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Our Britton ancestors were early colonists who settled in Georgia sometime before or during the 1760's, and it is suspected that their country of origin was England. The earliest well-known documents suggest that the direct paternal ancestor of this family is James Brittain, who was born between 1769 and 1775 in Georgia. He married Frances "Frankey" Pound, daughter of Revolutionary War Patriot Reuben Pound and his wife Francis Merriman, in about 1794 in Richmond, Georgia. It was in Jefferson County that they started their family, a county in northern Georgia that would become Clarke County in 1801. This area, though a beautiful rural setting now, was perilous at times because of altercations with the Creek Indians. The family moved to Missouri in about 1805, following the Louisiana Purchase.

Frankey Pound's father was from Orange County, Virginia, and served in the Georgia Continental Line during the Revolutionary War, under Captain George Hancock and Colonel Samuel Elbert. He received bounty land along the Oconee River in Washington County, Georgia, amounting to 230 acres, in payment for his service. Reuben was a 3rd cousin of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His great, great grandfather, John Pound II immigrated to Virginia in 1635. Some believe that Reuben's mother, Isom Ishaw, was a Native American belonging to the Monacan Tribe, who lived in a village along the James River in Virginia. If this is true, it would have made Frankey 1/4 Monacan, so she might have shown a degree of physical resemblance drawn from this portion of her heritage.

Riley Britton, a son of James and Frankey, was born in about 1814 in Crawford County, Missouri and married Julia Ann Strong, a woman of Cherokee ancestry. Her father was full blood Cherokee. Riley was a Union Soldier during the War Between the States and also lost a son to the cause. Another son, Louis Cass Britton, is my great, great grandfather. He was a rather interesting man who was fiercely protective of his family, and who eventually became a sheriff. He married Hannah Catherine Odell, some of whose family were Quakers. Her grandfather, Enock Odell, served in the War of 1812. Her great, great grandfather, Samuel Odell, was in the French and Indian War and was one of the first settlers of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, although his ancestors originally immigrated to Massachusetts in 1635.

The Britton family gradually spread out. My branch of the family, descending through Louis Cass Britton's son, William Isaac "Ike", largely settled in southern Colorado after leaving southern Missouri, though I have cousins in several states.

I hope you enjoy browsing through Our Britton Ancestors. I also invite you to share any Britton photos, stories and documents that you would like me to post on this site. It is important for us, as cousins and fellow researchers, to work together and share what we have with one another. My desire to share what I have with you, is one of the main reasons that I started this site. Please feel free to comment if you enjoy a particular post, or to correct me if you see something about which I am mistaken.