Author: Bryan, Daniel
Biography:
BRYAN, Daniel (c 1789-1866)
Though his birthdate is routinely given as 1795, the date of 1789 adopted by Wayne M. Studer (below) seems more likely given the status Bryan had achieved by 1815. Born in rural Rockingham County VA, Bryan studied law and by 1815 was in practice in Harrisonburg. In the same year, he married Rebecca Davenport; she however died in 1816. In 1818 he married Mary Thomas Barbour and was elected to the Virginia Senate, where he distinguished himself as the only member to vote against a Senate resolution advocating Missouri's entry into the Union, because it was a slave state. He served as postmaster of Alexandria 1821-53 and then held a position in the library of the Treasury in Washington DC. (W. M. Studer and The Dictionary of Virginia Biography: encyclopediavirginia.org 30 Dec. 2017) HJ