Return to Index

1. SUBJECT:

Pendleton Bryan Home

2. LOCATION:

273 East Market Street, Harrisonburg, Virginia, south side.

3. DATE:

Unknown.

4. OWNERS:

John S. Effinger, B.R.D.B. #29, page 39. Can not get back further on account of burnt records.

M.Harvey Effinger from John S. Effinger, March 31, 1856.

Mrs. Emma Bryan from M. Harvey Effinger, March 23, 1874; D.B. #11, page 19.

Arthur B. Snell, present owner, October 4, 1906.

5. DESCRIPTION:

See Form 3686.

6. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:

Pendleton Bryan was born at Harrisonburg, Virginia in the old Bryan home located on Broad Street, long since disappeared. He was the son of Allan C. and Louisa P.E. Bryan. He died at Harrisonburg, Virginia in 1906 and lies buried in woodbine Cemetery.

In his youth and like many others, he attended the Virginia Military Institute, and at the age of 17 years ran away from the Institution to join the Confederate army, enlisting in April 1861 in Company g. Valley Guards, in which company he was made Lieutenant. He resigned from this company and joined the McNeill Rangers and saw active service with this partisan organization, being wounded near Harper’s Ferry. He was brought to the hospital at Harrisonburg where he was cared for and nursed by Emma Lyon with whom he fell in love and afterwards married.

He was one of the squad of the McNeill company in its raid on Cumberland, Maryland, in the capture of Generals Crook and Kelly, and helped to cover the retreated by way of Romney, West Virginia, scouting the mountain trails from that point to Moorefield, West Virginia, where they stopped at the home of John Fetzer, where they rested and received food and refreshment. They were pressed so closely by the enemy sent out to overtake them, that they were compelled to leave in a very great hurry, leaving behind General Crook’s sword. This sword was kept and hid by Mrs. Fetzer, and long years after the war at a reunion of the McNeill Rangers with the Pennsylvania "Bucktails" at Moorefield, Captain Jesse McNeill was present when Mrs. Fetzer returned the sword to him. He a little later in turn returned it to the family of General Cook.

Pendleton Bryan was a gentleman of the old school"; cultured, dignified and courtly in manner, and highly respected in his community. He was an attorney after the war, practicing his profession at the Rockingham bar. He was also Commissioner in chancery and accounts; a magistrate and bail commissioner; and for nine terms was the Mayor of Harrisonburg.

He married Emma Lyon, a native of Richmond in 1864, and lived on East Market Street at Harrisonburg. To this union several children were born, one of which is still living. Mr. Allan C. Bryan, Jr., who for a number of years was a clerk in the post office at Harrisonburg under the administration of Rittenour, Devier and Funkhouser.

Emma Lyon, the wife of Pendleton Bryan was a graduate of Hollins Institute, now Hollins College, devoting herself especially to music and art, and after her marriage to writing and painting, one of her books

Pendleton Bryan Home

Page 2

being a "Romance of the Valley of Virginia" a story of the war of 1861-1865, and printed on Confederate paper. I am told that she herself was one of the principal characters in this very interesting and entertaining book.

She painted a number of beautiful pictures, among which is to be noted: "Harrisonburg Looking Eastward", 1867; "Sunrise at Lovers Leap", 1886; "Where Ashby Fell", 1886.

Copies of this last one is to found in the Confederate Museum at Richmond, Virginia. Mrs. Bryan died at Harrisonburg in 1916, and lies buried in Woodbine Cemetery.

Daniel Bryan, an uncle of Pendleton Bryan, was for many years the postmaster of Alexandria, Virginia. He is said to have been a gifted author and poet, on of his poems being the "Mountain Muse".

7. ART:
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION: