The Bryants and the Rockefellers: Two Seal Harbor Families
Item 21489 info | My Album
Marvin Bryant, Seal Harbor, ca. 1920 / Trenton Cemetery & Keeping Society
Marvin Bryant, father of Donald Alison Bryant. This photograph was taken when Donald's family still resided on Isleford in 1920. His family tree can be traced back through some of the first families to ever set foot on Mount Desert Island and the outlying crops of lands. Families like the Stanleys, the Gilleys, and even the first settlers of the Cranberry Islands, the Bunkers, can all be found on Mr. Bryant's line. These families' actions on the Cranberry Islands were vital pieces in the success of Mount Desert Island and the mainland. Fishing, farming, and trading were what made the communities productive throughout the late 18th and into the 19th centuries. But by the 20th century, life as the early families knew it would begin to change drastically. A huge influx of new technology soon phased out the "old" trades that kept the island's economy running.