The Landiss Family in Tennessee
Just when the first Landiss family moved westward into Tennessee is a date not definitely established. We know that Abram Landiss secured a grant of 2879 acres of land in Middle Tennessee on Duck River December 11, 1794, and it is very probable the migrations of Landis families began about that time. The next twenty years saw something like a general movement of Landises away from Granville County, N. C. until only one or two families were left.
All of these migrations had as their first objective the tract of land secured by Abram Landis, or land in the immediate vicinity. Some few remained on or near this tract; others tarried but a little while and then moved on to other parts of the state or to other states.
We have made no effort to trace these several families, but we know the name Landis become very common throughout the Middle Tennessee and that the family had no small part in the development of that portion of the state.
There is one family we wish to make special mention of because some of its members have remained in Bedford County and in the vicinity of the first Landis settlement; and because we have come to know some members of this splendid family. They are the descendants of George T. Landis, and hold a family reunion each year at Unionville, Tennessee.
George T. Landis
Was born in Granville County, North Carolina, about the year 1780. Whose son he was has not been definitely determined. Some think he was the son of Joseph. To me it seems more reasonable to believe him to have been the son of George or John; for the name Joseph does not appear in the records of this family until the third generation, and I do not think the name of Abram or Luke appears at all.
George T. Landis married Nancy O'Brien February 11, 1802, and moved to Bedford County, Tennessee, about the year 1826. It is believed that all his family accompanied him except one son, Augustin, who probably married and chose to remain in Granville County. This Augustin was the grandfather of William Landis, now living in Oxford, N. C. and of Ed. Landis of Henderson, N. C. as well as of others who live in other parts of the state.
About the year 1850 George T. Landis, with two of his sons, Rowland and Alexander, moved on into Arkansas where he died in 1856.
Among those left behind in Tennessee was a son named Bryant Landis. He was born in Granville County, N. C. May 5, 1815 and married Margaret Ogilvie February 9, 1839. She was a descendant of the Ogilvie named in the list of those sailing with de Graffenried in 1710, and who settled near Newborn, N. C.
Bryant Landis
And Margaret Ogilvie had several children of whom we mention the following:
| William Harrison, born January 18, 1841. He married Janet Hastings and was the father of: | ||
| William D. Landis, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles Edward Bryant Landis, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Mendota, Illinois. |
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| Nancy Jane, born December 21, 1841, married W. A. Rushing. Richard B., born March 4, 1844, married Nancy Wilson. James Augustin, born May 20, 1845, married Sarah A. Parsons. George Leonard, born May 20, 1845, married first Cassie Lock and second, Virginia Allison. Robert Franklin, born July 10, 1849, married Molly Thompson. These were the parents of: |
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| Mrs. Nannie Cooper, Chapel Hill, Tennessee Clarence R. Landis, of Lake Worth, Florida |
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