JOSEPH T. BRYAN

(From the History of Callaway County Missouri, 1884, page 630 - 632.)
Transcribed by Kris Breid, 17 December 2005

JOSEPH T. BRYAN, an old and prominent citizen of the county, now leading a retired life in the confidence and esteem of those among whom he has lived for so many years, was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, on the 13th of February, 1800. His father, Enoch Bryan, (a son of Joseph Bryan, who was one of the first settlers of Bryan’s station, near Lexington, Kentucky,) was a native of North Carolina, and came to Kentucky in an early day, where he reared his family. Mr. Bryan’s mother (Joseph T.’s) was, before her marriage, a Miss Jane Turner.

His father was a farmer by occupation, and to this calling the son was brought up. However, at the age of fourteen, having a decided preference for mercantile life, he secured a position in a store with a relative in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, to learn the business, and continued clerking until he was twenty-one years of age. By this time he not only had a thorough knowledge of merchandising, but by saving up his salary was in a situation, financially, to engage in business for himself. Accordingly, in 1821, he established a store in company with his preceptors at Owingsville, Bath county, Kentucky, which he conducted successfully for seven years.

In the meantime, on the 22d of December, 1825, he had married, Miss Lydia A. Mason having then become his wife, and he decided to come further West, believing that his children, who by this time, in 1830, had begun to grow up around him, would have better opportunities in a new country when they reached maturity to establish themselves in life, and being satisfied that he himself could do better out here than where he then lived. Settling in Callaway county in 1830, he engaged in farming and followed without interruption for thirty-six years. During this time he prospered abundantly as a farmer, and rose to an enviable position in the confidence and esteem of the people of the county.

In 1844 he was elected to the Legislature, and served the people with marked ability and fidelity in that position. Returning to his farm after the expiration of his term in the House of Representatives, he led a quiet, retired life, occupied with his agricultural interests until 1866, when he was chosen for the office of circuit clerk, a position he filled with such efficiency and popularity that he was retained in it by successive re-elections for sixteen years consecutively, or up to January, 1883. The fact that at the age of eighty-two he was still discharging the responsible and difficult duties of circuit clerk, speaks a more eloquent eulogy upon his life than any gift of tongue or art of rhetoric can declare. It shows that, like Orlando, his life has been well spent, else his powers could not have been preserved so well, even into the twilight of old age. Nor could he have lived otherwise than upright in the sight of men and so as to challenge the good opinions of those around him, else he would have been long since put aside by the public voice for a younger man. But leading a pure and blameless life, one that has grown better and brighter as his years have advanced, his hold upon the esteem and finally the veneration of the people has grown stronger and stronger, until at last he returned to them, of his own desire, the trust he had so long and faithfully discharged. Here at least is an exception to the bitter reflection of Longfellow in his greatest poem:--

“I, too, know the cry,
Go up, thou bald head! From a generation
That, wanting reverence, wanteth the best food
The soul can feed on. There’s not room enough
For age and youth upon this little planet,
Age must give way.”

For this venerable old public servant the young men who have grown up around him would still gladly yield a place, and now that he has chosen to retire to the ease and comforts of private life, free from the responsibilities and burdens of office, he has carried into his retirement the best wishes of all the people of the county and the universal commendations: “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

Mr. Bryan’s good wife is still spared to him in his old age, and a worthy family of children have grown up around them. Of their ten children six are living: Mary C., now Gathright, Louisa H., now McGary, are widows; Lydia Ann and Ellen R. are single; Joseph T. died September 30, 1883, leaving a family; John M. is married; Dr. Enoch M. is single, and practicing medicine in Callaway county. Both parents have been members of the Christian church for many years. Mrs. Bryan’s father, Peter Mason, was a native of Virginia, but was reared in Kentucky. Her mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Grant, was born and reared in the last named state. Mrs. Bryan is now in her seventy-sixth year, having been born on the 20th of June, 1808.

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