Nancy Bryson was born around 1842 in Mississippi to James Bryson and Eliza Banks. Her father was a farmer who owned $26,000 of real estate and $64,000 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Noxubee County, Mississippi. One writer later described her as a “bright and gifted” woman who possessed a “keen sense of wit and humor and a charming personality.” She married Simeon Cornelius Wilkerson on April 9, 1863. They settled in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and her husband worked as a dentist. By 1870, they owned $2,500 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property. Her husband died in the late 1800s. After his death, she reportedly “managed the large estate…with dexterity, and made a phenominal [sic] success of the management of her affairs.” She died in Tuscaloosa on June 2, 1922.

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