FLVC logo

Bryan Family Collection, Circa 1800-1959

 

Summary

Abstract:
The Bryan Family Collection documents the Bryan family and theirr life in Fort Lauderdale during the early 20th century through photographs and other materials.
Extent:
2 Hollinger Boxes 2 Hollinger boxes with one separated oversize photograph
1 Objects Typewriter
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Bryan Family Collection, Broward County Historical Archives, Broward County Library.

Background

Scope and content:

The Bryan Family Collection is comprised of photographs, newspaper clippings, and documents documenting to the Bryan family and their life in Fort Lauderdale during the early 20th century. It also contains a manuscript of "Links in the Chain" by Mary Dobson describing Drummond/Bryan family histories who settled on the New River after the founding of the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway.

Biographical / historical:

Philemon Nathaniel Bryan (1844-1925) and his wife, Lucy Catherine (Murray) Bryan (1852-1924), moved to the New River in present-day Fort Lauderdale in 1895 after purchasing 840 acres of land to start a new orange grove. Philemon Bryan was the former mayor of Smyrna, Florida, a successful farmer and entrepreneur, but his orange crop in Smyrna had been destroyed by the 1895 freeze and the family moved farther south to present-day Broward County. Henry Flagler hired Philemon to supervise the 400 Black workers building the Florida East Coast Railway from Pompano to Miami, which he did with the help of his two sons, Tom Bryan (Thomas Murray Bryan, 1879-1969) and Reed A. Bryan (1878-1937), who both attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Philemon and Lucy had seven children which also included Annie Bryan (1870-1946), Viginia Dallas Bryan (1868-1948), Susan Florence Bryan (1875-1953), and Mary J. Bryan (1873-1886).

Philemon was born near Jasper in Hamilton County, Florida. He served with the Second Florida regiment during the Civil War and became a first lieutenant. After the war, he followed his parents to New Smyrna, where he began growing oranges. Lucy Murray and Philemon married in 1867 in New Smyrna. After moving to Fort Lauderdale, Philemon and Lucy Bryan lived in a concrete-block house built in 1905 by contractor Edwin T. King on the New River. Their previous wood frame house was converted into the Bryan Hotel, later replaced by the concrete block New River Inn, run by Lucy. Their farm was located five miles up the waterway, and at one point included tomatoes and over 500 orange trees.

Philemon's half-brother, Franklin Americus "Frank" Bryan (1872-1934) and his wife Frances J. (Bessent) Bryan also moved to Fort Lauderdale; their children were Frank, Christine, and Dorothy. In 1911, Frank A. Bryan was appointed as the first city clerk of Fort Lauderdale, was a member of the Dade County Board of Commissioners, and when Broward County was formed in 1915 he served as the first Circuit Court Clerk and County Clerk and Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners, positions he held unitl 1932.

Reed A. Bryan, Sr. (1878-1937) first came to Fort Lauderdale with his father to work on the FEC Railway, and then served as the general superintendent of the dreding from the New River at Fort Lauderdale as an agent for the Internal Improvement Fund (IIF). He also had a business shipping produce and from Fort Lauderdale, and imported and sold wood. During the Everglades dredging project, the P.N. Bryan and Sons firm sold thousands of dollars worth of wood to the IIF. He owned the first automobile in Fort Lauderdale. His first wife, Anna Baker, died in 1909 just one year after marrying in 1908. In 1914 he married his second wife, Barbara Ummel (1879-1974), and they had two children, Reed Asa Bryan II (1915-1976) and James Hawthorne Bryan (1917-1993).

Tom Milton Bryan also worked on the FEC Railway and then later in agriculture and shipping. He married Camille Perry (1879-1969), and their only son was Perry Bryan (1908-1953). Tom Bryan served on the City Council of Fort Lauderdale, and helped determine the boundaries of Broward County when it the Florida Legislature created the county in 1915.

Virginia Dallas Bryan (1868-1948) married Milton Bryan in 1887. They had one son, Stuart Lewis Bryan, who served in the Navy during World War I. His naval training was partially completed at the training center in Miami. Stuart Bryan also was the last innkeeper of the New River Inn before it closed in 1955 and he moved to Oklahoma.

Susan Florence Bryan (1875-1953) married Fernando "Fred" Andrew Barret who became president of the First National Bank of Fort Lauderdale when it opened in 1921.

Processing information:

This collection was processed by Alexis Montero in 2024. Collection was processed at item level and finding aid updated by Erin Purdy March 2026.

Arrangement:

The Bryan Family Collection is organized into three series: Series I. Photographs, Series II. Papers, and Series III. Objects

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Preferred citation:

Bryan Family Collection, Broward County Historical Archives, Broward County Library.

Location of this collection:
Broward County Historical Archives, Broward County Library
100 S. Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale
FL
33301
USA