Elias Bryant, a native of New Jersey, accompanied his parents on their removal to Washington County, Pennsylvania, when he was twelve years of age, and there he was reared and educated. He was also married in that county, and afterward removed to Knox County, Ohio, about 1820. He followed farming in the Buckeye State until the fall of 1835, when he came to Lake County, Indiana, settling at Pleasant Grove, in Cedar Creek Township. He was one of the first settlers here, and he entered land from the government for which he paid a dollar and a quarter per acre. This he placed under the plow, transforming the raw tract into richly cultivated fields, and there he carried on general farming until his death, which occurred September 10, 1850, when he was sixty-six years of age. He was a zealous and active member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he served as a Deacon. He gave his political support to the Whig party and during the early years of his residence in Lake County was a school director. He contributed to the pioneer progress of the county, and his enterprise and energy made him a valued citizen of the frontier district.

He married Miss Ann Vance, who was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and was a daughter of Robert Vance, one of the pioneer settlers of that state and a native of Ireland. Mrs. Bryant died in Lake County, Indiana, February 6, 1847, when fifty-five years of age.

By her marriage she became the mother of six sons, of whom four grew to manhood, while one died in infancy in Ohio and the other (Isaac) was killed by a rattlesnake bite when thirteen years of age. Arthur V., now in his eighty-second year, resides in Lafayette, Indiana. David died in 1900, at the age of seventy-six years. Robert, seventy-seven years of age, is extensively engaged in farming in Porter County, Indiana.
[Clara (Vaile) Braiden 1913]