BRYAN, Alexander S. - Putnam

If it be true- and there is good authority for the statement-that one's environment has much to do in influencing his character, then the men who have had the good fortune to pass their lives in the midst of movements which have brought about the rapid development & remarkable advancement of Putnam Co., might well be expected to have exhibited independence, self-reliance, enterprise & practical sagacity. In the life of the late & well remembered Alexander S. Bryan, long a prominent agriculturist & stock breeder of this county, were found to a marked degree the qualities above enumerated, his success having been based principally upon a prompt & judicious use of opportunity. But while he was very successful in the management of his individual affairs, he never neglected his duties to his neighbors & general public, but always stood ready to bear his just share in the march of progress; these commendable traits, together with his unswerving integrity & honor upon all occasions, rendering him popular & influential as well in the community where he so long maintained his home.

Mr. Bryan was of an excellent family in Bourbon county, Kentucky, September 18, 1824, the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Parker) Bryan, the father of the former having been a soldier in the Revolutionary war; his name was James Bryan, & he was a noted character in his day. He came to Indiana in 1834 & settled in Marion township, Hendricks County. In that county his son Alexander Bryan, father of the immediate subject of this review, took up the life of a pioneer citizen & developed in due course of time an excellent farm & a good home & remained there until 1853, moving to Putnam County, Indiana, the following year : thus since 1854 the name Bryan has been well known in this locality.

Alexander S. Bryan received a limited education, public schools in his youth being of a primitive sort & besides, it was necessary for him to assist with work of developing a farm in the new country. On April 10, 1849, he married Susan J. Farrow, daughter of Col. Alexander Shore Farrow, & Elizabeth (Nelson) Farrow, who came here in 1830, Colonel Farrow having for many years been one of the leading characters of this county, a complete sketch of whom appears on another page of this work. Colonel Farrow, father of Mrs. Bryan, was captured in the British & Indian War of 1812. He was a colonel in the "Home Guards" during the war between the states. He was ever pronounced in his views against intemperance, as was also Mr. Bryan.

To Mr. & Mrs. Alexander S. Bryan the following named children were born: Belle (deceased) was the wife of E.N. Yates: James P.; Elizabeth is the wife of Walter Hamrick: Elvira is the wife of A.G. Kellar of Sterling, Kansas: Flora (deceased) Marion (deceased); Mary is the wife of John Stanley, of Denver, Colorado: Auta (deceased) was the wife of Edgar Harris: Fredrick, Jennie (deceased), Pearl (deceased), & Frank.

Mr. Bryan, as has already been explained, was a very successful famer & stock man, breedeing some of the best stock in the county, for which he always found a ready sale. He operated a very valuable farm & was the owner of several hundred acres of as valuable land as the county could boast : this he highly improved & very skillful cultivated, giving it his personal attention along with his large livestock interests. He was a public-spirited man & always ready to lend his support to any measure looking to the general good of the community, especially being interested in the success of the Republican party, however, he was no office seeker, preferring to devote his exclusive attention to his private business affairs.

This excellent citizen, much liked neighbor, indulgent father & kind husband, was called to his reward on a higher plane of action on June 27, 1901, lamented by all who knew him, the community sustaining an irreparable loss.