Bryant, Charles Grandison, 1803-1850

A soldier, farmer, artisan, and merchant, Charles Grandison Bryant (1803-1850), who began studying house building around the age of 9, established an architectural firm in 1825 at Bangor, Maine. With two others in 1837, he founded a military school, which became a center for training Canadian separatists. After a planned invasion of Canada failed, Bryant and his son Andrew Jackson Bryant moved to Galveston, Texas, in 1839. He joined the Galveston Fusiliers in 1841, serving the next year during the invasion of Rafael Vásquez. He then chopped cedar for Hall’s Bayou, before returning to architecture in 1847. He designed Galveston’s St. Mary Cathedral Basilica, completed in 1848. In 1850, Bryant, now a Texas Ranger, encountered Lipan Apaches in a skirmish near Chocolate Bayou that resulted in his death.

Bryant married Sarah Getchell in 1827. The couple had seven children: Andrew Jackson (1828-1843), a sailor in the Texas Navy who died at sea when his ship sank; Charles Carroll (b. 1830); Martin Van Buren (b. 1834); Dewitt Clinton (b. 1836); Wolfred Nelson (b. 1839), father of Gideon Randall; Edwin Moore (b. 1845); and Mrs. Welthea Leachman (b. 1847).

Sources:

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. Bryant, Charles Grandison, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbrcb.html (accessed June 30, 2010).

Mundy, James H., and Earle G. Shettleworth. The Flight of the Grand Eagle: Charles G. Bryant, Maine Architect and Adventurer. August, Maine: Maine Historic Preservation Commission, 1977.

A soldier, farmer, artisan, and merchant, Charles Grandison Bryant (1803-1850), who began studying house building around the age of 9, established an architectural firm in 1825 at Bangor, Maine.

With two others in 1837, he founded a military school, which became a center for training Canadian separatists. After a planned invasion of Canada failed, Bryant and his son Andrew Jackson Bryant moved to Galveston, Texas, in 1839. He joined the Galveston Fusiliers in 1841, serving the next year during the invasion of Rafael Vásquez. He then chopped cedar for Hall's Bayou, before returning to architecture in 1847. He designed Galveston's St. Mary Cathedral Basilica, completed in 1848. In 1850, Bryant, now a Texas Ranger, encountered Lipan Apaches in a skirmish near Chocolate Bayou that resulted in his death.

Bryant married Sarah Getchell in 1827.

The couple had seven children: Andrew Jackson (1828-1843), a sailor in the Texas Navy who died at sea when his ship sank; Charles Carroll (b. 1830); Martin Van Buren (b. 1834); Dewitt Clinton (b. 1836); Wolfred Nelson (b. 1839), father of Gideon Randall; Edwin Moore (b. 1845); and Mrs. Welthea Leachman (b. 1847).