William Bradfute Bryson
The Hon. William Bradfute Bryson, representative from Greene county in the Ohio state Legislature, a member of the Greene county board of education, an extensive landowner and well-known horseman, was born on the farm on which he is now living, one mile north of Xenia on the Clifton-Oldtown pike, in Xenia township, August 19, 1854, a son of James and Nancy A. (Bradfute) Bryson, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Greene county, whose last days were spent on the home farm north of Xenia.
James Bryson was born on a farm in the neighborhood of Watsontown. in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1815, and was nineteen years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents, Robert and Hannah (Corry) Bryson, the family settling on a farm just north of Xenia. Robert Bryson and his wife also were born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, of sturdy Covenanter stock, and it was on account of the presence in Greene county of a considerable colony of Covenanters that they determined to come out here and establish their home. In 1834 they disposed of their interests in Pennsylvania and drove through with their family to the point which they had determined on as their future place of residence, coming through with their essential household goods in a wagon and driving their stock along with them. Upon his arrival in Greene county Robert Bryson bought a tract of two hundred acres a mile north of Xenia, on the Clifton-Oldtown pike, in Xenia township, and there established the family home, he and his wife spending the remainder of their lives there. They were the parents of eight children, of whom James Bryson was the second in order of birth, the others being as follows: Matthew, who went West and spent his last days in Nebraska; Robert, who died while attending Miami University, where he was preparing for the ministry; Hester, who married John Miller and spent her last days on a farm on Clarks run in this county; Nancy, who married Samuel Nisbit and spent her last days at Cedarville; Ellen, who was the wife of John Williamson, also of Cedarville; Rebecca, who was unmarried and who after her mother's death remained as housekeeper for her father, and Ann, who died during the days of her girlhood.
As noted above, James Bryson was nineteen years of age when he came to Greene county in 1834 and he at once took an active part in the labors of developing and improving the home farm, remaining with his father until the latter's death, when he bought the interests of the other heirs and there continned to make his home for years. He added to the original home farm until it contained more than three hundred acres and also bought the old Sexton farm adjoining, on which is the spring which traditionally is said to have been the birthplace of the great Indian chief Tecumseh. In 1879 James Bryson bought a tract of three hundred acres one miles north of Xenia and there in 1880 he erected a large brick house, facing the Springfield pike, where he made his home the rest of his life. He also owned a hundred-acre farm on the Little Miami, near the village of Trebein, and had other interests in the county. Upon the organization of the Republican party James Bryson became affiliated with the same. For years he was a member of the board of trustees and an elder of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia, continuing earnest in good works until his death in 1911, he then being at the age of ninety-seven years.
On March 17, 1853, James Bryson was united in marriage to Nancy A. Bradfute, who was bom in Cedarville township, this county, January 10, 1828, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Anderson) Bradfute, of the Cedarville neighborhood, the former of whom had come to this country from his native Scotland as a young man and had settled in this county. To James and Nancy A. (Bradfute) Bryson were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-bom, the others being Nettie, who died when four years of age, in 1861; Robert Edwin, born on July 29, 1860, a retired farmer now living in North Detroit street in Xenia, who married Ella Williamson and has four children, Harold, Agnes Louise, Martha Lucille and James C.; and Agnew E., unmarried, who continues to live on the farm in Xenia township where his father spent his last days and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume.
