Fonds

Gordon Bryson was born in 1885 in Brysonville, in the Upper St. Lawrence Valley. He was the son of James Bryson (1850-1921), a farmer, and Catherine McClintock (1850-1939). As a child, he attended McCormick's School, a one-room schoolhouse on the neighbouring farm. On June 16, 1916, he married Mary Ann Cairns (1877-1959). A native of the village known as Cairnside or St. Pierre, his bride studied at the Fertile Creek School for least two years. The couple had only one child, Selkirk James (1917-2009), who married Verna Olive Cullen (1920-2005) in 1942.

As its name indicates, the hamlet of Brysonville (also known as Bryson or Bryson's) was named in honour of the family who settled in the area. Actually part of the parish of Très-Saint-Sacrement, the town is located on the south shore of the Châteauguay River, halfway between the villages of Howick and Ormstown. Initially devoted primarily to farming, Brysonville largely owed its development to the presence of the Grand Trunk Railway, which cut through it beginning in 1883. Grand Trunk built a train station there, called Bryson's Station (or sometimes Point Round Station), as well as a water tank to supply the steam locomotive boilers and a railway bridge over the Châteauguay River (named Point Round Bridge). In addition, a post office opened in the village train station in 1899.

It is not known what date the Brysonville general store began operating. In addition to supplying local farmers, this business supplied the train crews who would stop in the small town. Initially a farmer like his father, Gordon Bryson purchased the store from a neighbouring farmer who went bankrupt. This transaction probably took place some time in the 1920s and, shortly thereafter, a gas station supplied by the Shell Oil Company opened right next to the store.

Following Gordon Bryson's death on December 12, 1944, his widow Mary Ann Cairns took over the running of the business. In 1948, the Brysonville train station ceased operations and the post office moved into the general store. William Cairns, Mary Ann's brother, worked there as postmaster until 1956, when the store closed its doors.