William Joel Bryan was born on December 14, 1815, at Hazel Run in Sainte Genevieve County, Missouri.
In 1831, his mother (Emily) and stepfather, James Franklin Perry, followed his uncle, Stephen F. Austin, to Texas.
Shortly after Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1835, Bryan took his part in the siege of Bexar at his uncle's side among the Brazoria County Volunteers.
During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, he fed Confederate troops stationed at the mouth of the Brazos at his own expense.
Shortly after the war, in 1865, he granted the Houston & Texas Central Railroad a right-of-way through his land in Brazos County.