A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 24882
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia 800 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000 USA Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference) Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference) Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives) URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
Do not serve Box 13, which contains originals of letters
deemed too difficult to preserve. Xerox copies have been
made and placed in the proper folders.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Bryan Family Papers, 1679-1943. Accession 24882,
Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia,
Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the estate of John Stewart Bryan of Richmond,
Virginia, 1952. Collection transferred from the
administrative office of the Library to the Archives
Division in May 1958.
Joseph Bryan (1773-1812) of Savannah, Georgia, served as a
congressman from 1803 to 1806, and became close friends with
John Randolph (1773-1833) of Roanoke, Charlotte County,
Virginia. He married Delia Forman (ca. 1788-1825) 5 April
1805, and they had 5 children including John Randolph Bryan
(1806-1887). John Randolph Bryan's education was overseen by
John Randolph. He served in the United States Navy from 1823
to 1831, then settled at Eagle Point in Gloucester County,
Virginia. He later lived at Carysbrook in Fluvanna County,
Virginia. Bryan married Elizabeth Tucker Coalter (1805-1856)
30 January 1830, and they had ten children, including Joseph
Bryan (1845-1908). Joseph Bryan attended the University of
Virginia from 1862 to 1863 and from 1865 to 1868. In between,
he served as a member of the command of John S. Mosby
(1833-1916) during the Civil War. He became a newspaper
publisher in Richmond, Virginia, responsible for the
Richmond Times ,
Richmond Times- Dispatch, and
the
Richmond News Leader . He also
was a prominent businessman. Bryan lived at Brook Hill in
Henrico County, Virginia, and at Laburnum in Richmond. He
married Isobel Lamont Stewart (1847- 1910) 1 February 1871,
and they had seven children, including John Stewart Bryan
(1871-1944). John Stewart Bryan followed his father into
newspaper publishing. He also served as president and
chancellor of the College of William and Mary. He married Anne
Eliza Tennant 4 June 1903 and they had three children.
Papers, 1679-1943, of the Bryan family of Fluvanna,
Gloucester, and Henrico Counties, and Richmond, Virginia, and
Savannah, Georgia, consisting of Special Correspondence;
General Correspondence; Genealogies; Business Records;
Addresses, Essays, and Poems; and Miscellaneous. This
collection has been microfilmed and is available on Misc.
Reels 682-690.
Organized into the following six series: I. Special
Correspondence. II. General Correspondence. III. Genealogies.
IV. Business Records. V. Addresses, Essays, Poems and Diaries.
VI. Miscellaneous.
Inclues correspondence of John Randolph (1773-1833)
of Roanoke with Joseph Bryan, John Randolph Bryan,
Judith Randolph and others concerning national politics,
Georgia politics, plantation life in Georgia, personal
matters; correspondence between George Shea and Charles
O'Conor regarding the imprisonment and trial of
Jefferson Davis for which they were defense council;
correspondence between John Stewart Bryan and Francis W.
Hirst concerning U.S. and British politics and
economics, Hirst's literary efforts, and personal
matters; and miscellaneous correspondence containing
essays written in the 1780s on banking and currency,
correspondence to Charles Gottfried Paleske, Prussian
Consul General in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, notes on
the federal Constitution, Louisiana Territory, and a
presidential election.
Box 1 Folder 1
John Randolph of Roanoke,
undated and
1791-1806
Box 1 Folder 2
John Randolph of Roanoke,
1806-1809
Box 1 Folder 3
John Randolph of Roanoke,
1810-1814
Box 1 Folder 4
John Randolph of Roanoke,
1820-1831
Box 1 Folder 5
George Shea-Charles O'Conor,
undated and
1865-1866
Box 1 Folder 6
George Shea-Charles O'Conor,
1867-1869
(1885)
Box 1 Folder 7
Hirst-Bryan,
undated and
1924-1928
Box 1 Folder 8
Hirst-Bryan,
1929-1930
Box 1 Folder 9
Hirst-Bryan,
1931-1934
Box 1 Folder
10
Hirst-Bryan,
1935
Box 1 Folder
11
Hirst-Bryan,
1936-1939
Box 1 Folder
12
Hirst-Bryan,
1940
Box 1 Folder
13
Hirst-Bryan,
1941,
January-June
Box 1 Folder
14
Hirst-Bryan,
1941
July-1943
Box 1 Folder
15
Miscellaneous-three essays and one letter
on banking and currency,
1780, 1782,
1789
Box 1 Folder
16
Miscellaneous-papers concerning Charles
Gottfried Paleske, Prussian Consul at Philadelphia,
1791-1799
Box 1 Folder
17
Miscellaneous-Notes on the Constitution of
the United States
Box 1 Folder
18
Miscellaneous-Counterstatement, the
Territory of Louisiana
Includes letters pertaining to family genealogy;
naval career of John Randolph Bryan; John Randolph of
Roanoke, including a biography and the removal of his
remains to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia;
Episcopal High School of Virginia near Alexandria,
Virginia; St. Mary's College in Baltimore, Maryland;
wreck of the Steamship Pulaski; education; slavery;
Mosby's Rangers; Virginia politics before and after the
Civil War; Richmond Howitzers; Hollywood Memorial
Association; Association for the Preservation of
Virginia Antiquities; the John Marshall House;
University of Virginia; the College of William and Mary;
finances; politics; and family matters.
Series IV: Business and Legal Papers,
1714-1909,
undated
Box 8
Includes business papers of Daniel K. Stewart, John
Stewart, and Joseph Bryan concerning their interests in
the Sloss-Sheffield Works, American Locomotive Company,
New York Equitable Life Association, Richmond and
Charlottesville Turnpike, Brook Turnpike, Richmond and
York River Railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company,
Richmond and Henrico Turnpike, Elberston Airline
Railroad, Rosewell Railroad, Richmond and Danville
Railroad, Georgia Pacific Railroad, Atlantic and
Charlotte Airline Railroad; estate papers of John
Stewart; bonds; agreements; powers of attorney; deeds;
wills; suit papers; pardons; certificates; petitions;
and minutes.
Includes poems; tombstone inscriptions; sermons;
prayers; essays, addresses, and histories on Jamestown,
College of William and Mary, Posey Page, John Randolph
of Roanoke, statues of Virignia Confederate generals,
African American suffrage, Bryan family during the Civil
War, John Randolph Bryan's naval career, Eagle Point in
Gloucester County, Virginia, Civil War balloons, Civil
War experiences, banking in the South, and journalism.
See also box 12, folders 4-5.
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