Background
Bryan was born in Lloyd, Florida in 1846 to Major John D. Edwards, a plantation owner, and Louisa Crutchfield (Houghton) Edwards.
Bryan was born in Lloyd, Florida in 1846 to Major John D. Edwards, a plantation owner, and Louisa Crutchfield (Houghton) Edwards.
Prior to 1858, she had already had poems and a story published by a small newspaper, and by 1859 became literary editor of the Georgia Literary and Temperance Crusader, where she stayed for about a year. After moving to Clarkston, Georgia in 1874 she joined on with the Sunny South as an associate editor and began to publish a number of novels. Manch (1880) and Wild Work (1881) were popular releases.
In 1891, it was reported that she was the "best paid woman editor in New York, her salary being $10,000 a year."
She returned to Georgia around 1895, returned to the Sunny South, and continued to edit and write until her death in 1913.
She wrote at least 20 novels in all. Bryan was buried in Indian Creek cemetery in Clarkston next to her husband.