William Andrew Cazier Bryan

William Andrew Cazier Bryan, son of Charles Hinkle and Maranda Cazier Bryan, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 5, 1849, in a log cabin built by his father. His parents were pioneers who were in Winter Quarters in 1846 and came to Utah in President Lorenzo Snow’s Company in 1848.

When Will was two and a half years old Brigham Young called his parents to go with a pioneer group of seventy-six members to establish a settlement in Salt Creek Outpost. This was later called Nephi, bushes that were unfamiliar to the chuckle of wagon wheels. But the pioneers had traveled such roads for more than a thousand miles coming westward from the Missouri River. They were now going to make a new home for themselves and their families.

Will’s early years were spent in reclaiming the desert and dealing with the Indians. His days were filled with excitement and challenges. He had a great respect for the Indians. It saddened him to see how they were treated. As a young boy he played with the Indian children and he learned their language. Later in life he also learned to speak Spanish and French. He was a veteran of the Black Hawk War.

The Overland Telegraph line extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts and connected at Salt Lake City, Utah. It was finished in October 1861. When the Indians became troublesome throughout SanPete County in the year of 1865 Brigham Young extended the telegraph to southern Utah. It was now necessary to train operators. Brigham Young instructed the communities to send two or three young men to Salt Lake City to study telegraphy. Will was excited, he was very interested with anything to do with telegraphy and pleaded with his father, who was Bishop, to send him. And at the age of sixteen he was allowed to go to Salt Lake City to fulfill one of the dreams of his life, to learn all he could about telegraphy. He quickly learned the trade and upon returning home he opened and operated the first telegraph office in Nephi. It was located on the ground floor of his father’s house. He also trained young men and women to that profession. From 1866 to 1879 he was telegraph operator for Nephi.

Brigham Young felt it important to keep informed of the news when he was away from Salt Lake City so he took Bryan with him on his annual visits throughout the Territory. In communities where there was no office, Bryan would cut into the telegraph wires with his instruments and receive the news compiled in Salt Lake City. He also traveled as supervisor and inspector over the lines of Church owned telegraph systems. Under Brigham Young’s direction he sent a wired message to President Abraham Lincoln confirming Utah’s loyalty to the Union saying, “Utah has not succeeded, but is firm for the Constitution and the laws of our once happy country and is warmly interested in such successful enterprises as the one so far completed.”

Bryan operated a telegraph office on Western Union lines when stagecoaches crossed the continent and soldiers guarded the stations. Following the Rush Valley massacre by roaming Indians, he was sent to that section which was home station for the Overland Stage Lines.

Bryan held many positions of trust and these early experiences prepared him for his later years when he practiced law. He served for ten years as County Clerk and County Assessor. He was a member of two legislatures. He served two terms in Utah’s legislature in 1868 to 1888. He was elected to the Assembly of Utah, now known as the House, and was also elected to serve in the Council now known as the Senate.

In 1884 he built the first pipe water system in Nephi installing 2500 feet of cement pipe, constructing a large wooden tank at the intake near a grist mill. Bryan also spent a number of years in the mercantile business in Nephi, Utah.

In his early years his educational opportunities were few, but being adept at learning he became one of Utah’s better educated citizens. His ambition never waned, and in 1895 completing his law course and graduating with a L.L.B. degree. He became an important barrister, practicing law in Nephi for half a century. He played a part in the development of his community. He served as City and County Attorney and was a member of the Territorial Council.

Bryan was called on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1875 and served in the British Isles. At that time he was married and had an infant daughter whom he left behind.

Bryan married Elizabeth Jamina Parkes in October 1867 and they had five children, Lillian Belle, Lula Elizabeth, William, Claudius Hinkle and Mary Belle. His wife died in October 1891. Bryan then married Anna Helena Rolfson in May 1892. They had seven children, William, Olga, Bent, Alif, Helga, Margaret, and Rolfson. Anna died in 1920. Later Bryan married Hannah Cooper Rasmussen in March 1924. She died in 1949.

In a letter written to his children Bryan paid tribute to the mothers of his children. He said, “Your mothers were the best the Lord had to give me . . . they were as nearly divine as mortals are permitted, to stay and bring forth off springs. Your love for, and your confidence in me comes through the hearts of your mothers. They were my companions and trainers. Their love and charity for me helped me to understand and strengthened my endeavors to be their soldier at the front in our earth life battles. . . . and then the good Lord sent me this wonderful little lady-wife, Hannah . . . She has given and is giving to you and me the most tender love and able care that the hands of an earth mother can bestow.”

William Andrew Cazier Bryan died November 1, 1948, in Nephi, Juab County, Utah, just five months shy of his one hundredth birthday.

By Ruth Maranda Gale Romney Edited and retyped by Carol Cazier Reynolds

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 22 2021, 4:01:23 UTC