Edward James BRYAN
Edward James BRYAN was the first-born son of S.W. & Margaret Bryan and was born 09 August 1839 in Kalamazoo, Mi.
I'm supposing he had a normal childhood until he was ten years old. Then everything changes, not for the better. His mother and baby brother die in 1849! The family gets split up. He and his brother, Samuel, are sent to live with Margaret's brother, William Ashton, in Peru County, Ohio and his twin brother & sister, Luman & Julia, are sent to live with Margaret's sister, Mary Cutright, in Sandusky County, Ohio. His father has gotten gold fever and goes to California to seek his fortune.
His father returns from California in 1851 and marries a woman named Eliza Ketchien. I have no proof that the family gets reunited, but I'm hoping they do. He supposedly went to school in Kalamazoo, Mi. (I have no proof of this). His stepmother dies in 1859. Another blow for the family. I found him in the 1860 census in Kalamazoo, Mi. living with Ira Burdick. (He was to name one of his daughters Besse Burdick Bryan after Ira's wife). The 1860 Kalamazoo directory lists him living on Pitcher St.
He enlists in the Civil War May 1861 in Co I, 2nd Regiment, Michigan Volunteers. His record states that he was 5 foot 8, had hazel eyes, dark hair, and ruddy complexion. His Civil War record will be told at a later time, however he was wounded and had to have his right ring finger amputated. He was honarbly discharged 28 July 1865.
I don't know what he did for the next four years but on 4 July 1869 he marries Louisa Johns in Singapore, Michigan. I found him in the 1870 census living in Dorr, Michigan. However his first four children's births are recorded as being born in Singapore, Mi. (That was the home of Louisa's parents parents and maybe her mother helped with their births). They are Edward Jr., Ealem, Grace & George Harris Bryan. (Ealem dies when he is three months old and he is buried in Riverside Cemetey in Saugatuck.) Of note: Singapore, once a booming lumber and shipping port on the shores of Lake Michigan and the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, is slowly being covered up by the shifting sands along Lake Michigan. Many people were leaving town because it was a lost cause-they couldn't fight mother nature. (Singapore is now considered a ghost town).
Edward applied and received a land grant from the U.S. Government for serving in the Civil War. Little did he know that the property he bought along the Kalamazoo River was infertile and is known as the "Allegan Grubbs'" today. Making a living was a struggle. (They never did have much success at growing crops and made a living off the land so to speak).
They lived in an old Army tent while he built his cabin. (In later years when he had more children it was added on to). There were several Indians living along the Kalamazoo River at that time but they were friendly on the most part.
Edward was a "sawyer" and worked in the nearby lumber camps until the trees were depleted. He trapped along the river in the winter. Muskrats, Minxes, and Foxes were plentiful and their furs brought good money. Wild pigeons filled the skies and it is said they obscured the sun when they took flight. Some tales of black bears have been told too. Also deer were plentiful and sometimes it was the only meat they had.
When the family went to pick berries along the river they were sure to wear boots or wrap their legs with leather because the river bottoms were infested with snakes! The family had to haul water by horse and wagon from a spring located at the bottom of a steep sand hill behind the cabin. They made their own candles and soap. They had to store flour and sugar in barrels for the winter because the roads to Fennville were nearly impassable. They had a cow for milk and had chickens for eggs and eating. (I can still taste the chicken 'n' dumplings my grandmother used to make.) They dried fruits and vegetables and stored them in a root cellar behind their cabin. Jams and jellies were made from the wild berries growing in the forests around their cabin. Edward especially liked the Quince jams..Louise even had to make most of their clothes. (Sandy still has her old sewing machine).
The land in that area was covered with wood and had to be cleared for roads and homes. There was a two-track sand road that went past the Bryan home. It started in Allegan and wound its way thru New Richmond on into Saugatuck. It is known as the "Old Allegan Road" today.
