Background
Ralph Clement Bryant was born on January 22, 1877 in Princeton, Illinois, the fourth son and seventh of eight children of Arthur and Elizabeth Browning (Hughes) Bryant. His ancestors had come from England in early colonial times, and he was a direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden. Interest in trees was a strong family tradition. Ralph's grandfather, Arthur Bryant, brother of the poet William Cullen Bryant, established extensive nurseries at Princeton, which the family continued to maintain; in 1871 he published a book entitled Forest Trees for Shelter, Ornament, and Profit, a significant contribution to the national tree-planting movement of that period. Ralph's father, Arthur Bryant, a successful horticulturist, conducted experiments in tree planting in cooperation with the University of Illinois.