William BRISTOW, REV.

                   SOURCES:  1. This family group sheet compiled by Marion Grace Jewell
               Nicholls of Gilbert, AZ
            2. FHL Book #929.273/B776b, "Bristow - Douglass," (p.24) By
               Julia J. Bristow.
            3. Book 929.209769/Gen, "Genealogies of Kentucky Families,-
               Filson Club Quarterly," (pp.83-86), Leesburg & Orlando
               Flordia Public Libraries.
            4. Book #RG975.5/Gen., "Genealogies of Virginia Families-
               Tylers Quarterly" Vol.#1[A-Ge] (pp.259,260) By M. E.
               Bristow. Orlando Flordia Public Library.
            5. Book #RG976.6/Bri, "Tales of Old Fort Gibson," Oraldno
               Flordia Public Library.
            6. 1998 Ancestral File (nil)
            7. 1997 Ordinance Index (nil)

OCCUPATION :  Fourth Assistant Postermaster General.

NOTES:  The early years were difficult - age 7 - his mother died -
          He went to live with a grandfather and an Uncle in Fleming
          County.  His father four years later married again and lived
          in Kansas. Joseph went to live with his father, at age 14 he
          ran away from home and returned to Kentucky.  He lived with
          Uncle Andrew Bristow until he was age 18 - then he married.
          His Uncle was educatged and a good influence on the young man.
          After he married he and his wife moved to Kansas.  After 18
          months and desolation on farm in Elk County, he moved to
          Baldwin with his wife and eldest son to enter Baker University.
           He began schooling - the next 5 years the family endured much
          and survived with simple things.  He graduated with a B.A.
          degree and honors for those 5 years.  During this period he
          went 1 winter without an overcoat in order to buy an unabridged
          dictionary.
           "The long years that lay ahead were to be filled with journalism,
          politics and farming, all conducted with great energy and success.
          Immediately after leaving college in 1886 he ran successfully for
          the office of clerk of the district court in Douglas County, KS.
          Four years later he began his long career as a Republican
          journalist with the purchase of a newspaper in Salina, Kansas- -
          One of his earliest causes was irrigation. He was secretary of
          Interstate Irrigation Association and in 1893 he took an active
          part in the International Irrigation Congress that met in  Los
          Angeles. One year later he started publiching "The Irrigation
          Farmer"represented the `irrigation revival' in the West".
          (While McKinley was President)
           He came into national prominence through an investigation of
         Cuban and National Postal frauds.
           His efforts to eliminate dishonesty and inefficiency in the
         postal systems - constitute a major chapter in  the history of
         government reform.
           Joseph Little Bristow was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1909.
         He was author of 17th Amendment to Constitution. He also intro-
         ducted a measure for woman suffrage, -- which became 19th
         amendment toconstitution during the last years of Wilson's
         administration. Among his appointments was that of Dwight
         Eisenhower to West Point. After his narrow defeat in 1914, he
         served as chairman of Public Utilities Commission of Kansas,
         and after another attempt to return to the Senatehe retired
         at Ossian Hall, his large estate in Fairfax County, Virginia.
         Where he was recognized as one of the States most successful
         farmers.

          Personally, he was aloof -- In addition to his aloofness and
         egotism (some termed him an extremist) --he was shy, modest and
         simplicity.  After he retired to Ossian Hall, a beautiful 18th
         Century house situated on more than 4000 acres of land within 12
         miles of Washington D. C., he maintained inviolate the personal
         independence that had characterized his public life.  His large
         estate provided him with an opportunity to demonstrate his
         agricultural and managerial ability and the seclusion to pursue
         his omnivorous reading and the pleasures of country life. - -
         His 3 sons, one a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, lived near
         near him.  The end came in 1944.

         Child: Joseph Quayle Bristow, wrote Tales of Old Fort Gibson (his
         father co-editor). He lived in Kansas & Oklahoma.
         Child: Frank, Rhodes Scolar to Oxford England.

         William Bristo, an itinerant preacher & teacher.
         His family probably descends from John of Virginia (a 16 year old
         found wandering aroung colony in 1663- indentured for 7 years).