Edward's brother, Samuel, owned what was called the "Half-Way House" as it was located halfway between Allegan and Saugatuck.He took in travelors and boarders and the stagecoach between Allegan and Saugatuck would stop there to leave mail and get fresh horses.
The area was marshy and boggy or else very sandy. Travel was almost impossible so Edward and his sons Ed Jr, George, and Bill cut down trees and made a "cordoroy road" to Fennville. It cut down the distance considerably from their house to Fennville. It is known as 50th Street today. If they wanted to go to nearby Holland they could catch the train in New Richmond. Of course another way of travel was the horse and buggy.
Mail was delivered for years by a woman carrier by the name of Agnes Dennyless. She drove a horse and buggy to the nearby town of Manlius. In the summer traveling vendors would come around with their wares. That is how Louise got much of her material for making clothes.
For entertainment the neighbors would get together at somebodys house on Saturday night for a polka or squaredance. The kids would play baseball or "einy-inny-over" and join the adults when it got dark.
Edward could play the fiddle.
A one-room school house, named Gidley School, was located about three miles from the Bryan cabin and the kids had to walk or ride horses to school in all kinds of weather. Sometimes the snow would be waist high, but they still went. Grades were kindergarten thru 10th and as many as 40 kids attended at one time. There was only one teacher for all these kids but the older kids would help with the younger ones.
The property adjacent to the Bryan cabin was the "first wildlife preserve" in Michigan. It was run by Edward's son George Bryan.
The kids grew up and got married, but lived in the area. . Edward died on Christmas Eve. in 1911 in his beloved cabin and is buried in Fennville Cemetery. Louisa lived with her sons until she died 26 July 1926. She is buried alongside Edward in Fennville Cemetery.
The foundation of the cabin was still visible when I went there in 1995. I walked around the property and tried to envision what it must have been like to live there. Not too bad really. I even found part of a grinding wheel. Lucky me!
Footnote: The material about the Bryan cabin is true as told to me by the "Bryan" relation. The rest of the facts I have proof of.
Signed: Sandy Woldring
Edward James BRYAN was the first-born son of S.W. & Margaret Bryan and was born 09 August 1839 in Kalamazoo, Mi.
I'm supposing he had a normal childhood until he was ten years old. Then everything changes, not for the better. His mother and baby brother die in 1849! The family gets split up. He and his brother, Samuel, are sent to live with Margaret's brother, William Ashton, in Peru County, Ohio and his twin brother & sister, Luman & Julia, are sent to live with Margaret's sister, Mary Cutright, in Sandusky County, Ohio. His father has gotten gold fever and goes to California to seek his fortune.
His father returns from California in 1851 and marries a woman named Eliza Ketchien. I have no proof that the family gets reunited, but I'm hoping they do. He supposedly went to school in Kalamazoo, Mi. (I have no proof of this). His stepmother dies in 1859. Another blow for the family. I found him in the 1860 census in Kalamazoo, Mi. living with Ira Burdick. (He was to name one of his daughters Besse Burdick Bryan after Ira's wife). The 1860 Kalamazoo directory lists him living on Pitcher St.
He enlists in the Civil War May 1861 in Co I, 2nd Regiment, Michigan Volunteers. His record states that he was 5 foot 8, had hazel eyes, dark hair, and ruddy complexion. His Civil War record will be told at a later time, however he was wounded and had to have his right ring finger amputated. He was honarbly discharged 28 July 1865.
I don't know what he did for the next four years but on 4 July 1869 he marries Louisa Johns in Singapore, Michigan. I found him in the 1870 census living in Dorr, Michigan. However his first four children's births are recorded as being born in Singapore, Mi. (That was the home of Louisa's parents parents and maybe her mother helped with their births). They are Edward Jr., Ealem, Grace & George Harris Bryan. (Ealem dies when he is three months old and he is buried in Riverside Cemetey in Saugatuck.) Of note: Singapore, once a booming lumber and shipping port on the shores of Lake Michigan and the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, is slowly being covered up by the shifting sands along Lake Michigan. Many people were leaving town because it was a lost cause-they couldn't fight mother nature. (Singapore is now considered a ghost town).
