Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Frank Nickolas Bryan

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]

Ancestors of Frank Nickolas Bryan

Generation No. 2

      2. Ralph Orville Bryan, born 1/21/1915 in Thayer, Neosho Cnty, KS; died 9/22/1989 in Cortez, Montezuma Cnty, CO. He was the son of 4. George Nicholas Bryan and 5. Martha Elizabeth Dougherty. He married 3. Margaret Lucile Burritt 2/14/1948 in Eckert, CO.

      3. Margaret Lucile Burritt, born 1/7/1927 in Cederedge, Delta County, CO; died 2/17/1998 in Cortez, Montezuma, CO. She was the daughter of 6. Frank Reed Burritt and 7. Echo Margaret Smith.

Notes for Ralph Orville Bryan:
BIRTH:
1/211915 in Thayer, Kansas (Bryan fanily bible as kept by Martha Dougherty Bryan, and currently in the possession of Sharon Louise Bryan Spoonemore)

MARRIAGE:
first to Bethine Helen Tombleson in Lamar, Colorado in 1938; second to Margaret Lucile Burritt 2/14/1948 in Eckert, Colorado (personal notes of F N Bryan, marriage record of Ralph and Margaret).

DEATH:
9/22/1989 from complications of low blood pressure, induced by medications for seizure and mental disorder. Death occurred in early morning, when he rose to use the toilet, fainted, and never woke up.

BIOGRAPHY:

8th of 12 children of George Nicholas and Martha Dougherty Bryan, only seven of whom survived to adulthood, and one of those died at age 20. Ralph carried a lifelong sense of guilt over the death of his siblings. His mother died when he was 15, and his father was too ill to care for him, so he was sent to live with his older brothers in St Louis. A younger sister was sent with him. The youngest child remained with their father, and moved with their father to Lamar, Colorado, to live near other relatives. Ralph was unable to get along with his older brothers Sid and Sylvester and they would not support him or allow him to remain in school. This remained a lifelong source of anger for Ralph. He hopped a train to Colorado, and found work in Durango, Colorado cleaning up mining slag, then he attempted to reuntie with his father in Lamar, and was rejected. He went into a violent rage, and was committed to the State Mental Hospital in Pueblo. He was 17. After six months of confinement, his father finally came to get him, took him out on a day pass for lunch, and he ran away. He made his way to Colorado Springs, and found work in an apple box factory, joined an evangeligal Baptist church, and began singing gospel music. He met his first wife in that church, and they began singing together, fell in love, and married. Four children followed in short order, but there was much tension in the family. Ralph grew abusive and angry, and was asked to leave. He attempted to join the army and serve his country duirng WW II but they would not take him because of his mental history. He was however allowed to join the civil service and went to Guam, where he trained as a welder, and repaired ships throughout the war in the Pacific. His wife served him divorce papers while he was in Guam, and he signed a "no contest" divorce agreement with her. She remarried and her new husband would not ever allow Ralph to see his children. This was a source of lifelong frustration for Ralph. While in Guam he began a penpal relationship with a woman in Grand Junction, Colorado, and after the war went there to meet her. He did not like her in person, as much as he did a friend of hers named Margaret Lucile Burritt. They had a whirlwind romance, and married after only a few months of dating. Ralph and Margaret, opted not to stay in Colorado, and went to Idaho, where four children were born in quick succession. This put the couple in sever economic hardship, and they went bankrupt. They returned to Delta County, Colorado,and with the help of Margaret's parents started a new life in Delta. However Ralph retained very bitter, angry, feelings for his estrangement from his father and siblings, and his elder children. This anger often exploded into violent rages, for which he was frequently fired, which led to even more economic hardships, another bankruptcy, and after beginning to have a seizure disorder which led to a car accident, he became totally disabled, and suffered a complete mental collapse at age 56. This led to his physically attacking people in the streets, and after attacking Margaret and his youngest son Les, he was confined again to the State Mental Hospital in Pueblo. Margaret eventually had him released to her custody, and through a careful regiment of medications, he became a very jolly, beloved citizen of Cortez, and a faithful, devoted companion to Margaret. He was however a mere caricature of his former self, and never worked again. His mental confusions, and bizarre habits, made him often very dificult to deal with, and he had to be carefully monitored by Margaret until his death at age 72. With Margaret and his younger brother Earl's help he was finally able to reconnect with his elder children, and 3 out of the 4 welcomed him back into their lives. His younger children however preferred to remain somewhat distant, and stayed in touch only at Margaret's insistance.

