Bryan grew to adulthood in St. Charles county, Missouri where a great group of Boones and Bryans settled lands along the Missouri River near the village at Defiance. He was the own nephew of Rebecca Boone, wife of Daniel Boone and was often with them in his cousin Nathan Boone's large and beautiful limestone home. Nathan built the home for his parents. It stands today, as beautiful as it ever was.
He married Mary Thomas and removed to Greene county, MO where they resided until 1845. That year the family, including five sons and another family named Scott, started for California by wagon train. The group numbered 17 persons. They stopped for the first winter at Sutter's Fort where Capt. Sutter accommodated them in an adobe house.
It took 6 months, minus four days for them to make their way to Sacramento. Mary Bryan became sick along the way. Bryan wrote Lydia Ann McClenny Bryan, wife of his brother Elijah: "Crossed the south fork of the Plat went on to the North fork on which Mary was taken Sick of a Severe Cold of which she never recovered. I had a Doctor to travel with us and tend on her but to no effect. She still grew weaker and weaker until we arrived within 9 miles of the South pass of the rocky Mountains where She was laid in the mother... [died] July 25 [1845] Her name Cut on a stone and planted at the head of the grave."
Her resting place was an extraordinary memorial. Several tons of flat rock were mounded over the grave. A large head stone was engraved "Mrs. Bryan" on the front. On the top "1845". A foot stone of similar size was placed. Together the two stones steadied the mound. So remarkable was the memorial that for more than 100 years it was tended by those who visited it, the stones being corrected as they tumbled into the dirt. Only after the large headstone disappeared in the 1970s did the memorial begin to combine with the desolate landscape. It is to this day recognizable as the grave of one who ventured West a long, long time ago.
Abner and the children made it safely to California, a trip of six months lacking four days. They spent the first winter at Sutter's fort in an adobe house. From there they went ten miles up the American River to over-winter at Leigedoff Ranch with the intention of going to Oregon in the spring. Plans changed & they went 90 miles up the Sacramento River to Stony Creek & remained two years.
It was perhaps there he met Lydia Swain Adams whose husband, Thomas Adams, had died on the trail near Ft. Hall. They married in the fall of 1847. She brought five more children to the family. Their next stop was Placerville which they reached by way of San Jose. In 1849 they went back to San Jose. This began a series of wanderings, so natural for a Bryan. They ceased their journey in Santa Barbara and became important contributors to its development. People ask, "Why did they wander so? What were they looking for?" This is what young Boone's and Bryans were taught to do. They had been exploring since 1740. Before that, they were moving; but with a thought to build a settlement where they might stay.
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"Site of Cabin Where Writer Lived With Drover's Family Found"
Oakland Tribune, 30 March 1931, Page 14
Famed writer Bret Harte once tutored four sons of an Alamo Creek drover in a flower spangled-meadow, beneath an old sycamore tree near the foot of Mt. Diablo. The house was pulled down about 1910. It was a mere shanty, no larger than a hunter's shack in the wilderness, stuck in a deep canyon with high walls on either side, wrote Harte. But it had amused Abner Bryan, pioneer cattle drover, and his four sons and their tutor for a brief period.
~~LIST OF CHILDREN~~
1. Children with Mary Thomas were Henry C. Bryan, George W. Bryan, John W. Bryan, and Jonathan M. Bryan who have not yet been found. Thomas Jefferson Bryan is the only son who has a memorial.
2, The last four children are those he had with Lydia Swain His second son, Elijah Bryan has not yet been accounted for.
He married Mary Thomas and removed to Greene county, MO where they resided until 1845. That year the family, including five sons and another family named Scott, started for California by wagon train. The group numbered 17 persons. They stopped for the first winter at Sutter's Fort where Capt. Sutter accommodated them in an adobe house.
It took 6 months, minus four days for them to make their way to Sacramento. Mary Bryan became sick along the way. Bryan wrote Lydia Ann McClenny Bryan, wife of his brother Elijah: "Crossed the south fork of the Plat went on to the North fork on which Mary was taken Sick of a Severe Cold of which she never recovered. I had a Doctor to travel with us and tend on her but to no effect. She still grew weaker and weaker until we arrived within 9 miles of the South pass of the rocky Mountains where She was laid in the mother... [died] July 25 [1845] Her name Cut on a stone and planted at the head of the grave."