Edward applied and received a land grant from the U.S. Government for serving in the Civil War. Little did he know that the property he bought along the Kalamazoo River was infertile and is known as the "Allegan Grubbs'" today. Making a living was a struggle. (They never did have much success at growing crops and made a living off the land so to speak).
They lived in an old Army tent while he built his cabin. (In later years when he had more children it was added on to). There were several Indians living along the Kalamazoo River at that time but they were friendly on the most part.
Edward was a "sawyer" and worked in the nearby lumber camps until the trees were depleted. He trapped along the river in the winter. Muskrats, Minxes, and Foxes were plentiful and their furs brought good money. Wild pigeons filled the skies and it is said they obscured the sun when they took flight. Some tales of black bears have been told too. Also deer were plentiful and sometimes it was the only meat they had.
When the family went to pick berries along the river they were sure to wear boots or wrap their legs with leather because the river bottoms were infested with snakes! The family had to haul water by horse and wagon from a spring located at the bottom of a steep sand hill behind the cabin. They made their own candles and soap. They had to store flour and sugar in barrels for the winter because the roads to Fennville were nearly impassable. They had a cow for milk and had chickens for eggs and eating. (I can still taste the chicken 'n' dumplings my grandmother used to make.) They dried fruits and vegetables and stored them in a root cellar behind their cabin. Jams and jellies were made from the wild berries growing in the forests around their cabin. Edward especially liked the Quince jams..Louise even had to make most of their clothes. (Sandy still has her old sewing machine).
The land in that area was covered with wood and had to be cleared for roads and homes. There was a two-track sand road that went past the Bryan home. It started in Allegan and wound its way thru New Richmond on into Saugatuck. It is known as the "Old Allegan Road" today.
Edward's brother, Samuel, owned what was called the "Half-Way House" as it was located halfway between Allegan and Saugatuck.He took in travelors and boarders and the stagecoach between Allegan and Saugatuck would stop there to leave mail and get fresh horses.
The area was marshy and boggy or else very sandy. Travel was almost impossible so Edward and his sons Ed Jr, George, and Bill cut down trees and made a "cordoroy road" to Fennville. It cut down the distance considerably from their house to Fennville. It is known as 50th Street today. If they wanted to go to nearby Holland they could catch the train in New Richmond. Of course another way of travel was the horse and buggy.
Mail was delivered for years by a woman carrier by the name of Agnes Dennyless. She drove a horse and buggy to the nearby town of Manlius. In the summer traveling vendors would come around with their wares. That is how Louise got much of her material for making clothes.
For entertainment the neighbors would get together at somebodys house on Saturday night for a polka or squaredance. The kids would play baseball or "einy-inny-over" and join the adults when it got dark.
Edward could play the fiddle.
A one-room school house, named Gidley School, was located about three miles from the Bryan cabin and the kids had to walk or ride horses to school in all kinds of weather. Sometimes the snow would be waist high, but they still went. Grades were kindergarten thru 10th and as many as 40 kids attended at one time. There was only one teacher for all these kids but the older kids would help with the younger ones.
The property adjacent to the Bryan cabin was the "first wildlife preserve" in Michigan. It was run by Edward's son George Bryan.
The kids grew up and got married, but lived in the area. . Edward died on Christmas Eve. in 1911 in his beloved cabin and is buried in Fennville Cemetery. Louisa lived with her sons until she died 26 July 1926. She is buried alongside Edward in Fennville Cemetery.
The foundation of the cabin was still visible when I went there in 1995. I walked around the property and tried to envision what it must have been like to live there. Not too bad really. I even found part of a grinding wheel. Lucky me!
Footnote: The material about the Bryan cabin is true as told to me by the "Bryan" relation. The rest of the facts I have proof of.
