land-owning class to which he belonged. He was also a member of the Huguenot faith, which was at that time being severely persecuted by the Catholic Church in France. Persecuted therefore, both because of political and religious convictions, he in company with a favorite brother set sail for America sometime about the year 1801. They arrived in Wilmington, NC, around three months later, where young Anthony landed and took a flatboat up the Cape Fear River to Elizabethtown, the other brother returning to France. While in Elizabethtown, the young foreigner met a young lady who was very friendly to him, offering to teach him English, but who was evidently interested in teaching him more than just English. Consequently, they were married, and Anthony was never to see his native France again.
A glance at the family on the other side of the water shows them to have been more political
minded than these in America. Since 1800 Brissons have held several important political positions in the French government. Schapiro in modern and contemporary European history carries an interesting account of the famous Brisson cabinet of 1898 in France, which played so important a part in the final settlement of the Dreyfus case. About 1800 there was a large estate left in France for Anthony heirs but for some reason his children didn't claim it until the the statue of limitation (sic) had run. In America the family has never been so wealthy though none have died in the poor house thus far.
Naming patterns presented but one of many clues that confounded Huldah's descendants.
This family had origins in both English and French dominions, and both Catholic and Anglican churches.
All four of these traditions differed from one another.
The name of Anthony's mysterious father was under our noses all along. Had we started by searching the name of their first born son, we may have found our progenitor sooner. Anthony's third child was the first son, named for Anthony's father Etienne (Stephen).
© 2020 J. Scott Brisson