Black History Month: Cranford's First Cop Remembered

CRANFORD, NJ - Before there was a Cranford Police Department, the laws of land were enforced by Cranford Constable Joshua Bryant and the Cranford Police Department is closing out Black History Month by honoring him.

Bryant was born in Virginia in 1852 and came to Cranford at the age of about 21. In 1880 he married Margaret Taylor and the couple lived on Mulberry Street, which is present day Retford Avenue, between Lincoln Avenue and Cherry Street.

According to officials, in addition to being a constable, he was a respected political leader within the Republican Party as well as a member of the original congregation of the First Baptist Church of Cranford.

According to Bernie Wagenblast at Cranford Radio, Bryant was first elected in 1881 and was re-elected three times to three year terms. Bryant was the first African-American elected to office in town.

Bryant was only in this mid-40s when he died from asthma on October 12, 1898. His funeral at the Baptist church was reported by the Cranford Citizen to have been the most largely attended for an African-American in Cranford. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Fairview Cemetery but in the 1990s an effort was locate his burial site, Wagenblast said.

In May 1996 a headstone was unveiled and dedicated.

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