Signed: Sandy Woldring
Edward James BRYAN
Edward James BRYAN was the first-born son of S.W. & Margaret Bryan and was born 09 August 1839 in Kalamazoo, Mi.
I'm supposing he had a normal childhood until he was ten years old. Then everything changes, not for the better. His mother and baby brother die in 1849! The family gets split up. He and his brother, Samuel, are sent to live with Margaret's brother, William Ashton, in Peru County, Ohio and his twin brother & sister, Luman & Julia, are sent to live with Margaret's sister, Mary Cutright, in Sandusky County, Ohio. His father has gotten gold fever and goes to California to seek his fortune.
His father returns from California in 1851 and marries a woman named Eliza Ketchien. I have no proof that the family gets reunited, but I'm hoping they do. He supposedly went to school in Kalamazoo, Mi. (I have no proof of this). His stepmother dies in 1859. Another blow for the family. I found him in the 1860 census in Kalamazoo, Mi. living with Ira Burdick. (He was to name one of his daughters Besse Burdick Bryan after Ira's wife). The 1860 Kalamazoo directory lists him living on Pitcher St.
He enlists in the Civil War May 1861 in Co I, 2nd Regiment, Michigan Volunteers. His record states that he was 5 foot 8, had hazel eyes, dark hair, and ruddy complexion. His Civil War record will be told at a later time, however he was wounded and had to have his right ring finger amputated. He was honarbly discharged 28 July 1865.
I don't know what he did for the next four years but on 4 July 1869 he marries Louisa Johns in Singapore, Michigan. I found him in the 1870 census living in Dorr, Michigan. However his first four children's births are recorded as being born in Singapore, Mi. (That was the home of Louisa's parents parents and maybe her mother helped with their births). They are Edward Jr., Ealem, Grace & George Harris Bryan. (Ealem dies when he is three months old and he is buried in Riverside Cemetey in Saugatuck.) Of note: Singapore, once a booming lumber and shipping port on the shores of Lake Michigan and the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, is slowly being covered up by the shifting sands along Lake Michigan. Many people were leaving town because it was a lost cause-they couldn't fight mother nature. (Singapore is now considered a ghost town).
Edward applied and received a land grant from the U.S. Government for serving in the Civil War. Little did he know that the property he bought along the Kalamazoo River was infertile and is known as the "Allegan Grubbs'" today. Making a living was a struggle. (They never did have much success at growing crops and made a living off the land so to speak).
They lived in an old Army tent while he built his cabin. (In later years when he had more children it was added on to). There were several Indians living along the Kalamazoo River at that time but they were friendly on the most part.
Edward was a "sawyer" and worked in the nearby lumber camps until the trees were depleted. He trapped along the river in the winter. Muskrats, Minxes, and Foxes were plentiful and their furs brought good money. Wild pigeons filled the skies and it is said they obscured the sun when they took flight. Some tales of black bears have been told too. Also deer were plentiful and sometimes it was the only meat they had.
When the family went to pick berries along the river they were sure to wear boots or wrap their legs with leather because the river bottoms were infested with snakes! The family had to haul water by horse and wagon from a spring located at the bottom of a steep sand hill behind the cabin. They made their own candles and soap. They had to store flour and sugar in barrels for the winter because the roads to Fennville were nearly impassable. They had a cow for milk and had chickens for eggs and eating. (I can still taste the chicken 'n' dumplings my grandmother used to make.) They dried fruits and vegetables and stored them in a root cellar behind their cabin. Jams and jellies were made from the wild berries growing in the forests around their cabin. Edward especially liked the Quince jams..Louise even had to make most of their clothes. (Sandy still has her old sewing machine).
The land in that area was covered with wood and had to be cleared for roads and homes. There was a two-track sand road that went past the Bryan home. It started in Allegan and wound its way thru New Richmond on into Saugatuck. It is known as the "Old Allegan Road" today.
