Marion Bryant, son of William Bryant and Anna Heaton/Eaton Bryant, was born September 22, 1836 in Whitley County, Kentucky and died February 27, 1923 in Hooker, Texas County, Oklahoma and is buried in Liberal Memorial Gardens, Liberal Kansas.

He enrolled in Company C, 49th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, Union army, on August 8, 1863 at Camp Nelson, Kentucky. His rank was 1st Lieutenant. He was discharged at Lexington, Kentucky December 26, 1864.

Marion was married March 12, 1857 Whitley County, Kentucky to Emily Siler d/o Burgess Siler and Mary Croley. They were the parents of Rachel 1858, Ansel L. 1859, Armelda Jane 1861, Addison W. 1862, Mary E. 1864 Anna 1866, Sidney Barnes 1869, William H. 1872, Burgess V. 1872, Elizabeth 1873, John W. 1875/78, Edward M. 1878, Clarinda 1880 and Victoria 1882.

Genealogy note: His name was "Marion Bryant," not "E.Marion Bryant." There are various internet posts that call him "F. Marion Bryant" or "E. Marion Bryant." However, every original document (i.e., every marriage record, military record, census record, cousin Esom's Bryant's marriage bond with Marion's own signature, contemporary newspaper article and pension document etc. ) refers to him as simply "Marion Bryant." I think some people may have him confused with one of the many Francis Marion Bryants. (And now, people on Ancestry.com have suddenly started calling him "Esom Marion Bryant," thus combining his cousin Esom and him into one person) .

There has been a number of incidents online lately where people have taken established records of union veterans and added the incorrect label "CSA." Marion was a veteran of the Union, not the CSA.

Since ancestors of these Bryants of Kentucky lived in South Carolina in the late 1700s, I think it's possible that the recurring name "Marion" may have originated with a family member named after South Carolina American Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion (c. 1732-1795), a/k/a "The Swamp Fox."

People often get Marion Bryant's son Ansel Lorenzo Bryant (Find A Grave Memorial# 76140027) mixed up with Ancil Daniel Bryant, who was not Marion's son. Ansel Lorenzo Bryant and Ancil Daniel Bryant were both born in KY in 1859.

For a marriage record and the 1860 and 1900 census records, please see his wife Emily's memorial (I'm only allowed 5 images per person).

For a document showing Marion's signature, please see his cousin Esom Bryant's (Memorial #37872654) marriage bond.

From genealogy.com:

"Marion fathered fourteen children. Thirteen of them were born in Whitley Co., KY, the 14th, Nancy Victoria, in Clayborne Co., TN. They pulled stakes and headed for Indian territory in Oklahoma in 1881. At the land office where he went to register for the free land, Marion met an old army friend, Nimrod Shepherd, who gave him some material showing where the best land was located. There were over 200 covered wagons in that particular "rush". In one of the wagons carrying the large Bryant family was a spinning wheel and loom that had been made as a wedding present for Emily by her father, Burgess Siler. The loom is now in the Lincoln Museum of the Lincoln Memorial University at Harrogate, TN."