Bryant, Archibald S. (1803-1883)

BRYANT

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 10/9/2019 at 15:37:48

Archibald S. Bryant
July 1, 1803 - Mar 29, 1883

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.5, Council Bluffs)
Judge A. S. Bryant,Retired, Council Bluffs, whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Powhatan County, Va., twenty miles from Richmond, July 1, 1803. When he was nine years old, his parents moved to Georgia, and soon after to Frankfort, Ky., where he was reared and educated, and where in 1831, he married Miss P. G. Montgomery. In 1849, he was elected County Judge of Putnam County, Mo., and in 1852 came to Council Bluffs, and engaged in buying and selling real estate. He owns twelve houses in Council Bluffs, and also has a fine tract of land near, consisting of 250 acres. He speaks very highly of the early Mormon settlers here, whom he describes as honest and industrious. He was a friend of Orson Hyde, the Mormon elder, who was at Council Bluffs in 1852; the dispute between the Mormons and Gentiles at that time being settled by Judge Bryant and Elder Hyde, who were chosen arbitrators. When Judge Bryant first came to Council Bluffs it was a place of about five hundred inhabitants, but there were flush times then and money was plentiful. He auctioned off at one time $12,000 worth of cattle where the Broadway Methodist Church now stands. He carried $3,000 in gold on his person from Council Bluffs to Missouri, a journey at that time attended with considerable peril to the traveler. His success in life has been owing to his untiring energy and industry. He spends the winter seasons at Beebe, White Co., Ark., where he owns some property. His name in full is Archibald S. Bryant; has no children; is an uncle of R. T. Bryant, of Council Bluffs.