Mr Stephen Bryant

• General Notes
  • Was bound to John Shaw, a friend of the Bryant and Doane families.  This John Shaw had preceded the Doanes and the Bryant boys from Kent County England, arriving at Plymouth Colony at least by 1627.  May 22, 1627 he is listed in the colony records as one of 12 men drawing lots for the division of responsibility for caring for the colony's common herd of cows and goats.  July 7, 1630 John Shaw bought from John Winslow for 6 pounds a tract of frim land called Kanve's Acre or Woodbee.
    
    In 1650, Stephen bought or was granted 100 acres of land in a spot identified now as on the easter side of Jones River Pond now Silver Lake).
    
    With a step-father who was a friend of the colony's leaders, and a master who was prospering, Stephen was in an opportune position. In a book written by Governor William Bradford, called Plymouth Plantation, the following excerpt has to do with colony affairs in 1638:
    
    ".nominated and appointed Thomas Prence, Gent.; Governor William Bradford and Edward Winslow Gent.; and assistants of the government Stephen Bryant or Doane; John Doane, Thomas Willette Gent. and John Dunham to have the power and authority for these next four years to put forth and dispose of said stock of cows to the inhabitants of the poor of the said town of Plymouth as shall be thought fit to partake therein."
    
    Governor Bradford added the name Doane to Stephen Bryant for the purpose of identifying him as the step-son of John Doane. This committee was a select group; both Thomas Prence and Edward Winslow were to become governors of Plymouth Colony in their own right. As for the business they were to handle, an English merchant had mad a tidy profit selling necessities to pilgrims at Plymouth, and about 1626 had sent a few cows as a gift to the poor of that town. For twelve years the cows were cared for as the common property of the colonists. Now the committee was to decide who qualified for the cattle, and the assistants were to deliver the animals and get the proper receipts.
    
    A deed dated July 31, 1646, records two acres of upland meadow leased for Abraham Pierce for three years by Stephen Bryant and Samuel Sturtevant for 50 shillings per year.
    
    In 1650, Stephen bought or was granted 100 acres of land in a spot identified now as on the eastern side of Jones River Pond (now Silver Lake). This lot of land was eventually passed along to Stephen;s oldest son, John, and through him, down through many generations of the Bryant family.
    
    In 1651, Stephen bought 8 acres of marsh meadow for Jonathan Shaw; four months later he sold 4 of those acres to William Ford, and eight years later he sold three acres of the same to Edward Cook. Also in 1651, Stephen bought more property at " the high cliffe" for Benjamin Eaton and sold it to Edward Gray.
    
    Among other transfers of land where Stephen Bryant's name occurs are sales to Samuel Wood,Samuel Sturtevant, Jonathan Shaw, Edward Gray and Jacob Cook, and purchases from Samuel Eddy, Benjamin Eaton and Jonathon Shaw.
    
    These frequent deeds for Stephen Bryant's purchases and sales of land find a striking parallel seven generations later, when the brothers Colby and Gustavus Bryant were to crows the record books in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, and Monona County, Iowa, with the same sort of transactions. (believe Gustavus was a Civil War Vet, lost a leg and almost an arm).
    
    What was Stephen doing with all of these parcels of land? William Bradford wrote in his journal that the first impression he had of the site of Plymouth Colony as he looked form the deck of the mayflower was "so goodly a land and wooded to the brink of the sea" (Mourts's Relation, p.2). Back from the coastline, the colony was a vast area of swampland extending for miles in many directions. These swamps, bogs and marshes were overgrown with cedar trees. One of the first manufacturing enterprises in new England sprang up here as the land was stripped of the cedar trees, which were made into barrels, used for shipping to England the tar and pitch into which the coastal pines were being converted. Additional cedar staves and heads were shipped to Engalnd for use as beer barrels and wine casks. Unlike other woods, cedar did not damage the flavor of the beverages.
    
    By the year 1649 the cooparage industry had developed so rapidly that Sunday work, a grave crime in the eyes of the Plymouth Church, had become prevalent. On June 6th of that year, Stephen Bryant was presented in court for carrying a barrel to the tar pits on the Lord's Day. He was cleared "with admonition", but his brother-in law, Jonathan Shaw, was sentenced on the same day to sit in the stocks for working those tar pits.
    
    Jan. 16, 1650, John Cary of Duxbury, a planter (i.e., farmer), sold two acres of meadow ground "lying upon the north side of Pine Point" to Stephen. John Shaw signed the deed as a witness.
    
