Several Breazeal families arrived in the north Louisiana and south Arkansas region in the early 1820s. Benjamin Brazeal and his family arrived in Hempstead County Arkansas Territory by about 1819; they probably lived in present-day Union County. Russel and Frederick Brazeal, apparently brothers, lived in Claiborne and Union Parishes in north Louisiana by the 1830s and 1840s. We do not know if they had any relationship to Benjamin Brazeal. The surname was alternatively spelled "Breazeale", "Brazeal", "Breazeal", etc. during the 1700s and 1800s. Even Breazeals who were literate frequently spelled their surname in various ways at different times. Since about 1900, most of the family use "Breazeal" as the standard spelling.

        The material here focuses upon the family of Hosea Bright Breazeal (5 Apr 1813 – 19 Oct 1891), the son of Nancy Breazeal Lawless (11 Mar 1791 – 17 June 1841) and the grandson of Joel Brazeal (c1755 – 1829) and Rebecca Griffin (c1760s – 1845+). Bright, as his family called him, was born in Pendleton District South Carolina. His parents were not married, and the identity of the man who fathered him is unknown. After Bright's mother Nancy remarried to a Mr. Lawless in the 1810s, it appears that he was raised by his grandfather Joel Brazeal. Soon after 1820, the extended Brazeal family many of their acquaintances in Pendleton District South Carolina (now Anderson County) left and moved west. About 1823 or early 1824, most all of Joel Brazeal's children had left Pendleton, and he, wife Rebecca, son Joel Marshall, and grandson Bright soon followed. In 1824, the Brazeals settled on a farm on Bear Creek in southeastern Tuscaloosa County Alabama. Joel's South Carolina neighbors Archibald Mayfield (1794 – 1833) and and his wife Tabitha Bennett (1798 – 1842) moved about the same time and settled on an adjoining farm. On 18 February 1836, Bright Breazeal married Archibald's daughter Sarah Elizabeth Mayfield (17 June 1819 – 9 Jan 1888).

        The Breazeals and Mayfields followed the Baptist faith, and with Joel and Rebecca Brazeal, Archibald and Tabitha Mayfield, and Archibald's father, Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Mayfield, all belonging to Sardis Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa County. Sarah Mayfield joined Sardis Church in September 1832 at the age of thirteen, and the following November, Bright Breazeal joined at the age of nineteen. In June 1835, the church excluded Bright on a charge of making false statements in the church. In November 1835, Sarah and her family, as well as Bright's grandmother Rebecca Brazeal, requested dismission from Sardis Church in order to form a new church, Liberty Baptist Church, located much closer to the Breazeal and Mayfield farms on Bear Creek. In November 1837, one year after Bright married Sarah, he made acknowledgement to the Sardis Church for the charge against him in 1835, and the church restored him to fellowship. He then requested dismission from in August 1838, and a few weeks later, he joined Liberty Church. In June 1846, Liberty Church selected Bright Breazeal to serve them as clerk, a position he held until January 1848, when Liberty dismissed Bright and Sarah from membership.

        In 1841 or 1842, many of Bright and Sarah's close relatives left Tuscaloosa and moved to Arkansas. Following the death of their eldest daughter in 1857, Bright and Sarah also left Alabama and joined their relatives near Caledonia, in south/central Union County Arkansas. During the War Between the States, Bright served as the 2nd lieutenant of the Jackson Township Home Guard. In about 1867, Bright moved south into northern Union Parish Louisiana, settling a few miles northwest of Spearsville. He and Sarah joined the Spearsville Baptist Church in September 1868, but on 7 August 1871, they requested a letter of dismission. Bright joined New Hope Primitive Baptist Church on 10 August 1872, but there is no record of Sarah ever belonging to any other church in the region. Following the death of Spearsville merchant and church clerk Joseph R. Goyne, Bright Breazeal served New Hope Church as clerk for the period 1880 – 1887. Bright and Sarah Mayfield were both buried in the Spearsville Cemetery.

        For more information on this family, see the Hosea Bright Breazeal Family Bible.