JENNINGS-L Archives

From: Carole Rohrings <>
Subject: JENNINGS
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 21:55:13 -0800

Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 10:38:50 -0600
From: (Bob Sander-Cederlof)
Subject: William Jennings BRYAN genealogy
ROOTS-L Digest V96 Issue #617

Some time ago there was a request for the genealogy of William Jennings
Bryan.

The following information was gleaned from the biography by Genevieve
Forbes
Herrick and John Origen Herrick, written shortly after Bryan's death in
1925,
published by Grover C. Buxton. The book, "The Life of William Jennings
Bryan", also contains many interesting pictures of Bryan and his
family.

Born: March 19, 1860, Salem, Illinois; died July 26, 1925, in Dayton,
Tennessee.
Father: Judge Silas L. Bryan
Mother: Mariah Elizabeth Jennings

According to a family sketch by Silas L. Bryan:
William Bryan, Sperryville, VA, had 5 children.
Williams's second son, John Bryan, born about 1790.
John married Nancy Lillard (an "old" American family).
John and Nancy moved west, into what is now West Virginia.
John died in 1836, Nancy in 1838.
They bore at least one son, Silas L. Bryan.

Silas mixed attending college and teaching and farming until he
graduated
from McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, in the spring of 1849.
Next he studied law, and at the age of 29 he was admitted to the bar at
Salem, Illinois. Silas married Mariah Elizabeth Jennings, who was about
12
years younger than himself, on November 4, 1852.

The Jennings family originally came from England. Israel Jennings,
Mariah's
grandfather, was born about 1774, apparently in New England. He spent
his
youth in Mason County, Kentucky. In 1779 he married Mary Waters; they
moved
to Illinois and raised 8 children at Walnut Hill.

One of the 8, Charles Waters, married Maria Woods Davidson, December 14,
1826. They also had 8 children, one being Mariah Elizabeth, born at
Walnut
Hill, May 24, 1834. She was brought up in the Methodist Episcopal
Church, and
remained a member until about 1877, when she joined the Baptist church
of
Salem. Silas L. Bryan, her husband, was a Baptist, and a consistently
devout
man. Silas became a lawyer, then a judge, and even ran for Congress on
the
Democratic ticket. Silas died March 30, 1880, and was buried in Salem.
Mariah
died June 27, 1896, and was buried beside her husband.

Silas and Mariah had 9 children, four dying in infancy. The rest were
Charles
W., William Jennings, Mary, Nannie, and Fanny. Charles became governor
of
Nebraska, and was Democratic candidate for Vice-President in 1924. One
of the
3 systers married T. S. Allen, and another married J. B. Baird.

William Jennings Bryan married Mary E. Baird, October 1, 1884. She was
the
daughter of a wealthy merchant from Perry, Illinois.

They had first a daughter, Ruth. Later, a son, William Jennings Bryan,
Jr.
The 3rd child, a daughter, was named Grace. Ruth married John Owen
(another
place in the book he is called Reginald Owen). The Owen's had a daughter
"Kitty" who married William P. Meeker; Kitty was the Bryan's first
grandchild. The Meeker's had at least two daughters, the older one being
named Ruth (the Meeker's second daughter was born in 1924). William Jr.
married Helen Virginia Berger of Milwaukee in 1909. Grace Dexter Bryan
married Richard Hargraves.

== Bob Sander-Cederlof <>,
<>
Macromedia, Digital Arts Group, 251 W. Renner Pkwy, Richardson, TX 75080
Phone: (972) 664-7260 FAX: (972) 680-0537

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