William B. Bryson was reared to the life of the farm. Upon completing the course in the district school he entered the old Xenia College on East Church street and after a further course there entered Monmouth College at Monmouth, Illinois, and was graduated from the same in 1876. While at Monmouth Mr. Bryson became acquainted with the girl, a fellow student, who a few years later became his wife. Upon his graduation from college Mr. Bryson returned to the home farm and entered upon the duties of operating the place. In 1881, shortly after his marriage, he bought the home place of three hundred and twenty-five acres, remodeled the house and there established his home on the place on which he was born and on which his grandfather had settled upon coming here in 1834. In 1913 this house was destroyed by fire and Mr. Bryson straightway erected a new dwelling place. Mr. Bryson has added to his holdings until he now is the owner of nearly seven hundred acres in the vicinity of Xenia, including the Collins farm of two hundred acres, the Carroll farm of one hundred acres adjoining his place on the east and the Kelsey farm of about one hundred acres on the south. In 1890 Mr. Bryson began definitely his career as a successful breeder of fine horses. Not only has he earned a reputation as a breeder of fine horses, but for years his services as a lecturer before farmers institutes have been in demand and he also has done good service by giving a course of lectures on the subject at Wilberforce University. For years he kept a stable of a hundred or more head of fine horses, but of late years has not carried on his operations in that line quite so extensively, the popularity of the automobile having lessened the market for driving horses, though he still keeps in his stables from forty to fifty head to meet the demand. Mr. Bryson's specialty has been the Wilkes strain and for twenty-five years he has held annual sales at his farm. For years Mr. Bryson kept a string of horses, making the circuit of the best tracks in the country and kept on his place a competent trainer, racing merely to create marks for his sires, among some of his most noted horses having been the following: "West Egbert," son of "Egbert," Mr. Bryson's first fast sire; the sire "Tom Keene," with a mark of 2:04¼ and the sire of more than thirty fast colts; "Wilmons," 2:17¾, son of "Simmons," sire of a number of fast colts, one of which, "Harry Mack," had a mark of 2:08¾ and another, "Robert K.," 2:10½, and "Wildemar," 2:16¼, son of "Wilmons" and sire of twelve fast colts. For two seasons Mr. Bryson has been the judge at the Ohio State Fair Association's race track and has many times acted as judge in show rings. He also for years has served as a member of the county fair board.
Mr. Bryson has for years been looked upon as one of the leaders of the Republican party in Greene county. In 1914 he was elected to represent Greene county in the state Legislature and served during the session of 1915, doing conspicuous service in that session as chairman of the House committee on prison reform. In 1916 he was re-elected and though the Republicans occupied the minority side of the House during the session of 1917 he was able, by diplomatic methods, to render some really valuable service, particularly as a member of the committee on agriculture, and was successful in getting through more bills than any other Republican member of the House. For many years Mr. Bryson served as a member of the Xenia township school board and is now a member of the Greene county board of education. When an attempt was made in the House of Representatives to do away with district supervisors, an important department of the new system of education in this state, Mr. Biwson vigorously defended the system and his speech in the House on that subject was given the credit for having defeated the reactionary attempt to weaken the new system.
On November 10, 1880, at Monmouth, Illinois, William B. Bryson was united in marriage to Mary Louise Graham, who was born in that city, a daughter of David and Elizabeth Graham, tlie former of whom was one of the founders of Monmouth College, the proprietor of a dry-goods store in Monmouth and the owner of fifteen hundred acres of land in the vicinity of that city. Mrs. Bryson is a graduate of Monmouth College. Mr. and Mrs. Bryson have three sons, William Graham, James Robert and David Brown, all of whom have followed their parents in the ways of learning at the latters' alma mater. William G. Bryson, the eldest son, also got his wife at Monmouth, he there having met Jessie Graham, who though bearing the same surname as that of his mother is not related to the latter by ties of consanguinity, and not long after his graduation from Monmouth married her. They have two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Sarah Frances. William G. Bryson is operating a part of his father's farm north of Xenia and he and his family live across the highway from the home of his parents. James R. Bryson, who also was graduated from Monmouth College, married Mary Fay and now lives on one of his father's farms, the old Carroll place, which he is operating. David B. Bryson is now (1918) a student at Monmouth College and is a member of the College Glee Club, in which he sings bass. The Brysons are members of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. For years Mr. Bryson has been an elder of his church and for thirty-three consecutive years has been superintendent of the mission Sabbath school maintained by that church at Goes Station.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918