370
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1852
other letters from Bryan to Houston are to be found among the Bryan Pape1·s, cited above. Guy Morrison Bryan (January 12, 1821-June 3, 1901) was born at Herculaneum, Jefferson County, Missouri. He was the son of James Bryan and Emily Austin Bryan, sister of Stephen F. Austin. After Bryan's death she married James F. Perry, and the family moved to Texas in the spring of 1831. Guy M. Bryan was educated in private schools in Texas, and at Kenyon College, Ohio, where he was a classmate with Rutherford B. Hayes, afterward President of the United States. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1842. He then studied law in the office of William H. Jack, but had to give up his plans for a law career on account of eye trouble. Advised by his physician to live an out-door life, he turned his attention to ranching and farming. He served in the Mexican War witli the Texas volunteers on the east bank of the Rio Grande. In 1846 he was elected to the State House of Representatives and served from 1855 to 1857. In 1856 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention held at Cincinnati; and he was chairman of the Texas delegation in the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore, in 1860. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth United States Congress, and served from March 4, 1857, to March 3, 1859. He was a colonel in the Confederate service, and was on the staff of General Kirby Smith throughout the war. He was again elected a member of the State Legislature in 1873 and served in the House in 1873, 1874, 1879, 1887, and 1891. He was the Speaker of the House in 1873-1874. On October 20, 1858, Colonel Bryan was married to Laura H. Jack, the daughter of William H. Jack, his old law preceptor. Of this marriage were born four children, two sons, and two daughters. Mrs. Bryan died in January, 1872. In 1898 Colonel Bryan moved to Austin, and he died there in 1901. He is buried in the Texas State Cemetery in that city. The best biography of Guy M. Bryan was written by Dr. George P. Garrison, and was published in The Qua1·tm·ly, Texas State Historical Association, V, 121-136. Other sketches concerning Bryan are to be found in: Frank Brown, Annals of Travis County and of Austin, Chapter XXXIII, p. 49; Norman G. Kittrell, Governo1·s Wh-o Have Been and Other Public Men of Texas, 138; Homer S. Thrall, The People's Illustrated Almcmac, Texas Ha11d- Book, a11d bmnigrants' Guide, 147; ·Texas Legislative Manual, 1879-1880, 261; P1·oceedings of the Texa.s Veterans' Association, 1873, p. 9; Ibid., 1892, p. 8; John S. Ford, Memoirs, VII, 1262; Francis Richard Lubbock, Six Decades in Texas, o-r Memoirs, passim; E. C. Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, 29, 32, 525; Biographical Directo111 of the American Congress (1928), and in many other writings on Texas history.
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JANUARY, 1853-MARCH, 1853
To FRANKLIN PIERCE 1 Washington, D. C., January 28, 1853.
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General: It is not on the ground of familiar acquaintance that I now address you. It is because I am a member of the Demo- cratic party of which you have been the standard-bearer in the recent election. A sincere desire to see the principles of the
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