Background
Charles Wayland Bryan was born on February 10, 1867 in Salem, Illinois. He was the third son and seventh of eight children of Silas Lillard Bryan, Illinois state senator and circuit judge, and Mariah Elizabeth (Jennings) Bryan.
(Sometime prior to 1760, a teenager named William Littlejo...)
Sometime prior to 1760, a teenager named William Littlejohn left Scotland, and sailed to America. 38 years later, eldest son Thomas journeyed inland 150 miles with the same pioneer spirit. As the title suggests, this project started out as the author's efforts to "find" Thomas. However, it quickly grew to include familial backstory to his siblings, parents, and the old Scottish lineage. SPECIAL REVIEW: ""Finding Thomas Blount Littlejohn is a well-researched and well-written book, and indeed, it is an excellent template for those wishing to research and write a family history. However, you don't have to be a genealogist or a descendant to find this book entertaining. It is an appealing historical narrative by itself. Additionally, Mr. Bryan provides a very cogent analysis of Thomas B. Littlejohn's important place in the history of Oxford and Granville County. A fine job by a good researcher!" -- Mark A. Pace, North Carolina Room Specialist, Granville County Library System
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Thomas-Blount-Littlejohn-Charles/dp/1365727378?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1365727378
Charles Wayland Bryan was born on February 10, 1867 in Salem, Illinois. He was the third son and seventh of eight children of Silas Lillard Bryan, Illinois state senator and circuit judge, and Mariah Elizabeth (Jennings) Bryan.
After attending the Salem public schools and Whipple Academy in Jacksonville, Illinois (1883 - 84), Charles entered the University of Chicago (1885), but left before the end of his first year.
In 1891 Charles Bryan followed his brother William to Nebraska. There he worked in Lincoln as a salesman and secretary of the Purity Extract Company and later in Omaha as a broker for an Eastern manufacturing firm.
Charles Bryan's political career began in 1896 when he agreed to handle the voluminous correspondence relating to his brother William's presidential campaign. This was the beginning of a long partnership. Charles efficiently managed William's finances, scheduled his speaking engagements, kept an extensive card file on his political associates, and helped formulate his campaign strategy. For twenty-two years (1901 - 23) Charles ran his brother's journal, the Commoner, serving after 1914 as both associate editor and publisher.
Charles Bryan was regarded by many as more politically astute than his brother. He first sought office on his own in 1915 while William was serving as Secretary of State in the Wilson cabinet. Elected in that year to the Lincoln city commission, he was chosen mayor (1915 - 17) by his fellow commissioners and soon launched a campaign for municipal ownership of public utilities, expanded welfare programs, aid to the unemployed, and free legal services for the poor. To lower prices of consumer goods, he also proposed establishing public corporations to compete against utility companies, clothing manufacturers, and food processors.
In 1916 and 1918 he made unsuccessful bids for the gubernatorial nomination, after which he was again elected to the Lincoln city commission and served as superintendent of streets and public improvements (1921 - 23). Although he won more votes than any other commissioner, he this time failed of election as mayor, having created enemies by his "radical" attacks on the conservative state government and wartime profiteers.
After unsuccessfully seeking nomination for the United States Senate in 1934, he served again as mayor of Lincoln (1935 - 37), only to be defeated in his final years as an aspirant for the governorship (1938, 1942) and Congress (1940).
He died of cancer at his home in Lincoln at the age of seventy-eight and was buried in Wyuka Cemetery, Lincoln.
(Sometime prior to 1760, a teenager named William Littlejo...)
(Adirondacks river.)
In 1922, after effecting a brief truce with Senator Gilbert M. Hitchcock, the Bryans' perennial rival for control of the Nebraska Democratic party, Charles Bryan was elected governor, despite a statewide Republican tide. A Republican-dominated legislature, however, blocked most of the measures he advocated, including a state income tax, a reduced budget, and a rural credits program. He declined renomination in 1924 in order to become a candidate for the presidency.
The Democratic national convention, deadlocked between William G. McAdoo and Alfred E. Smith, finally chose the conservative John W. Davis. Although both Bryan brothers had opposed Davis, Charles accepted the vice-presidential nomination, which was offered to conciliate the Bryan wing of the party. A familiar national figure in the black silk skull cap he wore to protect his light-sensitive bald head, he campaigned vigorously, but failed to carry even his own state.
Two additional defeats for the gubernatorial nomination (1926, 1928) left him undaunted, and he subsequently won the governorship in 1930 and 1932. Working hard to solve the problems of the depression, he supported old age assistance, laws protecting bank depositors, and tariff reductions on manufactured goods.
More of a businessman than William, Charles Bryan prized administrative efficiency and tried to reduce government expenditures. He lacked his brother's tact in dealing with political opponents, and he was not religiously motivated; he was never a church member as an adult. Yet he was a staunch supporter of prohibition and at one time headed the Nebraska Dry Federation. Like his brother, he was basically an agrarian reformer.
He was a hard and systematic worker with an encyclopedic memory for names and faces.
On November 29, 1892, he married Bessie Louise Brokaw of Salem. They had three children: Silas Millard, Virginia, and Mary Louise.