Notes for Margaret Lucile Burritt:
BIRTH:
1/7/1927 in Cederedge, CO to Frank and Echo (birth records of Delta County Colorado)

MARRIAGE:
2/14/1948 to Ralph Orville Bryan by Reverend J. A. Hunsicker and witnessed by Patsy Austin and Ray Hamilton (marriage certificate)

Candlelit double ring ceremony was at the home of her parents at 8 P. M. Margaret wore a simple dress of bamboo colored crepe and a shoulder corsage of American Beauty roses. Patsy Austin was bridesmaid and Ray Hamilton best man. Luella and Dorothy Dillon, cousins of Margaret, were candle lighters. Miss Phyllis Butler sang "Always" and Mrs James Vela played Lohengrin's Wedding March. At the reception following the ceremony, Mrs. John Burritt and Miss Anna Beard presided over the serving table. (Delta County Independent)

DEATH:
2/17/1998 at home at approximately 7 AM of a probable acute myocardial infarction (death certificate as determined by coroner Gay Balfour) Services were held 2/24 at Montezuma Valley Presbyterian Church by Rev. Gerald Andrews and burial was in Cortez Cemetary next to husband Ralph. Estate was divided equally between children: Larry Gene of Lansing, KS; Sharon Loiuse Spoonemore of Blanket, TX; Frank Nicklolas of Seattle, WA; and Leslie Earl of Brandon, England. Personal assets were valued at $19,204.15, antiques at $11,860.00, and the house, because of its failing foundation, was sold for just $28,000.00.

The antiques she had came from the Brower, Burritt, Boyle, and Smith families, and included the secretary/bookcase of Hiram B. Burritt, the large rocker of George W. Brower, the small rocker of Margaret Jane Boyle Smith, an old dresser of uncertain origin, a glass fronted china cabinet/secretary which had originally belonged to Netty Handbury Burkhalter who gave it to Margaret Jane Boyle Smith with whom she had lived at the end of her life, and various pieces of china handed down from mother to eldest daughter for several generations, from Mary Esther Stout Boyle to Margaret Jane Boyle Smith, to Echo Margaret Smith Burritt to Margaret Lucile Burritt Bryan, and now to Sharon Louise Bryan Spoonemore. Hiram Burritt's secretary now resides in Brandon England, George Brower's rocker and the old dresser in Kansas, the cabinet/secretary and most of the china in Texas, and the smaller rocker in Seattle.

Called by her children by the special affectation of Mums

A life-long Democrat prone to voting straight party Democrat no matter who the candidate was.

