Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Bryant, William H 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 4:02 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

WILLIAM H. BRYANT, who is a well-known contractor and builder of Joliet, has 
carried on a successful business in his chosen occupation, first as a partner 
with W. H. Palmer, but since June, 1897, alone. Among his contracts may be 
mentioned those for the Evangelical Church at Jackson, Ill.; the Ridgewood 
Baptist and Central Presbyterian Churches of Joliet; Congregational Church of 
Oswego, Ill., and the Methodist Episcopal Church at New Lenox, Ill.; also the 
Keltie and Vincent blocks, the mounting-shop of the Joliet stove works, the 
Joliet Transfer storage warehouse, and the residences of H. M. Snapp, C. E. B. 
Cutler, J. C. Merrill, F. H. Merrill and the Rachel flats. Besides taking 
contracts, he has furnished plans for many of his buildings. In all of his 
work he is assisted by his wife, who is quite successful in drafting, and thus 
helps him materially in his plans. He is president of the Joliet Builders' 
Association, which he was largely instrumental in organizing. Near Sherbrooke, 
Compton County, Canada, Mr. Bryant was born November 15, 1863, a son of G. G. 
and Elizabeth (Burns) Bryant, natives respectively of Argenteuil and Terre 
Bonne Counties, Canada. His paternal grandfather, John Bryant, who was born in 
the north of Ireland, of Scotch and English descent, emigrated to Canada at 
twenty years of age, and engaged in farming and the lumber business. A man of 
more than ordinary ability, G. G. Bryant stood high among the people of 
Sherbrooke, of which place he was mayor for two terms, councilor several 
terms, and a member of the school board. When young he learned the carpenter 
and millwright's trade. Afterward, in addition to superintending his farm, he 
engaged in the manufacture of lumber and in the building business, first near 
and afterward in Sherbrooke. He had only two children, and one of these, a 
daughter, died at thirteen years. The son, who was the older of the two, was 
ten at the time the family settled in Sherbrooke, and from that time he 
assisted his father in building. In 1876 he went to the lumber woods of Maine, 
where he worked for a year, and then worked in a lumber, planing, sash and 
door-mill at Stewartstown, N. H., until 1878. After spending six months on a 
farm near Canaan, Vt., he went to New York, and until 1881 remained in St. 
Lawrence, Franklin and Clinton Counties, being employed mostly in milling, but 
spending one season at the carpenter's trade. In October, 1887, he came west 
to Illinois, settling in Joliet, where he entered the mill of the Illinois 
Steel Company. Through the influence of a friend, Mr. Spencer, who was 
foreman, he secured a position in the converting department, where he remained 
for fifteen months. While there he made the acquaintance of Mr. Garvin, who, 
upon being appointed warden of the state penitentiary, selected Mr. Bryant as 
a keeper there. For two years he held the position and then resigned, turning 
his attention to carpentering. In the fall of 1891 he began contracting and 
building, in which he has since been successfully engaged. In 1895 he was 
chosen assistant supervisor of Joliet, and two years later was re-elected, 
serving for two terms, during which time he was chairman of the school and 
miscellaneous committees. Several times he has served as a member of the 
Republican county committee, and also on the city and township committees. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and Joliet 
lodge of Odd Fellows, of which he is past master, and which he represented in 
the grand lodge of Illinois for four terms. When he came to Joliet he 
identified himself with the Central Presbyterian Church. Later he assisted in 
organizing a circle of the King's Sons, and was largely instrumental in 
building up the King's Sons' chapel in Joliet, in which he has since been an 
active worker, and is now superintendent of the Sunday-school. Mr. Bryant was 
married in Joliet, October 21, 1890, to Miss Sarah J. Hunter, who is of Scotch-
Irish parentage. She was educated in England and crossed the ocean to the 
United States at the age of sixteen years, coming direct to Joliet. She is an 
active member of the Presbyterian Church, and is also actively engaged in the 
service of the King's Sons' chapel, where her influence for good is felt by 
all.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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