    In 1651, Stephen bought a cow from Samuel Cutbert for two bushels of Indian corn and two barrels of tar.
    
    March 2, 1651, Stephen and his wife, Abigail, appeared in court to "complain against John Haward, Edward Hall, and Susannah Haward, of Duxburrow, in an action of slander and defamation, to the damages of 500 pounds." They were awarded 5 pounds.
    
    The Plymouth records are so detailed we even read there what sort of mark Stephen used to identify his cattle (a slit on top of the left ear; his son-in-law Lieut. John Bryant used a "cut across the near ear", and what sort of gun he had " one of the longer sort of guns from Serg. Harlow".
    
    The swamp region was filled with numerous streams and ponds alive with pickerel, red perch, trout and herring. Wild ducks, turkeys, geese and pigeons in enormous flocks helped fill the larder, as well as the pillows and feather ticks. Moose, deer, bear and rabbit provided food and clothing. Beaver, mink muskrat and skunk pelts ere bartered for necessities. This daily involvement with, and dependence upon nature found poetical expression five generations later in Stephen's descendant William Cullen Bryant and eight, nine, ten generations after Stephen, his offspring in Iowa were fishing the rivers and lakes and hunting and walking the fields and woods with a passion which is better understood by seeing this historical beginning.
    
    Mar. 6, 1654, John Shaw's wife, Alice, died. In poor health john returned to England to die. On Jan. 30, 1663, a deed of gift was recorded in Plymouth whereby he distributed his land to his heirs. This deed reads as follows:
    
    "Know all men by these presents that I, John Shaw, of Plymouth in New England, Senior have and do by these presents give unto my son-in-law Stephen Bryant of Plymouth all that, my whole share of land allotted unto me near unto Namassaket both upland and meadow, with all and singular, the appurtenances there unto belonging to the said Stephen Bryant and his heirs and assigns forever. Also, I do give unto my son-in-law, Stephen Bryant, another portion of land called by the name of Rehoboth, which land was formerly granted unto me lying on the south-side of Smelt River according as it is bounded and set out with all appurtences there unto belong to the said Stephen Bryant, his heirs, etc. I do declare by these presents that I do give unto my son, James, one-half my purchase lands at Cushena and one-fourth to son Jonathan and one-fourth to Stephen Bryant. Me daughter, Abigail Bryant, my bed, etc., also my chest."
    
    On Nov. 3, 1653, Thomas and Anne Savory had indentured their son Benjamin, age 8, to John and Alice Shaw. On March 2, 1657, Thomas and Anne again indentured Benjamin, this time to Stephen and Abigail Bryant, to be "instructed in husbandry" (i.e., farming) and to receive five pounds sterling at the end of his term. This was a way for Benjamin to learn farming, and for Stephen to have cheap hired help, in the same way that Stephen himself had been indentured as a boy to John and Alice Shaw.
    
    The Plymouth town records show that Stephen was called upon to fill certain public offices. He was appointed constable for 1663, road surveyor for 1658, 1659, 1670, 1674 and 1676, and to serve on juries in 1653, 1659-62, 1670-72, 1674-76, 1678-79, and 1681. He was on the jury in 1676 when Mrs. Bethiah Howland drowned in a tub of clothes and water; her death was judged accidental.
    
    The Plymouth Church records, dated July 27, 1684, read as follows:
    
    "The Church was desired to stay after public worship they if any, had any just exception of admission of Old Goodman Bryant with the church they might express it. The issue of the agitation was that nothing appeared to his calling forth to declare himself on the next Lord's Day."
     
    
    A later entry reads:
    
    Stephen Bryant, Senior, admitted to the church."
    
    Of Stephen and Abigail (Shaw)'s six daughters, the oldest, Abigail, married Lieut. John Bryant of Plymouth. This Bryant-Bryant marriage was not at all unusual at that time, and was a practice, which continued for several generations. Mary and Sarah probably died young, or at least before marriage, as their names have not shown up in any of the records. Lydia married William Churchill on Jan. 17, 1684, and died a widow on Feb. 6, 1736. She was buried in a Churchill lot, next to a Bryant lot in the cemetery at Plympton Green. Her son William Churchill Jr. married Ruth Bryant, a daughter of Lydias brother John. Another son, Deacon Samuel Churchill, married JoannahBryant, also a daughter of John. Thus the two brothers married tow sisters who were their first cousins. Elizabeth married Joseph King on Jan. 15, 1689, and Mehittable married Isaac King, probably Joseph's' brother, on Aug. 13, 1689.