Bryan, Guy M. (Guy Morrison), 1821-1901

Guy Morrison Bryan, a nephew of Stephen F. Austin, was a Confederate officer and legislator. He was born in 1821 in Heraculaneum, Missouri, to James Bryan and Emily Bryan, daughter of Moses Austin and sister of Stephen F. Austin. After her husband’s death, Emily Bryan married her father’s business partner, Stephen Perry, and the family moved to Texas in 1831. Guy Morrison Bryan couriered the William B. Travis Alamo letter to Brazoria in 1836. Following the battle of San Jacinto, Bryan joined the army as an orderly for Alexander Somervell. After fighting in the Mexican War under John C. Hays, Bryan was elected to the state legislature in 1847, serving six years in the House (1847-1853) and four years in the Senate (1853-1857). From 1857 until 1859, Bryan represented the Western District of Texas in the United States Congress. He married Laura Jack, the daughter of Texas attorney William H. Jack, in 1858.

As a leader in the movement for secession, Bryan was one of the delegates to the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. He helped lead the southern delegates to split from the convention and joined in the call for a Secession Convention. Bryan was active in the government of the Confederacy, until he requested active duty in the military in 1863. As a member of the Confederate government, Bryan also assisted in the organization of the Texas Cotton Bureau. Following the Civil War, Bryan again served in the Texas House of Representatives several times during the 1870s and 1880s. He was a charter member and president (1892-1901) of the Texas Veteran’s Association. Furthermore, Bryan was a charter member of the Texas State Historical Association. Guy Morrison Bryan died at his home in Austin, Texas in 1901.

Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. “Bryan, Guy Morrison,” http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbram.html (Accessed April 20, 2010).

From the guide to the Guy Morrison Bryan Papers 21349182., 1795-1901, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)