HON. W. J. BRYAN'S RESIDENCE AT LINCOLN, NEB.. 35 HON. W. J. BRYAN'S FARM RESIDENCE NEAR SALEM, HON. W. J. BRYAN AT THE AGE OF 30. HON. H. M. TELLER HON. RICHARD P. BLAND HON. JNO. W. DANIEL HON. J. C. S. BLACKBURN HON. JAS. K. JONES HON. F. M. COCKRELL HON. CHAS. F. CRISP CHAPTER I. BRYAN'S EARLY DAYS. William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, was born in the town of Salem, Marion County, Illinois, March 19, 1860. He is the descendant of the Jennings and the Bryan families, whose men and women made the world better by their existence. None of these achieved national distinction, but each appears to have performed his or her part in life with strict fidelity to duty. Along all the branches of the very numerous family it is not difficult to observe the existence of a strong family pride. Not that pride which comprehends an aristocracy, nor, indeed, that which considers genius, but a pride that contemplates the ancestry of honest men and women, who provided well for their families, educated their children, bestowed charity where charity was deserved and contributed materially to society in their respective spheres. The father of William Jennings Bryan was Silas Lillard Bryan, and his mother's maiden was Mariah Elizabeth Jennings. The American history of the Bryan family begins in name |