Her resting place was an extraordinary memorial. Several tons of flat rock were mounded over the grave. A large head stone was engraved "Mrs. Bryan" on the front. On the top "1845". A foot stone of similar size was placed. Together the two stones steadied the mound. So remarkable was the memorial that for more than 100 years it was tended by those who visited it, the stones being corrected as they tumbled into the dirt. Only after the large headstone disappeared in the 1970s did the memorial begin to combine with the desolate landscape. It is to this day recognizable as the grave of one who ventured West a long, long time ago.
Abner and the children made it safely to California, a trip of six months lacking four days. They spent the first winter at Sutter's fort in an adobe house. From there they went ten miles up the American River to over-winter at Leigedoff Ranch with the intention of going to Oregon in the spring. Plans changed & they went 90 miles up the Sacramento River to Stony Creek & remained two years.
It was perhaps there he met Lydia Swain Adams whose husband, Thomas Adams, had died on the trail near Ft. Hall. They married in the fall of 1847. She brought five more children to the family. Their next stop was Placerville which they reached by way of San Jose. In 1849 they went back to San Jose. This began a series of wanderings, so natural for a Bryan. They ceased their journey in Santa Barbara and became important contributors to its development. People ask, "Why did they wander so? What were they looking for?" This is what young Boone's and Bryans were taught to do. They had been exploring since 1740. Before that, they were moving; but with a thought to build a settlement where they might stay.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Site of Cabin Where Writer Lived With Drover's Family Found"
Oakland Tribune, 30 March 1931, Page 14
Famed writer Bret Harte once tutored four sons of an Alamo Creek drover in a flower spangled-meadow, beneath an old sycamore tree near the foot of Mt. Diablo. The house was pulled down about 1910. It was a mere shanty, no larger than a hunter's shack in the wilderness, stuck in a deep canyon with high walls on either side, wrote Harte. But it had amused Abner Bryan, pioneer cattle drover, and his four sons and their tutor for a brief period.
~~LIST OF CHILDREN~~
1. Children with Mary Thomas were Henry C. Bryan, George W. Bryan, John W. Bryan, and Jonathan M. Bryan who have not yet been found. Thomas Jefferson Bryan is the only son who has a memorial.
2, The last four children are those he had with Lydia Swain His second son, Elijah Bryan has not yet been accounted for.
Bryan grew to adulthood in St. Charles county, Missouri where a great group of Boones and Bryans settled lands along the Missouri River near the village at Defiance. He was the own nephew of Rebecca Boone, wife of Daniel Boone and was often with them in his cousin Nathan Boone's large and beautiful limestone home. Nathan built the home for his parents. It stands today, as beautiful as it ever was.
He married Mary Thomas and removed to Greene county, MO where they resided until 1845. That year the family, including five sons and another family named Scott, started for California by wagon train. The group numbered 17 persons. They stopped for the first winter at Sutter's Fort where Capt. Sutter accommodated them in an adobe house.
It took 6 months, minus four days for them to make their way to Sacramento. Mary Bryan became sick along the way. Bryan wrote Lydia Ann McClenny Bryan, wife of his brother Elijah: "Crossed the south fork of the Plat went on to the North fork on which Mary was taken Sick of a Severe Cold of which she never recovered. I had a Doctor to travel with us and tend on her but to no effect. She still grew weaker and weaker until we arrived within 9 miles of the South pass of the rocky Mountains where She was laid in the mother... [died] July 25 [1845] Her name Cut on a stone and planted at the head of the grave."
Her resting place was an extraordinary memorial. Several tons of flat rock were mounded over the grave. A large head stone was engraved "Mrs. Bryan" on the front. On the top "1845". A foot stone of similar size was placed. Together the two stones steadied the mound. So remarkable was the memorial that for more than 100 years it was tended by those who visited it, the stones being corrected as they tumbled into the dirt. Only after the large headstone disappeared in the 1970s did the memorial begin to combine with the desolate landscape. It is to this day recognizable as the grave of one who ventured West a long, long time ago.
Abner and the children made it safely to California, a trip of six months lacking four days. They spent the first winter at Sutter's fort in an adobe house. From there they went ten miles up the American River to over-winter at Leigedoff Ranch with the intention of going to Oregon in the spring. Plans changed & they went 90 miles up the Sacramento River to Stony Creek & remained two years.