Spent early years on ranch of parents on Redlands Mesa. At age four she moved with them to the Burritt family homestead on Tongue Creek known as Keystone Farm where she was soon joined by her cousins Eleanore, Kenneth, and Leslie who became her virtual brothers and sister. She attended Tongue Creek school next door to the ranch through grade 8 and then went to Cederedge High School. Following graduation she underwent one year of nursing training at Denver General Hospital and then attended Mesa College in Grand Junction, Colorado for two years. She met her future husband in Grand Junction and they were married before her graduation. After she graduated they moved to Twin Falls, Idaho where their eldest son Larry Gene and daughter Sharon Louise were born. They then moved to Pocatello, Idaho where two more sons, Frank Nickolas and Leslie Earl were born. In 1953 they moved back to Colorado, living in Meeker until moving to Uravan in 1955. In 1957 they moved to Delta and lived on Garnet Mesa and then bought a house downtown at 149 Main St. in 1958. They moved to Glenwood Springs in 1959, and then back to Delta to the house at 149 Main, in 1960. Ralph attempted to run an auto body business in the barn behind the house. Margaret did the books, and Ralph did the work, sometimes assisted by Larry and a neighbor boy named Terry Thomas. Margaret was a Brownie Scout leader and active in the Presbyterian Church. The business failed and they sold the house to a chiropractor named Dr. Ames and moved to Grand Junction in March, 1962 where they lived downtown in a small apartment for a couple of months before locating a house with five acres of land to rent in the suburb of Fruitvale. There Ralph opened another auto body business and they had a flock of chickens, two goats, and several rabbits. The business was not a success, and they were financially strained. Margaret tried peddling cosmetics but this proved uneconomical and the venture was abandoned. They drank goat's milk, ate rabbit and chicken, and occasionally enjoyed frog's legs, crawdads and wild asparagus gleaned from the property's irrigation ditches. In 1963 Ralph heard rumors of work available in Aspen and, in desperate need of work, went there and found a job. He lived there alone for several months but finally in August the family and their animals all moved to Aspen. They made a deal with a local rancher to occupy the house and outhouses on his large spread on Brush Creek about 7 miles west of Aspen. To the north sheep grazed, and to the south cattle roamed. Their nearest neighbor was a mile away. They had no TV, a wood stove for cooking, and a coal burner to heat the house. Ralph worked in town at an auto repair shop and Margaret cleaned houses part time for the rich and famous, often bringing home exotic treats. A horse named Jimmie was added to their menagerie, which daughter Sharon often rode across the fields of the ranch. The children had their first taste of skiing on the slopes near the ranch house on Margaret's old wooden skis. Les and Sharon opted to take lessons. Larry and Frank preferred not to take up the sport. Frank and Sharon skated on the creek that ran through the property and Frank took skating lessons at the local rink in town. Ralph, however, was not happy with his job and Margaret grew concerned about the loose morality and crudeness of Aspen. When they returned from a family vacation in the early summer of 1964 they found the horse had been killed by a car, when the man taking care of the animals, failed to properly secure him one afternoon. Jimmie had run free down to the highway. In addition, cows had trampled down the fence surrounding the house, and destroyed the yard. The goats had gotten into the house and done much mischief and left a considerable mess. Ralph and Margaret soon decided they should leave Aspen. Ralph located a job in Cortez and a few months later they moved to Cortez, minus the menagerie, except for Frank's pet rabbit Bunny and dog Tippy. They rented a house until Margaret purchased a trailer house and they moved into a trailer park. The living conditions were very crowded and tempers often flew. Ralph had just started a new job but ran a stop sign and was seriously injured when he struck a truck. They had no insurance and the medical bills and settlement with the man he ran into cost them all their savings. Ralph was unable to work, so the family was on public assistance for several months. Margaret trained as a nurse's aid and became employed with the long term nursing facility at the Cortez hospital. Ralph was finally adjudged permanently disabled and with the sale of the trailer, a ballon payment of the house in Delta, and back social security benefits, they bought a house at 303 S. Beech in 1967. Margaret's parents, whose health was failing, were invited to join them soon after. An old two room house on the property was expanded and rebuilt to the specifications of Margaret's parents. Her mother died within a year. Ralph began experiencing blackouts and seizures and occasionally went into great weeping spells and hysterics. He took the bus to see a specialist in Grand Junction. The specialist could find nothing wrong with him, but he was apparently given a medication to which he had a violent reaction, and was found wandering the streets, in a state suggesting he had been in a fight. Margaret was called by the police and the decision to evaluate him for possible admission at the State Mental Hospital in Pueblo was made. Margaret chose to drive him herself and, accompanied by son Les, they drove Ralph as far as Canon City. Ralph became very agitated during this trip and attacked Margaret and Les. Les was forced to disable him with a blow over the head with a tire jack. Ralph was taken to the hospital in Canon City, patched up, and then taken on to Pueblo. He spent several months in the Mental Hospital before being released to Margaret's care. He spent his later years at home, well loved by his quick wit and sense of humor. Despite his shakiness and dragging pace, due to the medications he remained on for life, he became an active member of the Cortez community, where he joined the the Odd Fellows, worked at a sheltered workshop making fish hooks, and was on the Special Olympics bowling team. He was also Margaret's loyal companion on her many trips to various places. Margaret continued to work as a nurse's aid and worked in that capacity for seventeen years at Vista Grand Nursing Home from which she retired at age 62. One of her patients was her own father, whom she nursed until his death at age 89. Margaret became active in the Rebeccas of which she eventually held the office of Noble Grand, was a member of the Montezuma Valley Presbyterian Church where she served as a Deacon, church librarian, and secretary of the Presbyterian Women. She was also voted Mother of the Year, in great part because of her involvement and partial adoption of a friend of her son Les, whose own homelife was less than desirable. About nine months after her retirement, Ralph died and shortly after that she flew to England to visit son Les and his family in Brandon. Margaret had been suffering frequest bouts of back and hip pain and was in great agony at the end of the long flight. She was helped from the plane and wheeled through the airport. Her suffering continued unabated for the next couple of weeks. Les took her to a doctor and she was eventually diagnosed with multiple myeloma. She underwent cancer treatment in England for a year until she was strong enough to return to the States where she lived with son Larry in Lansing, Kansas for six months. Finally, her cancer in remission, she returned to Cortez where she became active in the Senior Center, church affairs, joined a book club, and played in a kitchen band, all the while continuing treatments to keep her cancer in remission. In 1997 the cancer began showing signs of returning and she made frequent trips to Durango for chemotherapy. She also had high blood pressure for which she was under frequent observation, and took medicine to keep it under control. Eventually the chemo and high blood pressure proved to be too much for her heart.

Margaret's dogs:

Margaret had several pets dogs as an adult: Trixie, a toy Pomeranian; Tippie, a medium sized short haired, black with brown amd white markings, male, of mixed breed, and the special companion of son Frank; Missie, a reddish-blond Cocker Spaniel Les and Frank got for her; Brownie, mostly Dachshund, whose passion for chasing after cars finally led to his demise; and Blackie, a male toy Poodle, who survives her in the home of son Larry, quite gray and long in the tooth but still basically healthy. It was Blackie's absence in the yard that first alerted neighbors to possible trouble when Margaret died.

