Bryan County, GA History The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People 1732 to 1860 by George Gillman Smith, D.D. Originally published c. 1901 Submitted by K. Torp, ©2007 BRYAN. Bryan, which was named in honor of Joseph Bryan , was cut off from Effingham and Liberty.(Note: The county was actually named for Jonathan Bryan, not Joseph) In the neck between the rivers there was fine rice land and a few planters had plantations in it, but the area of fertile land was very limited, and the main body of the county was flat and sterile pine woods. In 1850 there were no schools in the county except a few supported by the poor school fund. In common with all that section of the State, great changes were brought about by the war, and Bryan has shared in the prosperity the new era has brought in. ©2007 Genealogy Trails