Needham BRYAN, JR

                   Needham Bryan married the widow of William Hinton, a Mrs. Sophia Hinton


Information retrieved from http://www.sallysfamilyplace.com/Rayner/bryanl.htm - See that version for text formatting which clarifies the author's intentions.
from Dr. Barry Hayes 
Colonel Needham Bryan II (1715/26?-ca. 1776/77) married (1) his first cousin and sister-in-law Nancy Ann Smith on 5 February 1747. After her death ca. 1760, he married (2) Mrs. Sophia Hinton, the widow of William Hinton, who left his will in Johnston County in 1761. The proof of this second marriage, long ignored, will follow. Colonel Bryan married (3), not (2), as long supposed, Charlotte Moore ca. 1764. Mrs. Zella Armstrong in her collection, Notable Southern Families, was clearly wrong when she placed Colonel Bryan's death in 1784 and suggested that in 1780 his second wife became Charlotte Moore. The daughter by this third marriage, Charlotte Moore Bryan, was born on 2 April 1765; her marriage was on 27 October 1782 to Reverend Lewis Whitfield (1766-1849), son of William Whitfield, Jr. and Rachel Bryan; and her death was on 9 March 1798. Reverend Whitfield married (2) Tabitha Atkinson on 9 February 1800 and (3) Mrs. Martha Hinton Bryan on 10 November 1816. Mrs. Martha "Patsy" Hinton Bryan, the third wife of Reverend Whitfield, was a granddaughter of Colonel John Hinton and wife Grizelle Kimbrough and daughter of Colonel James Hinton (ca. 1749-after 1794) of "Silent Retreat," assemblyman, senator, and justice of Wake County, and wife Delilah Hunter, daughter of Colonel Theophilus Hunter of "Hunter's Lodge." The first husband of Mrs. Patsy Hinton Bryan Whitfield was Reverend Whitfield's double first cousin, John Bryan, son of William Bryan and Elizabeth Whitfield Smith, as noted above. 
The proof about the second wife, previously ignored by Bryan researchers, is found in a deed, undated but received by the Johnston County court in August 1769, wherein Joseph Hinton, son of William Hinton deceased, received from Major Needham Bryan, guardian of Joseph Hinton, Joseph's share of William Hinton's estate. Needham's brother William Bryan witnessed, and Needham's son Needham Bryan, Jr. and stepson Joseph Bryan signed the decree. Needham Bryan and "wife Sophia" deeded land to "my son" Needham Bryan, Jr., undated but probably shortly after part of this property was patented in December 1763. The deed to the land was probably filed, the date not indicated, before Needham Bryan III had reached his majority ca. 1768/69. See Deed Book E-1, p. 43. Sophia's name does not appear on another document and had evidently died by early 1764 before the third marriage. 
Concerning the third wife Charlotte Moore, she was a probably a great-granddaughter of Francis Denson whose will was witnessed in Isle of Wight by Needham Bryan I in 1709. Charlotte may have been a second cousin of the compiler's ancestor John Moore the Hatter (ca. 1760-1843) and the daughter of Reverend John Moore (1717-1803) who did not mention her in his will (Wake County 1795/1803) perhaps because she had died before he signed it. Reverend John Moore, Jr. who left his will in Wake County in 1802 may have named his daughter Charlotte for her. It is noteworthy that Mark Myatt (ca. 1749-1821), with whom Reverend John Moore, Sr. was living, according to his will, at the time he signed his will in 1795 and was executor of the Moore estate, was the father of Alvin Myatt (1782-1818) who married Sarah Moore, daughter of John Moore the Hatter.