SENTIMENTS OF A DAUGHTER

Margaret Lucile Burritt Bryan had a great love for her family. She was sad as the children grew and went their separate ways to many different parts of the country and overseas as well. She also was sad that she missed out on a lot of their high school activities during the time when she worked nights.

She also really looked forward to her vacations and the times when she could visit the different children and other family members. She especially enjoyed going to the countries across the ocean. She traveled by plane, train, or car.

Every memorial weekend she carried on a family tradition to visit the graves of her ancestors that were buried at the Cory and Eckert cemeteries. She would place flowers on the graves. The flowers were from her garden of roses and glades. Sometimes she got additional flowers from her Aunt Ione Burritt's flower garden. This tradition had been started by her Mother Echo Burritt many years before.

Every Spring Margaret did some type of repair work to her home at 303 S Beech St in Cortez Colorado. She would put up wallpaper, paint , or put in new flooring. Sometimes new furniture would appear. She put in a carport one year and another year she had son Les paint the outside of the house changing it from turquoise to pink. Some Springs she had the trees and bushes cut back and or trimmed, a job son Frank took a particular delight in.

When she retired from the nursing home she received 50 dollars for a gift certificate for roses for her garden.

She loved to sing and play the piano. One of her favorite activities was to have her children and grandchildren sing around the piano with her playing the piano. When her children were in the elementary school in Delta she sang a solo at the American legion luncheon at Cory Colorado. She sang at the Eckert Presbyterian church choir as a teenager, the Delta Presbyterian Church as a young wife, and Montezuma Valley Presbyterian Church in her later years. She was a soprano. Her favorite time to sing at church was for the Christmas Eve candle light service

She had a very clean and orderly home at all times. She loved to have her family gather around the dining room table for family meals. She prepared meals for her father for several years after her mother's death. The evening meal was prepared, she would call, and he would walk over from his house from the lot next door.

The family were always honored with a special birthday card. The birthday cards always had a very special message that was appropriate for their age and personality.

She dearly loved to go to her High school reunions. She kept in touch with a lot of her classmates over the years.

One of her favorite memories of her childhood was driving her pony cart to her piano lesson down the road and into Eckert for other activities

As a youth she belonged to the 4H program. She made a robe and canned vegtables and showed turkeys. The turkeys actually were not her favorite thing to raise. I think that was her Father's idea.
            Sharon Louise Bryan Spoonemore

ADDENDUM THOUGHTS OF A SON

She also milked cows and sheered sheep, but not with any great pleasure, trying hard to get her cousins Kenneth and Leslie to do the brunt of the work; cousin Eleanor's task of feeding the chickens and helping with meals was much more appealing to her and when she reached early womanhood she eagerly gave up the outside chores of the farm for the warmth of the kitchen and comfort of the living room sitting among her female relatives learning from them how to be a lady, and the arts of quilting and embroidery. Some fine samples of her and her Mother's work were part of her legacy to her children.
            Frank Nickolas Bryan

Children of Ralph Bryan and Margaret Burritt are:

	i.	Larry Gene Bryan, born 7/22/1948 in Twin Falls, ID; married Connie Tilson 9/15/1971 in Richmond, VA; born 1949 in Virginia.
	ii.	Sharon Louise Bryan, born 10/5/1949 in Twin Falls, ID; married Steve Lynn Spoonemore 1977 in Spain; born 3/21/1957 in Kentucky.
1	iii.	Frank Nickolas Bryan, born 4/22/1951 in Pocatello, Bannock Cty, ID.
	iv.	Leslie Earl Bryan, born 10/27/1952 in Pacatello, Bannock Cty, ID; married Susan Patricia Horton 6/17/1978 in Darley Abbey. Derbyshire, Eng; born 8/29/1952 in Derby, Derbyshire, Eng.

Notes for Leslie Earl Bryan:
Married June 17, 1978, Darley Abbey, Derbyshire
Best Man Capt. Andrew Budka, USMC
Maid of Honor, Sarah Strong
Register signed by Mrs. Margaret Bryan and Mr. Geoffrey Horton

Formal invitation sent by Mr & Mrs Geoffrey Horton to Mr and Mrs Ralph Bryan for wedding of Lieutenant Leslie E Bryan, USN and their daughter Susan Patricia to be held at 12 noon June 17th, 1978, at St Mathew's Church, Darley Abbey, and reception at the Palm Court.

Colin David born St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Utica NY 22 Jan 1984
Rachel Margaret born Exning Road Hostpital, Newmarket, Suffolk 10 March 1987

Captain in US Navy Reserve with offices in London.

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]