Janet C. Bryden

MOTHER
Janet C. Bryden
Born Jan. 13, 1827
Died June 9, 1889

Janet C. Bryden Headstone

Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales

  1. Photograph

    Source: Clark, Margaret Lasater and Historical Committee. On this bluff...
          Centennial History, 1867-1967:  First Presbyterian Church.
          Corpus Christi: First Presbyterian Church, 1967.
     
  2. Biography


    According to a paper published at the time of the area's centennial celebration, Janet Bryden was born Janet Carrins in Peebleshire, Scotland.  There she married James Bryden and began a family before sailing from Glasbrook, Scotland for Texas.  The little family arrived here in 1852 as H. L. Kinney was promoting land sales through his Texas Fair and agents working in Britain.  Others who came about the same time include the Corkills and the McGregors.  Mr. Bryden immediately went into the stock business and for a number of years drove cattle to the Kansas City market in company with Captain King and other local ranchers.  Janet was the business woman.  She purchased and sold ranches and tracts of land in the area.  Janet purchased what we know today as the Centennial House on N. Upper Broadway and between the years 1870-1878, the Bryden family occupied this house.  They are found there in the 1870 census of Nueces County (p. 159A), and it is Janet who is listed as worth $2800.  According to oral tradition, the Brydens provided shelter for those fleeing from the Noakes Raid in 1875.  Janet eventually had five children, and two of her daughters were married while the couple occupied the house that would have been a great site for entertaining guests.  They were also considered pioneer members of the First Presbyterian Church that stood nearby.  In 1878 Janet's second daughter, Margaret "Maggie", was married to W. Oscar Staples, and in 1879 Janet sold the house to the newly weds.  By the 1880 census James at 60 years old was acting as superintendent on the "Santa Gertrudis" ranch (1880 census Nueces County, page 66B) while Janet was presiding over an extended family of Brydens and Bernards on a ranch she personally owned (1880 census Nueces County, page 38A).  According to the 1860 census of Nueces County (p. 305B), the oldest children of James and Janet were born in Scotland.  The census reports that Mary (10 years old) and John (8 years old) were born in Scotland while James (6 years old) and Margaret (3 years old) were born in Texas.  Actually a later newspaper article notes that John was born at sea while the family was on their way to the coastal bend.  Little John's life also ended with water when he drown in the Nueces River at age 11.  Janet's youngest child was daughter Jessie who was born 1 September 1861.  Mary Bryden married into another pioneer family when she wed Frank E. Barnard.  James Bryden married Millie McIntyre of old Nuecestown.  As noted earlier, Margaret Bryden married W. Oscar Staples, and Jessie Bryden married W. H. Griffen.  James, Janet, son John, and numerous members of the Staples family are all buried in Old Bayview Cemetery.  The Brydens represent the early families from Scotland, many of whom were sheep ranchers, who came to the Corpus Christi area in 1852 as Kinney hosted his Texas Fair to promote the development of the area.  In the following months of 1852, the town of Corpus Christi would officially be recognized as a city and elect its first mayor.

    Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell