Jean;

Thanks for the follow up. It appears to be an ongoing argument started in 1897! My original post done in 2007 was directed to answering the question of William Bryant who died in Boone County MO on 6 Sept 1834. I think the data posted then was really pretty accurate for his genealogy. An updated wikitree entry is here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bryant-549#Biography

As to the origins of the Bryan/Bryant Station name squabble, I can only refer to 2 sources which seem to at least discuss the issue with some logic with generally consistent early primary references. Both of these are available on line now and were not available to me in 2007. The first is:Bryant, Thomas Julian. “BRYANT'S STATION, AND ITS FOUNDER, WILLIAM BRYANT.” Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, vol. 24, no. 70, 1926, pp. 47–58. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23370237. A similar article by the same author in the Missouri Historical review of July 1910 is here:(starts on page 219) https://ia802702.us.archive.org/33/items/missourihist03to04missuoft/missourihist03to04missuoft.pdf

The second is Bryan's Station and the memorial proceedings held on its site under the auspices of the Lexington Chapter, D.A.R., August the 18th, 1896: in honor of its heroic mothers and daughters. Louisville, Ky.: J.P. Morton and Co., printers to the Filson Club, 1897. Available on Google books here: https://ia801409.us.archive.org/28/items/storybryansstat00rancgoog/storybryansstat00rancgoog.pdf

In the latter, GW Ranck asserts the name Bryan to the location and the DAR has used it ever since even though the footnote on page 6 concurs with TJ Bryant that the earliest court record references including a deposition by Daniel Boone in a court case refers to the location as Bryant's with a "t". Ranck also made an error in his 1872 History of Lexington Kentucky
Its Early Annals and Recent Progress ( http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/fayette/history/places/bryantst.txt ) when he reports that William Bryant married a sister Daniel Boone. William Bryant actually married Daniel Boone's niece, Rachel Wilcoxson. I should also note that Ranck in 1872 referred to the location as Bryant's Station. What caused him to change the name to Bryan between 1872 and 1896 I have no idea.

Generally in genealogy, primary documentary evidence closest to the event is considered likely to be more accurate. An example is the birthdate recorded in a church baptismal record vs that recorded on a tombstone. Using that yardstick, the former reference seems to have gathered the best of the primary contemporaneous documentation and in my humble opinion likely strikes closest to the truth.

The confusion amongst names likely originates with confusion over family started by Ranck in 1872. As pointed out above Ranck was mixing family trees in his 1872 History. William C Bryan (no "t") married Mary Boone and William Grant married Elizabeth Boone, sisters to Edward Boone who was part of Squire Boone's company. Edward was killed while hunting with brother Daniel Boone circa 1780. William C Bryan and his son were killed at nearly the same time in a separate incident wit Shawnee indians. On top of that Daniel Boone's wife was a Bryan. Further, CH Bradford in his notes makes a hash of the Indian attack at Cane Creek turning it into a massacre where one did not exist and reports William Bryant to have been killed but then reports a few pages later that the same William Bryant was involved in subsequent land lawsuits. Its how stories get started.

Apparently William Bryan per family lore had been with Daniel Boone as early as 1776. See THE BOONE = BRYAN HISTORY
Author(s): J. D. Bryan
Source: Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 3, No. 9 (SEPTEMBER, 1905), pp. 81-92
Published by: Kentucky Historical Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23366227
Accessed: 29-10-2018 05:41 UTC
The Bryan family held much property and had a notable role in the settlement of Lexington and its surroundings. They were intermarried with the Boone's there is no doubt. The argument made by JD Bryan is one of "we were there, its got to be us because we are related to Daniel Boone" falls short of good primary source documentation.

I guess if I had to declare myself looking at history, I would go back as far as I could which includes court documents as early as May 1780 that refer to the station as Bryant's. Followed by Daniel Boone's deposition in Jan 1780 that refers to the encampment that he and William Bryant made in 1775 on a creek running into the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek, (See case of J. & D. Bradford vs. Abraham McClelland, Hughes' Rep., p. 195 ) followed by Filson's biography by interview of Daniel Boone published in 1784 that refers to it as Briant's Station, a spelling of the name used by William Bryant himself and his forefather's from Normandy, I land on the side of the line that says what is known today as Bryan's Station, KY was indeed founded by William Bryant of Boone County Missouri and known as Bryant's station up until the DAR changed the name in 1896. I may be in the modern minority, though I'm sure the debate will wage on. I can pretty much assure everyone that my opinion won't change the DAR's, nor Official Kentucky nomenclature!!!

Thanks for letting me look back at some KY history on the MO Civil War Board! - JJR