Chosen Families #9: Coming From Tokyo- Alfred Dashiell Bryan’s Story
Hello all! I have an excited announcement. I will be announcing a podcast dedicated to the Chosen Families Project soon and this will be the second episode!
Today I tell the story of Dashielle Bryan, and his parents. The photograph itself shows a child, Dashiell, sitting on his fathers lap. The front features no identification. On the back of the photograph, it carries a ton of information. It states “Dashiell Bryan, Two Years Old.” Underneath that in pencil in separate handwriting it states “Died Dec 28th, 1885, Buried Jan 22, 1886.” This gives a lot of context clues, but one piece of information drew me to the photograph even more. The photograph was taken at A Futami’s studio, in Tokyo, Japan. I’ve never had Japanese based genealogical research before, so I knew this is going to be a challenge. However, because of the amount identifying information, I knew there was some hope to help returning this photograph to family.
So what do I know to begin with? I know Dashiell was born aprox. in 1883 based on the death date written. I also know that he was buried someplace, and had been in Tokyo in aprox 1885 when the photograph was taken.
Immediate searches yielded a headstone to Dashiell Bryan on FindAGrave. The headstone enscribes that Dashiell died December 26th, 1886, which is a couple days off but similar to the date that I have on the photograph; the biography of the headstone on the website a clue to who his parents may have been, “Son of A.V. Bryan who lived in Japan from 1882 to 1916.” Now the trick was to figure out who A. V. Bryan is, and why his family resided with him in Tokyo during that time period.
Headstone in Aoyama Cemetery of Dashiell Bryan
The cemetery itself has an interesting history behind it as well. Aoyama Cemetery is located in Metropolitan Tokyo. A tourist website for the cemetery states “Located in the chic neighborhood of Aoyama is the sprawling Aoyama Cemetery. Opened in 1874, it is home to the graves of many of Tokyo's most historically and culturally important people, and during the Meiji Period it was the main location for a large number of foreigners' graves.” This makes sense to why Dashiell was buried in “Foreign Section: N1 i-3 21” of the cemetery. Searching the cemetery for other Bryan’s , I found a headstone for Emma Bryan, 1868-1902, reading “In Memorium,Emma Bryan,At Rest Dec 9 1902 Aged 34.” I am not sure if she is related to the family
In further research I found out that A.V Bryan was actually stood for Rev. Arthur Vernon Bryan. In a book titled The History of the Presbytery of Washington from 1889, it states:
Rev. Arthur Vernon Bryan, son of Rev. Edward D. and Sarah (Conger) Bryan, was born at Rye, Westchester County, N. Y., May 11, 1856. Graduated at the New Jersey College in 1878 and at the Western Theological Seminary in 1881. Licensed by the Presbytery of Washington in April, 1880, and ordained by the same April 26, 1882. Married, October 11, 1882, Mary M., daughter of Rev. A. H. Dashiell, at Lakewood, N. J. He went out under the Foreign Board, in November, 1882, to Japan, where he has continued to the present time, stationed at Hiroshima.
Understanding the context of these missions is important. The first Presbyterian missionaries to Japan arrived in Yokohama in 1859. Despite hostility experienced by the missionaries throughout the closing decades of the 19th century, mission activities continued to expand. After 1906, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church transferred its work in Japan to the PCUSA Board of Foreign Missions. The mission's work was primarily educational and evangelistic. Because of the extensive system of Japanese hospitals and primary schools, the Board made no effort to compete, concentrating instead on Christian secondary and higher education facilities for girls and young women. In addition, it established ten kindergartens, and the Oral School for the Deaf, and cooperated in the operation of two theological seminaries (https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6xm267s) . Although evolving in the mid-1900s after WWII, there are around 67 congregations in Japan today ranging from 2000-3000 members.
Rev A.V Bryan worked with his wife in Hiroshima from 1882 until around 1916. He not only acted as a missionary but he also recruited other men towards the cause. He is found in Newspaper articles nation wide discussing his work In 1920 in the The Kadoka Press, a paper in South Dakota, talked about his work in recruiting young men. It reads:
He also is noted as being a keynote assembly speaker, going around to different Univeristies. On Jan 18,1910 he gave a talk on “The Traditions of Japan” at the University of New Mexico (https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=unm_yearbooks) .
The Elsworth American, September 14, 1910. (https://digitalmaine.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4897&context=ellsworth_american )
However, the view/benefit of Chrisitianity has to be questioned. Especially considering later tensions in WWII, although these missions had good intentions in mind, Rev. A. V. Bryan would come off wrong evaluated in today’s lens. In a piece titled A Japanese Flower in the Assembly Herald published in June 1903,
It is evident that there was cultural barriers and misunderstandings, especially when bringing their mission work there. At the time in Japan the religion was State Shintō, Japanese Kokka Shintō, which is the nationalistic official religion of Japan from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 through World War II. It focused on ceremonies of the imperial household and public Shintō shrines.
Now back to Alfred and his mother. According to the Woman's Work for Woman published in 1890, it states “At San Francisco, Rev. A. V. Bryan, Mrs. Bryan and child, from Hiroshima, Japan. Addressed, Lawn Ridge, Orange, N. J. “ Arthur Dashiell would have been deceased by then. Mary and Arthur would have two more children, Marjorie (1886-1977) and Ridgely (1891-1984). She would pass away in 1891. Published in the Memorials of Foreign Missionaries of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A in 1895, it states her work.
The most surprising quote was about Alfred Dashiell himself and his passing. Rev Arthur Vernon Bryan would marry Margaret Cuthbert (1861-1941) in 1892 and have 3 more children. He would pass away on the 27th of September 1931. His first wife and him are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Lakewood.
These families are deeply rooted in the church as well. Arthur’s parents were Rev Edward Dennis Bryan (1812-1886) and Sarah Bogart Conger (1820-1899); Mary’s parents were Rev. Alfred Henry Dashiell Jr. and Susan Emily Sergeant.
I am in the process of reaching out to relatives, and will upload the photograph of Arthur and his son Arthur Dashiell to public databases. This story was a colloboration of international records, and doing searches of outside sources and biographicals to tell their story. Alfred was buried in Tokyo, while the rest of his family is in the US. I am so glad to tell his story and dig deeper, in order to add him to the records of these families, where he has gone accounted for on numerous family trees. Now we will have a name and face attached to him, with his story told (he was named after his grandfather Alfred Dashiell).
If you know anything or are related to Alfred, Arthur, or Mary please reach out to thechosenfamiliesproject@gmail.com or jrebelogenelaogy@gmail.com and I would love to return it to you.
