George Bryan

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Husband George Bryan ^{1 2}

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           Born: 1731 - Dublin, Ireland 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 27 Jan 1791 - Philadelphia, PA 1 3
         Buried: 

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         Father: Samuel Bryan (      -      ) 2
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 

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Wife

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           Born: 
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Children

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1 M George Bryan ^{1 4 5}

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           Born: 1766 - Philadelphia, PA 1 5
     Christened: 
           Died: 17 Dec 1838 - Lancaster, Lancaster Co, PA 1 5
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Anna Maria Steinman (1780-1844) 4 5

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General Notes: Husband - George Bryan

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He was a prominent citizen of Pennsylvania in Revolutionary days; he was naval officer of the port of Philadelphia in 1776; elected vice-president Supreme Executive Council, 1777, and acting president, 1778; one of the Pennsylvania commissioners who established the boundary-line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, 1779; elected an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1780, serving until his death. He was particularly noted as the originator, author, and chief promoter of the act of 1780 "for the gradual abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania."

He was well educated and a Presbyterian in religion. Letters from his father written soon after the son came to Philadelphia show the family life to have been of the most earnest Christian tone. After coming to Philadelphia he engaged in commerce, but failed through the misfortune of others. He had showed a liking and talent for public career and soon entered upon a long and eventful life as a public official.
As a member of the Pennsylvania assembly in 1764 he protested against Franklin's appointment as the agent for Pennsylvania in London, England, chiefly on the ground that he would seek to separate rather than conciliate the mother country. He, however, led in resistance to Great Britain's aggression and in 1765 was a member of congress. His correspondence at this period shows him to have been an alert politician and he soon became a leader of the rising radical party in Pennsylvania and with a Mr. Cameron was the prin-cipal framer of the new constitution, although not a member of the convention that adopted it. He is said by a contemporary to have been "a very diligent reader and a never weary talker" with a knowledge of the "most minute recondite and out of the way facts." So much so that a bet was once offered that "he could name the town crier of Bergen-op-Zoom." "It was his passion to identify himself with the people in opposition to those who were termed the well born." On March 4, 1777, the supreme executive council first met and in joint session with the assembly elected Thomas Wharton Jr., president, and George Bryan, vice-president. They were proclaimed the next day and with this event the government of Pennsylvania, under the new constitution, was an accomplished fact. The popular party was in full control and their aggressive policy, which soon became manifest, was due in a very large measure to the new vice-president, Hon. George Bryan. May 23, 1778, Mr. Wharton died at the capital, Lancaster, and Mr. Bryan became president. Early in June of that year the British left Philadelphia and on June 26, Acting President Bryan again established the government of Pennsylvania in that city. The congress at York which had submitted the articles of confederation to the state resumed their sittings in the old State House on July 7, with the articles ratified by a large number of the states. On December 1, 1779, General Joseph Reed was chosen the second president of the state with George Bryan again as vice-president. He was chairman of the committee appointed to settle the Virginia boundary question with Rev. Dr. John Ewing and Mr. Rittenhouse on the part of Pennsylvania. Under the constitution of 1776, Mr. Bryan's term of office, as member of the supreme council, could not extend beyond three years, until at least four years had intervened. On October 11, 1779, he resigned as vice-president and at the election next day he returned to the assembly from the city of Philadelphia. He became leader of the assembly and with Mr. Peale shared thirty-two chairmanships of committees or four-fifths of the whole number. A greater instance of one man power was never witnessed in any legislature or in American history. Of the thirty-two chairmanships Mr. Bryan had twenty-seven of the most im-portant. At the next session of the legislature in 1780, he was equally dominant. Among the notable bills of these sessions was the vesting of the estates of the proprietories in the commonwealth, the forfeiting of the college charter and the erection of a state university upon its ruins. The creation of a high court of errors and appeals and an act providing for "The Abolition of Slavery" passed February 20, 1780. This was the act of his public life in which Mr. Bryan took the greatest pride. Just before this session closed he had the unique honor of having his hard and valuable work recognized by an extra appropriation of five hundred pounds "for extra services rendered by him during the recess and present sitting of the House." In 1780, soon after the adjournment of the assembly, he was unanimously chosen by the supreme council a member of the supreme court of Pennsylvania and ex-officio member of the new high court of errors and appeals. With this event the forceful leader of the Philadelphia Constitutionalists was seated in the highest tribunals of the judicial branch of the government of Pennsylvania, as he had previously been in the executive and law-making branch. While this by no means removed him as a political power, it did remove him from the assembly and from the pathway of other ambitious men. When he entered the supreme court he was designated the fourth judge or justice.
In 1790 he led in opposition to a new state constitution, not so much on account of its provisions perhaps as from loyalty to the charter of 1776, of which he was the father. But his efforts were in vain, and on July 9, 1790, Philadelphia celebrated with a great federal procession of eighty-six sections, the thirteenth of which was the car "Constitution." On this car was seated the members of the supreme court, Chief Justice McKean and Justices Atlee and Rush all in their red robes of office, all except Judge Bryan. The constitution was accepted by the Bryan party, but they at once took measures to secure amendments to it, Judge Bryan heading a list of thirty-three names in a call for a conference at Harrisburg.
On December 23, 1790, Governor Mifflin proclaimed all who then held commissions under the late constitution as in office until further notice. This made Judge Bryan of the supreme and high court of errors still a member of their branches under the new constitution, but he was not long destined to survive the passing of the constitution of 1776, in which so much of his life had been bound up. The intense fight he had made for several years had left visible marks upon his person, but none on his clear and vigorous mind. Scarcely a month passed after the proclamation of Governor Mifflin, when after a short illness Judge Bryan died at the age of sixty years. Said the Gazette of February 2: "The firmness of his resolution was invincible and the mildness of his temper never changed. His knowledge was very extensive; the strength of his memory verified what has been thought incredible or fabulous, when related by others. His judgment was correct, his modesty extreme, his benevolence unbounded, his piety unaffected and exemplary. If he failed in any duty it was that he was possibly too disinterested; his own interest was almost the only thing he ever forgot." Thus closed the life of the greatest power behind the constitution of 1776. The man of whom fifteen years later A. J. Dallas said: "His memory will last as long as liberty has an advocate in America."

1 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 406.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 434.

3 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 435.

4 Franklin Ellis & Samuel Evans, History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 527.

5 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 436.