SUBMITTED BY: Andrew Bryant, Jr.
RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN BY: Cheri Molter
Delilah G. Hughes Bryant was born on October 24, 1888 in Cumberland County, North Carolina. She was the daughter of Sallie McMillan Hughes and James Hughes. She had two siblings: Armetta and Bessie. Delilah’s mother, Sallie, died sometime before 1911. The will of Delilah’s grandfather, George Washington McMillan, states that Delilah Bryant was Sallie’s daughter, and she and her sisters were left $25 from his estate.
However, on Delilah Bryant’s death certificate, her mother was mistakenly listed as Delilah McMillan, who was actually her grandmother, George Washington McMillan’s wife. Delilah’s sisters married and had children of their own, too: Armetta married John Troy Gilmore, and Bessie married Thomas Tom Purdie.
On June 8, 1911, Delilah married A.W. (Andrew) Bryant. A.W. was the son of Jesse and Phoebe Bryant, and he also had siblings. A.W. was a railroad worker and a farmer, and Delilah was a teacher. According to census records, the couple owned and lived on a farm in Grays Creek in Cumberland County, North Carolina. They had five children: Linwood, Ione, Andrew, Socrates, and Mary D. On October 6, 1923, A.W. died and was buried in Swans Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. Jessie, A.W.’s father, was also buried in this location, along with A.W.’s sibling, Taylor Bryant. Shortly after her husband died, Delilah’s son, Linwood, died on March 9, 1924, after suffering from complications caused by a fracture sustained during an “accidental fall from a mule,” according to his death certificate. He was also buried in Swans Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. Delilah raised their remaining children at the farm in Grays Creek, which was valued at $2000 in 1930, according to that year’s census. Delilah Hughes Bryant died on April 11, 1974 from acute and chronic pneumonia. She was buried along with her family at Swans Creek. A processional went through the city of Fayetteville when she died.
