Our AMIS Family
 
AMIS

       Thomas Amis, a French Huguenot, settled in Middlesex County, Virginia by 1640. A son was Louis (c.1670-after 1700). A grandson of the immigrant, Thomas Amis (c.1700-1791), married Rachel Daniell on Nov. 14, 1722.

      William Amis (c.1729-?), son of Thomas and Rachel, married Hannah Daly, the daughter of Daniel Daly, in 1754 in Essex County, Virginia. In 1768, William purchased land in Granville County, North Carolina. Witnesses were Samuel and Mary Smith, and Richard Bush. Samuel Smith was also a grandson of Louis Amis. Other land records link the names of these cousins: in 1779 William had a grant for 640 acres on Beaver Dam Creek adjoining Smith and others; in 1784 William bought, from Samuel Smith, 225 acres of Glebe land on which Rev. Henry Petillo lived. This sale was authorized by authority of the United Presbyterian Congregation of Grassy Creek and Nutbush.

      William Amis was a commissary (essentially an officer in the quartermaster corps, but sometimes actually civilian) for the 3rd North Carolina from May 6, 1776 until December 1, 1776. He is listed in the DAR Index of Patriots. [Thanks to Aubrey Doggett for this information.]

       The son of William and Hannah, William Amis (c. 1770-1857), married Judith Woodson Knight in 1793. After her death, he married Sarah Harris who is mentioned in his 1848 will. His children are Jonathan, Judith, John W., Sarah, Rachel, Mary (Polly), Elizabeth, Ann, Martha, Harriet, Frances, Lucy, and Missniah. Three of the daughters married into the Bryant family.

       Their daughter, Elizabeth Amis, was 20 in 1818 when she became the second wife of Edward Bryant who was twice her age. They had eleven children: William Rowland, Albert (or Abner), Harriett D., Lewis Amis, Lucy H., Ellen G., Martha, Elizabeth, James D., Lucius Rhodes, and Thomas H.

       In 1841, her son William R. Bryant married Sarah Anthony . Her daughter Harriett married Archelause M. White. Four years later, her husband Edward and four other children died during an epidemic, probably cholera. Ellen, 19 years old, died first, on August 8. Lewis, 23, died the next month on September 19, and his father four days later. Albert, 25, died on October 3. Lucy, 20, died on November 16. The documents relating to the settlement of her husband's estate show that it took many years before it was completed. Elizabeth was not alone in this task - the epidemic raged almost ten years and often killed whole families. Her uncle John Amis, his wife Polly Knight, and their son Josiah died of the same cause a few years later. In the 1860 census, Elizabeth was recorded as being 62 years old and living with two sons, Lucius (22) and Thomas (20). She lived as a widow for more than 30 years, dying October 9, 1876 at the age of 79.