The They Had Names website is normally dedicated to Liberty County records. However, Bryan County neighbors Liberty County and throughout its history, there has been overlap in the population. Some people enslaved in Bryan County wound up in Liberty County, and vice versa. While Liberty County is rich in antebellum records, most antebellum records for Bryan County no longer exist.
The shining exception is the Bryan County Superior Court deed records, which name enslaved people in bills of sale, deeds of gift, marriage settlements, chattel mortgages, and occasionally estate inventories and wills. These records can be found on both Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. I am reading through all these deed records starting from 1795 through 1865 (Deed Books A-G), and adding abstracts of any deeds that name enslaved people. You can find the abstracts I have created so far below.
Because this site does mainly focus on Liberty County, you need to use a different search technique to find a name in only Bryan County records. To find the name “Flora,” for example, in the Bryan County deed records (and ignore the references in Liberty County), use this search term: Flora “Bryan County”. Be sure to put the quotation marks around “Bryan County.” Otherwise, the search will pull any records that have both Bryan and County in them, not just the ones with Bryan County.
If you are researching Bryan County, you may also be interested in other deed records, which are mostly about land. In 1929, Caroline P. Wilson created abstracts for Deed Books A-D for the Lachlan McIntosh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution Savannah. These abstracts are now on the Genealogy Trails page for Bryan County. Unfortunately, they do not give page numbers (and mostly do not name enslaved people) but are very useful for identifying that a deed of interest to you does exist.
Bryan County Deed of Gift (Maxwell/Maxwell)
Enslaved People Named: Hester, Joe, Leah, Matilda, Lucy On January 19, 1838, Ann Maxwell, widow of Bryan County, gifted to her daughter Mary Ann Maxwell
Marriage Contract (Maxwell/Burroughs)
Enslaved People Named: Patty, Henry On July 20, 1837, Ann Constant Maxwell, Savannah, and Oliver Sturges Burroughs, Savannah, entered into a marriage contract with her
Marriage Contract (Maxwell/Williams)
Enslaved People Named: Dolly On February 8, 1837, Mary Jane Maxwell, Savannah, and Thomas F. Williams, also of Savannah, entered into a marriage contract with
Bryan County Bill of Sale (McCormick/Rodgers)
Enslaved People Named: Jim, Little Peter, Baynard, Hannibal, David, Atticus, Robert, Dick, Cato, July, Bull, Bob, Mann, Little Peter, Sam, Little Antrum, Big Antrum, Augusteen
Bryan County Marriage Settlement (Simmons)
Enslaved People Named: John, Sally, Richard, Ellick, Chloe, Vicy, Ben, Ralph, Polly, Quamina, Nancy, Henry, Adam, Mary, Jupiter, Tamar, Doctor, Isaac, Friday, Lewey, Anna, Tabby,
Bryan County Deed of Gift (English/Waller)
Enslaved People Named: Quacco On September 15, 1837, Jemima English, Bryan County, gifted to her son George Waller, aged about 37, some real estate, “one
Bryan County Marriage Settlement (Maxwell)
Enslaved People Named: Adam, Venus, Caesar, Sary, Sandy, Isaac, Flora, Cate, Jacob, Eve, Lydia On September 28, 1837, William M. Maxwell, Bryan County, put in
Bryan County Marriage Settlement (Maxwell)
Enslaved People Named: Billy, Judy, Sibby, Juba, Mary On February 8, 1837, John Pray Maxwell turned over to his wife’s trustees, John J. Maxwell and
Bryan County Chattel Mortgage (Maxwell/King)
Enslaved People Named: July Louisa, Scilla On February 8, 1837, John F. Maxwell, Bryan County, used as collateral on a promissory note of $663 to
Bryan County Bill of Sale (Clay/Clay)
Enslaved People Named: Fanny, Venus, Jenny, Hector, Abram, Lucy, Binah, Clarinda, Polly, Bella, Boston, Davy, Tom, Tyra [alt: Tira], Butcher, Primus, Ceasar, Ben, Wiltshire, Jacob,
Bryan County Bill of Sale (Ash/Stephen)
Enslaved People Named: Lizzy On November 29, 1836, George A. Ash, Chatham Count, sold to Cleminia J. Stephen for $700 “a certain negro wench slave
Bryan County Marriage Settlement (Harden)
Enslaved People Named: Larry, Jacob, Sam, Flora [?], Leah, Patty, Phillis [alt: Phyllis], Anne, Little Sambo, Adam, Moses, Johnny, Chloe, Catharine, Isaac, Die [alt: Dye]
Bryan County Chattel Mortgage (Morel/Patterson)
Enslaved People Named: Marcus, Betty, Jinny, Alick [alt: Alleck], Daphne, Sally, Hazzard, Patty, Margaret, and her infant, Billy, Binah [or Dinah], Tira [alt: Tyra], Silvey,
Bryan County Deed of Gift (Futch/Futch)
Enslaved People Named: Chavus, Nelly, Patience, Handy, Nelson On an unstated date in Bryan County, Onesimus O. Futch gifted to his son Jesse Futch “a
Bryan County Chattel Mortgage (Maxwell/King)
Enslaved People Named: Frank, Isabella, Minda, Davy, Hannah, Miriam On February 16, 1836, Benjamin C. Maxwell, Bryan County, used as collateral on a promissory note
Bryan County Deed of Gift (Shuman/Shuman)
Enslaved People Named: John On July 3, 1835, Fathia Shuman gifted to her son James Shuman “a negro boy named John between ten and fourteen
Bryan County Chattel Mortgage (Wilson/Bryan)
Enslaved People Named: None On March 21, 1835, William P. Wilson, Chatham County, transferred his rights to a chattel mortgage “of ten negro slaves and
Bryan County Chattel Mortgage (Galphin/McIntosh)
Enslaved People Named: John, Will, Martha, Priscilla, Rachel, Sam, Amy, Edmund, Sib On February 28, 1835, George W. Galphin, physician of Bryan County, used as
Bryan County Bill of Sale (Footman/Sanford)
Enslaved People Named: Binah On June 10, 1834, in Savannah, M.C. Footman acknowledged receipt of $200 from A.M. Sanford “in full pay for a negro
Bryan County Bill of Sale (Vanbrackel/Sanford)
Enslaved People Named: Sci [or Sei] On March 27, 1834, William H. Vanbrackel, Bryan County, sold to A.M. Sanford for $500 “a negro man Slave
Bryan County Chattel Mortgage (Penney/Miller)
Enslaved People Named: Jack, Sandy, Andrew, Boatswain, Bachus, Lewis, Charles, Hannah, Ruth, Tamar On June 18, 1834, at Savannah, Beecroft Penney, Bryan County, used as