Biography - William Brian
William T. Brian, one of the old and favorably known citizen and a member of one of the pioneer families of that county, was born in 1845 in Douglas county, and is a son of William and Anna Lewis Brian, who were born in the same county. William Brian (father) located in what is known now as the Brian neighborhood in about the year 1843, where he entered a large tract of land at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acres, and adding to that later considerably more at thirteen dollars per acres. At the time of his death, in 1888, at the age of eighty-one years, he was one of the biggest land owners in the county. Lewis Brian was he paternal grandfather. He maternal grandfather, John Lewis, settled in the same neighborhood, from Ohioin an early day and is buried at the Hickory Withe cemetery.
William T. Brian was married in 1868 to Miss Sarah Bundy, a daughter of Caleb Bundy. The latter was born in North Carolina and settled early in Douglas county, three miles north and one half mile west of Tuscola. Mr. and Mrs. Brian have one child, a daughter, Ellanor, who is the wife of John Lathrop. Mr. Brian owns at at present eight hundred and sixty two acres of land, lying in one body, and is one of the biggest tax payers in the county. He is a staunch free-silver Democrat and is universally respected by all who know him.
Extracted by Linda Lang from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, pages 290-291.