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CHESTER E. BRYAN. The Madison County Democrat at London has perhaps a unique distinction among Ohio newspapers in that it has been since its founding more than sixty-six years ago, continually under the ownership and editorial management of one family, and two men, father and son. Chester E. Bryan, who has been actively identified with the paper for forty-five years, is a son of its founder, Marcellus L. Bryan.
The Bryan family was identified with the very earliest settlements in Southern Ohio. David Chester Bryan, the pioneer of the family in Ohio, was born on Long Island, New York, in 1771. In 1792 he came out to the Northwest Territory, locating in what is now Clermont County, Ohio. David Chester Bryan exercised his potent influence in the early history of that section of the state. He served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives in 1806-07 and as a state senator from 1807 to 1811, and in 1814 he and George Ely laid out and named the county seat town Batavia.
His son, David Chester Bryan, Jr., was born at Batavia, and married Mary Melvin Moore. Her father, Capt. Charles Moore, was a sergeant in the Revolutionary army and became an officer in the War of 1812. The Moore family was also identified with the early settlement of Ohio, coming from Philadelphia.
Marcellus L. Bryan, a grandson of the Ohio pioneer David Chester Bryan, Sr., was born at Batavia, in Clermont County, March 23, 1829. As a young man he moved to Columbus, where he took up newspaper work on the staff of the Ohio Statesman. It was in 1857 that he established the Madison County Democrat at London, and continued as its owner and editor until his death, when he was succeeded by his son. Marcellus L. Bryan married Martha Sidney Masterson of Columbus, daughter of Professor Ormond Masterson, who came to America in 1831 from Ireland, and at Columbus established the first private school in that city.
Chester E. Bryan was born at London, October 29, 1859, and is about two years younger than the Madison County Democrat. He was one of six children. He completed the work of the London schools in 1878, and since then has been actively associated with the Madison County Democrat, and for many years has been its owner.
In addition to the important service he has rendered in and through this newspaper, he has also made a name in Ohio public affairs and democratic politics. For ten years he was a member of the executive committee of the National Editorial Association, and served four years as president of the Ohio Editorial Association. A staunch democrat, he has served a number of years as chairman of the Madison County Democratic Committee, and those familiar with the local political situation claim that his influence has been largely responsible for the success of his party in Madison County. He has also served as a member of the Democratic State Committee, and Governor Harmon appointed him president of the Board of Trustees of the State Institution for the Deaf. He is best known in the public life of Ohio through his election in 1910 as state treasurer of Ohio, and office he filled for two years.
On February 25, 1886, Mr. Bryan married Miss Maria Daley, of Monroe Township, Madison County. They have four daughters: Hazel, wife of W. A. Stevens of Columbus, Ohio; Beulah Marie, deceased, wife of Godfrey Strauss, of Cincinnati; Uarda, wife of Edward Marsh, of London; and Miss Naomi, at home.
Mr. Bryan has been president of the London Board of Trade, and at all times active in local and state civic affairs. He was editor of a recently published history of Madison County. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, also an Elk, and his favorite vacation is a fishing trip in Michigan during the summer, and in Florida during the winter.
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