1. Introduction

11/2/20: Google has forced me to convert to their new version of Sites, and it messed up this website in multiple ways. I will be working on revisions over time.

As a child, storytelling was a big part of our family gatherings. Many of the stories circled around my grandfather, Judge Bruce W. Bryant: how he got his poker buddy, Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, the job of capturing Bonnie and Clyde; the fact that one of his legal opinions—the “Bull Opinion”—had been featured in the May 1956 issue of Playboy magazine; and how he had been fictionalized in detective stories as the head of the first Texas board of pardons and paroles, cleaning up after Texas governors Ma and Pa Ferguson. “Daddy Bruce,” as he was known to descendants, left behind four handwritten versions of his life and ancestry, one for each of his children. Daddy Bruce was the youngest son of Jesse Puryear Bryant, a Baptist preacher who married thrice. I’m descended from his last wife, and Sherri Stansel is descended from his second. Sherri has been working on genealogy since a trip to Texas with her mother in 1998. At the Sadler Cemetery, they found the graves of Jesse P. Bryant and three of his children. “I was ‘bit’ at that point,” said Sherri. After attending a Bryant cousin reunion, she wrote my father, and he gave the letter to me.

Starting in early 2010, Sherri and I made contact with a group researching the Bryants of Whitley and Knox Counties of Ky. Their ancestors and our ancestors had an uncanny tendency to live in the same counties at the same time and even next door to each other. DNA says we're not related, but DNA only tells part of the truth. The gravitational pull of "family" comes from kinship bonds not from microscopic markers in DNA. Today, we continue a fruitful collaboration, particularly with Nancy Bryant. Other members of our research team contribute expertise in particular lineages or regions, such as Shirley Perry whose knowledge of an intricate web of allied families in Lincoln and Franklin Counties of Tenn. has been invaluable.

Very little was known about the early antecedents of our family until recently. Whereas some family lines are largely settled, our early antecedents remain dynamic: information can change rapidly and dramatically.

Due to the large number of additions and corrections, we strongly recommend that you link to these pages, rather than copying information into your websites or databases and perpetuating errors.

We also invite corrections. Those interested more fine-grained changes to the website (and there will be many) can click "Recent Site Activity" at the bottom of the page.