Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1902-12-10
The Old Men of ROckbridge.
MATTHEW BRYAN.

not over IndU dSc' DuO III 'h"O
period of life he had filled the
measure of a good age; having
lived more, if / may be allowed the
apparently contradictory express
sion, in the years allotted to him
than some men would have lived in
double the number.
His life had been an active, busy
one. The nature of his business
made it such. What he was, he
had made of himself, by his own
untiring, laborious exertions. What
he had accumulated in the way of
property, he had done without
money capital to begin with-little
by little at first, and by hard work
and strict attention to business.
He knew how it came, but at the
same time it could not be said of
him. as Is often said of men who
are the architects of their own for
tunes, that knowing how it came
by hard licks they garnered it the
more carefully, for Matthew Bryan
was not a parsimonious man. He
was truly liberal man-not
prodigal, but his error was rather
on the side Of liberality than Of
parsimony, so far as his own
interests were concerned.
Mr.. Bryan accun ulated, at
different periods of his life, large
portions Of pref erty. OF all the
men engaged in the iron business
twenty five years ago, he may be
tt ken as a fair specimen Of the men
in that line. While he may not
be considered the head man Of the
iron trade, he was truly IA represen-
tative man Of that class. He was,
during portions Of his time, as
largely engaged in it as any OF
them, and good deal more so
than many others who operated
quite extensively. The Bryan
family became family Of iron
men. If / am not mistaken, an
older brother, Edward Bryan, ac-
ouired considerable interest in
that trade from very small amount
of capital at first, and thus, one by
one. the brothers and more distant
members of the family became en-
gagged in it.
The organs and the Shaws We're
connected by family ties, and the
families ran quite an extensive
career for some quarter Of a cen
tuary or more, in carrying on the
iron business. The old Bryan
FORCES were located on the North
River in the neighborhood of the
Rockbridge Baths. The furnaces
were seated on the waters OF the
South River in the vicinity OF
Midway. The one run more par
ticularly by Matthew Bryan was
the old Vesuvius stack, a mile or
so east of Midway, on the Matthew
Shaw farm, as it was known in
early days. 1t was built, think,
by that famous old iron man, May
berry, whose name is identified
with the iron trade of Rockbridge
of half century ago.
The Vesuvius furnace was
operated on a large scale in days
when it was under the manage
inert of Matthew Bryan. Then
timber was comparatively plentiful
on the tract Of mountain land on
which the furnace was situated. II
was a big survey, containing some
eleven or twelve thousand acres
along the western slope of the
South Mountain, extending from
near the Augusta line to the waters
of Irish Greek and known as the
Diggs survey. The iron ore ano
other valuable minerals are still
abundant on it; but timber becom'
ing pretty much culled out, the
the iron trade having gotten IN
rather depressed condition ano
then the death of MATHEW Bryan,
caused suspension of operations
and at this day the old stack
stands idle-a crumbling mass,
presenting but clone relic OF the
past.
There was on it fine foundry
at which large business was done
by the firm of Bryan & Bradley IN
the way of making the celebrated
Livingston plows. 1t is stlh quite
extensively carried on by the
nresent energetic proprietor, Mr.
Hugh F. Lyle, in making the same
nattern of plows and other cast
ings, having u site and water power
Of admirable capacity to become
most aourishing establishment,
with a n ore general revival OF the
business in the county.
Mr.. Bryan not only filled
prominent place in the public
sphere as an iron man, but also as
useful citizen in various Other
respects. He was a magistrate
and exercised happy, controlling
influence in that portion OF the
county: an influential member OF
the Methodist church, and con
tributed beautifully of his means
for its support; an active adherenl
Of the democratic party ano
in the tug of war with their