Edward's brother, Samuel, owned what was called the "Half-Way House" as it was located halfway between Allegan and Saugatuck.He took in travelors and boarders and the stagecoach between Allegan and Saugatuck would stop there to leave mail and get fresh horses.
The area was marshy and boggy or else very sandy. Travel was almost impossible so Edward and his sons Ed Jr, George, and Bill cut down trees and made a "cordoroy road" to Fennville. It cut down the distance considerably from their house to Fennville. It is known as 50th Street today. If they wanted to go to nearby Holland they could catch the train in New Richmond. Of course another way of travel was the horse and buggy.
Mail was delivered for years by a woman carrier by the name of Agnes Dennyless. She drove a horse and buggy to the nearby town of Manlius. In the summer traveling vendors would come around with their wares. That is how Louise got much of her material for making clothes.
For entertainment the neighbors would get together at somebodys house on Saturday night for a polka or squaredance. The kids would play baseball or "einy-inny-over" and join the adults when it got dark.
Edward could play the fiddle.
A one-room school house, named Gidley School, was located about three miles from the Bryan cabin and the kids had to walk or ride horses to school in all kinds of weather. Sometimes the snow would be waist high, but they still went. Grades were kindergarten thru 10th and as many as 40 kids attended at one time. There was only one teacher for all these kids but the older kids would help with the younger ones.
The property adjacent to the Bryan cabin was the "first wildlife preserve" in Michigan. It was run by Edward's son George Bryan.
The kids grew up and got married, but lived in the area. . Edward died on Christmas Eve. in 1911 in his beloved cabin and is buried in Fennville Cemetery. Louisa lived with her sons until she died 26 July 1926. She is buried alongside Edward in Fennville Cemetery.
The foundation of the cabin was still visible when I went there in 1995. I walked around the property and tried to envision what it must have been like to live there. Not too bad really. I even found part of a grinding wheel. Lucky me!
Footnote: The material about the Bryan cabin is true as told to me by the "Bryan" relation. The rest of the facts I have proof of.
Signed: Sandy Woldring
Edward James BRYAN was the first-born son of S.W. & Margaret Bryan and was born 09 August 1839 in Kalamazoo, Mi.
I'm supposing he had a normal childhood until he was ten years old. Then everything changes, not for the better. His mother and baby brother die in 1849! The family gets split up. He and his brother, Samuel, are sent to live with Margaret's brother, William Ashton, in Peru County, Ohio and his twin brother & sister, Luman & Julia, are sent to live with Margaret's sister, Mary Cutright, in Sandusky County, Ohio. His father has gotten gold fever and goes to California to seek his fortune.
His father returns from California in 1851 and marries a woman named Eliza Ketchien. I have no proof that the family gets reunited, but I'm hoping they do. He supposedly went to school in Kalamazoo, Mi. (I have no proof of this). His stepmother dies in 1859. Another blow for the family. I found him in the 1860 census in Kalamazoo, Mi. living with Ira Burdick. (He was to name one of his daughters Besse Burdick Bryan after Ira's wife). The 1860 Kalamazoo directory lists him living on Pitcher St.
He enlists in the Civil War May 1861 in Co I, 2nd Regiment, Michigan Volunteers. His record states that he was 5 foot 8, had hazel eyes, dark hair, and ruddy complexion. His Civil War record will be told at a later time, however he was wounded and had to have his right ring finger amputated. He was honarbly discharged 28 July 1865.
I don't know what he did for the next four years but on 4 July 1869 he marries Louisa Johns in Singapore, Michigan. I found him in the 1870 census living in Dorr, Michigan. However his first four children's births are recorded as being born in Singapore, Mi. (That was the home of Louisa's parents parents and maybe her mother helped with their births). They are Edward Jr., Ealem, Grace & George Harris Bryan. (Ealem dies when he is three months old and he is buried in Riverside Cemetey in Saugatuck.) Of note: Singapore, once a booming lumber and shipping port on the shores of Lake Michigan and the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, is slowly being covered up by the shifting sands along Lake Michigan. Many people were leaving town because it was a lost cause-they couldn't fight mother nature. (Singapore is now considered a ghost town).
