The Penn's Grove record., 1896-07-24

| 10, 1860. His ancestors came iroW
Scotland about 100 years ago and set
tied in Virginia. His father, SilaI
BRYAN, went to Illinois when young AM
his mother Maria Jennings Bryan, wa!
born in Illinois, but descended
from some Of the first families in Vii
| ginia. Silas Bryan, was a lawyer 0
standing and integrity, who served
eight in the Illinois Senate AMI
was a circuit Judge at the time of hi
| sons birth, and served in that capacit!
from 1850 to 1S72 on the bench OF Hi
nois. Judge Bryan moved on a farm 1
| short distance from Salem when his SOL
was 6 a old, and from that time un
til he was % years old Bryan spent hi
summers on the farm. In 1872 hi
father ran for congress on the Creole!
ticket and was defeated by 2i0 votes.
At the age of Is VIM. J Bryan went
to the Whipple academy in Jacksonville
Ills, which is the preparatory depart
ment Of the Illinois college located al
the same place. He spent two years in
the academy and four years in the col
lege. taking q classical course. He re
presented his college in the interstate
oratorical contest in 1eS0, and was class
orator and valedictorian in 1881. He
then went 10 the Union College of Law
in Chicago. and while in attendance
there was in the office of Lyman Trum'
bull.
He left the law school June Is, 1888,
and went to Jacksonville to practice law,
| remaining there till October, 1887,
when he removed to Lincoln, Neb.
going into partnership with A. r. Tai
bot, a alassmate of the law school. He
| had taken part in political campaigns
since 1880, and made a number OF
| speeches. He took part ia the cam
paign of 1855 in Nebraska, and was
nominated to represent the First dis
triet in congress in 1890. He was elect
ed by the majority of 6,713, although
the district had gone Republican by
4,400, when Secretary Morton had been
defeated in ISIS, and was thought to be
certainly Republican. He supported
Springer for speaker in the Fifty-sec-
ond congress, from whose district in
Illinois he came originally. This led
to his being put IN the ways and means
committee in congress, of which Spring
er was chairman, and on March 16,
1892, he made a tariff speech that was
the sensation of the day and was liber'
ally distributed as campaign literature.
He was reelected in 1892, in spite OF
the fact that the legislature had redis'
tricted the state, and his district in the
previous election had given the Repub'
lican ticket about 5000 majority.
In the flfty-third congress Mr.. Bryan
helped TO frame the Wilson bill, being
a member of the ways and means COM
mittee, and took an especially active
part in the income tax provisions. AT
the close of the debate on the income
tax in congress, replying to Bourke
Cochran, Aug. II, 1898, at the special
session, delivered a three hours speech
against the repeal of the Sherman law,
this speech being more largely circulat'
ed than the tariff speech had been. He
also spoke in favor of the bill to coin
the seigniorage and spoke against Car
isles currency policy, as also against
Cleveland's gold contract with the
Rothschilds.
In 1894 he became a candidate for
the United States senate, and announc-
ed that lie would not be a candidate fol-
the lower house of congress. He was
nominated for United States senator in
the Democratic convention, and the
Populist candidate in his district was
Endorsed by the Democrats for the house
of representatives. The ensuing state
legislature being Republican, John NJ.
Thurston, was sent to the senate and
the Republican candidate in his former
congressional district, J. B. Strobe,
was elected by 5,000majority. During
all three of the campaigns he challeng-
ed the opposing candidate to a debate,
and several discussions were held
After his retirement from congress
he took up the practice of law in Lin.
coin again, but the silver campaign
opening he found that the calls upon
him for speeches and campaign work
we're so frequent that he was forced to
give up his practice. In September,
1894, he became the editor.in.chief Of
the Omaha World.Herald, and had
control of its editorial policy on state
and national questions.
Mr.. Bryan is a man of small means.
He was married Oct. /, 1884, to Mary
Baird, of Perry, Ills, who attended the
female academy in Jacksonville when
he was in the other school at the same
place, and who graduated the same
week that he did and was also the vale.
dictorian of her class. She studied law
and was admitted to the bar, without
any idea of practicing, but simply to be
more thoroughly cOmpaniOnable to him.
She is a year or two younger than he.
Three children have been born to them,
Ruth, 10 years old; William j. Jr.,
about I, and Grace, 8.
Mr.. Bryan is a Presbyterian, having
joined the Cumberland Presbyterian
church at the age of IA. He is now a
member Of the First Presbyterian
church of Lincoln. Mr.. Bryan was a
trustee up to the time left for Wash.
ington to enter Congress and he and
his wife were teachers in the Sunday
School. He has also taken an interest
in the Y. NJ. G. a. and while in Wash