It was perhaps there he met Lydia Swain Adams whose husband, Thomas Adams, had died on the trail near Ft. Hall. They married in the fall of 1847. She brought five more children to the family. Their next stop was Placerville which they reached by way of San Jose. In 1849 they went back to San Jose. This began a series of wanderings, so natural for a Bryan. They ceased their journey in Santa Barbara and became important contributors to its development. People ask, "Why did they wander so? What were they looking for?" This is what young Boone's and Bryans were taught to do. They had been exploring since 1740. Before that, they were moving; but with a thought to build a settlement where they might stay.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Site of Cabin Where Writer Lived With Drover's Family Found"
Oakland Tribune, 30 March 1931, Page 14
Famed writer Bret Harte once tutored four sons of an Alamo Creek drover in a flower spangled-meadow, beneath an old sycamore tree near the foot of Mt. Diablo. The house was pulled down about 1910. It was a mere shanty, no larger than a hunter's shack in the wilderness, stuck in a deep canyon with high walls on either side, wrote Harte. But it had amused Abner Bryan, pioneer cattle drover, and his four sons and their tutor for a brief period.
~~LIST OF CHILDREN~~
1. Children with Mary Thomas were Henry C. Bryan, George W. Bryan, John W. Bryan, and Jonathan M. Bryan who have not yet been found. Thomas Jefferson Bryan is the only son who has a memorial.
2, The last four children are those he had with Lydia Swain His second son, Elijah Bryan has not yet been accounted for.
He married Mary Thomas and removed to Greene county, MO where they resided until 1845. That year the family, including five sons and another family named Scott, started for California by wagon train. The group numbered 17 persons. They stopped for the first winter at Sutter's Fort where Capt. Sutter accommodated them in an adobe house.
It took 6 months, minus four days for them to make their way to Sacramento. Mary Bryan became sick along the way. Bryan wrote Lydia Ann McClenny Bryan, wife of his brother Elijah: "Crossed the south fork of the Plat went on to the North fork on which Mary was taken Sick of a Severe Cold of which she never recovered. I had a Doctor to travel with us and tend on her but to no effect. She still grew weaker and weaker until we arrived within 9 miles of the South pass of the rocky Mountains where She was laid in the mother... [died] July 25 [1845] Her name Cut on a stone and planted at the head of the grave."
Her resting place was an extraordinary memorial. Several tons of flat rock were mounded over the grave. A large head stone was engraved "Mrs. Bryan" on the front. On the top "1845". A foot stone of similar size was placed. Together the two stones steadied the mound. So remarkable was the memorial that for more than 100 years it was tended by those who visited it, the stones being corrected as they tumbled into the dirt. Only after the large headstone disappeared in the 1970s did the memorial begin to combine with the desolate landscape. It is to this day recognizable as the grave of one who ventured West a long, long time ago.
Abner and the children made it safely to California, a trip of six months lacking four days. They spent the first winter at Sutter's fort in an adobe house. From there they went ten miles up the American River to over-winter at Leigedoff Ranch with the intention of going to Oregon in the spring. Plans changed & they went 90 miles up the Sacramento River to Stony Creek & remained two years.
It was perhaps there he met Lydia Swain Adams whose husband, Thomas Adams, had died on the trail near Ft. Hall. They married in the fall of 1847. She brought five more children to the family. Their next stop was Placerville which they reached by way of San Jose. In 1849 they went back to San Jose. This began a series of wanderings, so natural for a Bryan. They ceased their journey in Santa Barbara and became important contributors to its development. People ask, "Why did they wander so? What were they looking for?" This is what young Boone's and Bryans were taught to do. They had been exploring since 1740. Before that, they were moving; but with a thought to build a settlement where they might stay.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Site of Cabin Where Writer Lived With Drover's Family Found"
Oakland Tribune, 30 March 1931, Page 14
Famed writer Bret Harte once tutored four sons of an Alamo Creek drover in a flower spangled-meadow, beneath an old sycamore tree near the foot of Mt. Diablo. The house was pulled down about 1910. It was a mere shanty, no larger than a hunter's shack in the wilderness, stuck in a deep canyon with high walls on either side, wrote Harte. But it had amused Abner Bryan, pioneer cattle drover, and his four sons and their tutor for a brief period.
~~LIST OF CHILDREN~~
1. Children with Mary Thomas were Henry C. Bryan, George W. Bryan, John W. Bryan, and Jonathan M. Bryan who have not yet been found. Thomas Jefferson Bryan is the only son who has a memorial.
2, The last four children are those he had with Lydia Swain His second son, Elijah Bryan has not yet been accounted for.
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