Edward applied and received a land grant from the U.S. Government for serving in the Civil War. Little did he know that the property he bought along the Kalamazoo River was infertile and is known as the "Allegan Grubbs'" today. Making a living was a struggle. (They never did have much success at growing crops and made a living off the land so to speak).
They lived in an old Army tent while he built his cabin. (In later years when he had more children it was added on to). There were several Indians living along the Kalamazoo River at that time but they were friendly on the most part.
Edward was a "sawyer" and worked in the nearby lumber camps until the trees were depleted. He trapped along the river in the winter. Muskrats, Minxes, and Foxes were plentiful and their furs brought good money. Wild pigeons filled the skies and it is said they obscured the sun when they took flight. Some tales of black bears have been told too. Also deer were plentiful and sometimes it was the only meat they had.
When the family went to pick berries along the river they were sure to wear boots or wrap their legs with leather because the river bottoms were infested with snakes! The family had to haul water by horse and wagon from a spring located at the bottom of a steep sand hill behind the cabin. They made their own candles and soap. They had to store flour and sugar in barrels for the winter because the roads to Fennville were nearly impassable. They had a cow for milk and had chickens for eggs and eating. (I can still taste the chicken 'n' dumplings my grandmother used to make.) They dried fruits and vegetables and stored them in a root cellar behind their cabin. Jams and jellies were made from the wild berries growing in the forests around their cabin. Edward especially liked the Quince jams..Louise even had to make most of their clothes. (Sandy still has her old sewing machine).
The land in that area was covered with wood and had to be cleared for roads and homes. There was a two-track sand road that went past the Bryan home. It started in Allegan and wound its way thru New Richmond on into Saugatuck. It is known as the "Old Allegan Road" today.
Edward's brother, Samuel, owned what was called the "Half-Way House" as it was located halfway between Allegan and Saugatuck.He took in travelors and boarders and the stagecoach between Allegan and Saugatuck would stop there to leave mail and get fresh horses.
The area was marshy and boggy or else very sandy. Travel was almost impossible so Edward and his sons Ed Jr, George, and Bill cut down trees and made a "cordoroy road" to Fennville. It cut down the distance considerably from their house to Fennville. It is known as 50th Street today. If they wanted to go to nearby Holland they could catch the train in New Richmond. Of course another way of travel was the horse and buggy.
Mail was delivered for years by a woman carrier by the name of Agnes Dennyless. She drove a horse and buggy to the nearby town of Manlius. In the summer traveling vendors would come around with their wares. That is how Louise got much of her material for making clothes.
For entertainment the neighbors would get together at somebodys house on Saturday night for a polka or squaredance. The kids would play baseball or "einy-inny-over" and join the adults when it got dark.
Edward could play the fiddle.
A one-room school house, named Gidley School, was located about three miles from the Bryan cabin and the kids had to walk or ride horses to school in all kinds of weather. Sometimes the snow would be waist high, but they still went. Grades were kindergarten thru 10th and as many as 40 kids attended at one time. There was only one teacher for all these kids but the older kids would help with the younger ones.
The property adjacent to the Bryan cabin was the "first wildlife preserve" in Michigan. It was run by Edward's son George Bryan.
The kids grew up and got married, but lived in the area. . Edward died on Christmas Eve. in 1911 in his beloved cabin and is buried in Fennville Cemetery. Louisa lived with her sons until she died 26 July 1926. She is buried alongside Edward in Fennville Cemetery.
The foundation of the cabin was still visible when I went there in 1995. I walked around the property and tried to envision what it must have been like to live there. Not too bad really. I even found part of a grinding wheel. Lucky me!
Footnote: The material about the Bryan cabin is true as told to me by the "Bryan" relation. The rest of the facts I have proof of.
Signed: Sandy Woldring
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