Grace Cross

1738 -

• Name	Grace Cross
  Relationship	with Marion Murdoch Johnson
  Gender	Female
  Birth	8 Mar 1738  [1]
  Siblings	2 brothers and 3 sisters
  1. Ann Cross           b. 30 Aug 1730   2. John Cross           b. 11 Jun 1732 > 3. Margaret Cross           b. 2 Feb 1735 ▻ William Harper,  m. 1761 > 4. Grace Cross           b. 8 Mar 1738 ▻ Francis Bryans,  m. 1772   5. Frances Cross           b. 21 Aug 1740   6. William Cross           b. Between 1733 and 1777             d. 12 Jan 1812  (Age ~ 79 years)
  Last Modified	8 Apr 2021

  
  

  Father

  Richard Cross, of Dartan           b. 21 May 1701             d. 13 Jul 1776 (Age 75 years)

  
  

  Husband	Francis Bryans           b. 1727             d. 4 Jan 1830, Moy, County Tyrone, Ireland (Age 103 years)
  Marriage	1772  [2]
  Age at Marriage	Grace was ~ 33 years old - Francis was ~ 45 years old.
  Children	1. Richard Bryans           b. Abt 1773, Moy, County Tyrone, Ireland           d. 20 Dec 1864, Upper Northgate Street, Chester, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom (Age ~ 91 years)
  Last Modified	19 Jul 2020

  
  

• Notes

  Early Life Grace Cross was the daughter1 of Richard Cross of Dartan in county Armagh. She was born on the 8th of March 1738. The entry in Burke's mentioned in footnote [1] has the following about the Cross family: This family emigrated to Ireland from co. Lancaster at the time of the plantation of Ulster, 1611, and settled in the parish of Tynan, co. Armagh. From a tombstone in Tynan churchyard, it appears that James Cross was buried there 23 Feb 16-8 (the third figure cannot be ascertained, and the church books for a lengthened period are not forthcoming). Two of his sons, John and William, were amongst the defenders of Derry, who signed the address to King William III and Queen Mary on the relief of that city in 1689, when they returned to co. Armagh, where the descendants of John have resided ever since. Family Life Grace married Francis Bryans in 1772, when Grace would have been 34, which is quite a late age to be married. At the same time, Francis would have been 45, which is also quite old. They had one known child, Richard, born in 1773. It's probable that they were both widowers from previous marriages. Death FamilySearch also suggests that Francis married a Mary Clements in 1787. If this is the same Francis Bryans, then Grace must have died prior to 1787. Could she have died in childbirth with Richard, in 1773? I've yet to find an actual death record for Grace to confirm or refute this. Footnotes [1] The evidence being as follows: F_Unknown_Bryans_RichardBryans_1, which gives Francis' spouse as Anne Cross and quotes directly from Burke's 6th Edition (see reference below). This document was probably written either by Arthur Bryans or Annie Jessie Burn-Murdoch. P_Unknown_BryansLonsdaleBolland, which gives Francis' spouse as Grace Cross Burke's Landed Gentry 6th Edition (1879), under Cross of Dartan, notes that a Grace Cross (b. 1738) married Francis Bryant [sic], Esq. The same record also notes that Grace had a sister Ann (who appears not to have married). FamilySearch has a marriage record for Francis Bryans and Grace Cross in 1772 in Co. Armagh (which is where Dartan is) I'm not sure why the first reference above picked Anne as Francis' spouse, particularly when that same source then quotes from Burke's, which clearly gives Grace as the one who married Francis Bryant. I wonder if the author was accidentally/absentmindedly using the name Anne as this was the name of Richard Bryan's wife (Richard Bryans being the son of Francis Bryans).

  
  

• Sources

  [S0104] Bernard Burke, Burke's Landed Gentry 6th Edition, (1879), 1879, Cross of Dartan; Volume 1, page 400. [S0431] FamilySearch, Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage License Bonds Indexes, 1623-1866, (familysearch.org), 1772, Grace Cross; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WG7L-Z12M : 3 December 2019), Grace Cross, 1772.