5 years ago my sister passed away leaving me the contents of her house. Anne was a hoarder of sorts, so with some dread, I began to divest of her estate. 

Anne did save many of the family records and genealogy stories related to the Broderick’s, Bryan’s, Miles’s and North’s. In all of this, were many documents from my Great Grandfather William S. Bryan. WSB was an accomplished publisher and writer in the late 1800’s. He is generally known for his book, Pioneers of Missouri, which he published in 1889. He was one of the last pioneers in St. Charles County. His father Elijah Bryan lived with Rebecca and Daniel Boone for 2 years. His father Jonathan Bryan was Rebecca Boone’s brother. Elijah while living with the Boone’s help Daniel put together a manuscript of his life and adventures. That manuscript was lost in a canoeing incident to the Missouri River. It’s known as the lost Manuscript of Daniel Boone. Elijah dictated much of the contents of the manuscript to his son William. William assembled much of these items with stories of his own from life with Boone’s neighbors that had to know the old pioneer. William kept compiling the book for most of his life. With many other businesses and books to publish, plus research for encyclopedia companies he didn’t return to the project until late in life. 

While in his late 80’s and 90’s he tried to get several publishing companies to publish his book. He lost his publishing companies in 1898. No publisher was interested. It was put in a box with a number of his other documents and was put in storage. Passed from my grandmother to my father then my sister was kept in the same box for over 80 years. I found the writings in 2017 and Barbara began the job of typing. By the spring of 2021, the book was ready to publish. We made the decision that no wording or structure of the documents would be altered. This book is just as my Great Grandfather intended it to be published. Barb and I hope you enjoy the book. We feel there is important documentation in the book that has not been made public yet.