William Bryant (349)

William Bryant (11 January 1730–c.1783) was a physician, antiquary, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1774. Born to an industrious sea captain and his wife in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, William Bryant studied medicine and practiced in New York before relocating to Trenton in 1769. He became well-known as a successful physician and entered local intellectual circles, writing and presenting “An Account of an Electrical Eel or Torpedo from Surinam” before the APS in 1774. During the Revolutionary War, Bryant treated both American and Hessian forces, and while living at Bloomsbury Court, found himself ousted by his neighbors for his Tory and Loyalist sympathies. After his expulsion, Bryant transferred his home to Colonel John Cox, and the property became a supply depot for Washington’s Army.