Bryant, Nathan B. 1835-1929

BRYANT, CURRIER

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 5/28/2009 at 09:39:28

LeMars Sentinel
October 1, 1929

DAD BRYANT HEARS CALL
A Beloved Old Resident of LeMars Answers Final Summons
Was a Nonagenarian
Prominent in Daily Life Here For Many Years

Dr. R.M. Figg, of this city, received a telegram Sunday announcing the death of N.B. Bryant, of LeMars, at Cresbard, S.D., where he has been making his home the last four or five years. His death was due to old age and marked the passing of a spirit, which embodied the characteristics of a real man, who lived and labored, had a sane view of life, and was endeared by ties of friendship to a large number of people living in LeMars and vicinity.

Mr. Bryant had reached the age of 94 years, exemplifying the scriptural saying that the days of a good man are long in the land. The sobriquet “Dad” by which he was called for years, is tribute in itself to his qualities and indicates the regard in which he was held in the community.

His life covered a long span and saw the making of much history, and Mr. Bryant, in the course of his existence, was an observer of events and kept in touch with the doings of the world until the last. His unbounded faith in the general honesty of human kind was one of his tenets and one which affected his monetary interests in later life.

BORN IN OHIO
Nathan B. Bryant was born in Butler County, Ohio, June 16, 1835, where his parents, who came from New York, were early settlers. When he was a child they moved to Michigan and carved a home out of the timber.

Nathan Bryant received a meager education in the country schools and helped on the farm. With an inquiring mind and a prosperity for reading, he gathered a smattering of knowledge which in after life became well grounded with additional information gleaned by an open mind.

BECOMES A PRINTER’S DEVIL
When a lade of thirteen years of age in 1848, he went to work in a printing office in Niles, Mich., and worked at that trade until 1860, when he quit the art preservative, and returned to the work of the farm.

Mr. Bryant, while farming in Michigan, made trips to Chicago and used to relate early experiences when that metropolis was budding. He was in Chicago when the news of the assassination of President Lincoln was received and well remembered the pall of gloom which overcast the country when the great leader was stricken down by the hand of a crazed murderer.

COMES TO IOWA
Mr. Bryant was married to Susan Currier, of Rockingham, New Hampshire, in 1865. She was a member of a family several members of which were closely connected with political and social life in Washington D.C., for many years. She died in 1897(correction died 1893).

The year of his marriage Mr. Bryant came to Iowa and bought land in Buchanan County, where he farmed successfully for fourteen years and then moved to Benton County where he lived eight years. From there he went to Faulk County, S.D., where he lived a year and then came to LeMars and bought a well improved farm in Marion township where he prospered. In 1903 he moved to LeMars and purchased a fine home. Living in well earned retirement and with a comfortable competence he listened to friends who told of fortunes quickly made. Mr. Bryant made investments which failed to turn out as presaged.

With altered fortune he was the same gallant gentleman as ever and never was heard to utter a murmur or a complaint.

While residing in LeMars, Mr. Bryant was active in political and community affairs and served two terms as a member of the city council. He was one of the men instrumental in bringing the first Chautauqua to LeMars. He was a member of the Congregational Church and of the LeMars Lodge of Elks.

He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Otis Swift and Mrs. Marion Olin, of Cresbard, S.D., and two sons, Frank, of Assiniboia, Can., and Lewis Bryant residing in Saskatchewan.

The remains were brought here for burial, arriving last night and the funeral will be held this afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Beely undertaking parlors.

Members of the LeMars Lodge No. 428, B.P.O.E. will be in charge of the funeral. Dr. C.A. Mock, president of Western Union College, will deliver the sermon.