W. J. Bryan was born in Piqua, Ohio. He attended Western Reserve University and graduated from the Yale School of Medicine
In 1885, he commenced practice as a physician in his hometown of Piqua, Ohio, where he practiced for forty years. In 1892, he married Maud M. Merrill and they had two children, Pamella and Frank W.
Bryan, Jr. In 1911, Dr. Bryan received a Master's degree from Columbia University and a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Michigan in 1913.
From 1915 to 1917 he served as professor of materia medica and therapeutics at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Bryan practiced medicine in Piqua until his retirement in 1938 when he moved to Sarasota, Florida to take part in civic activities and to give lectures on health care topics at several schools including the University of South Florida Medical School and the Woman's Club of Sarasota County.
There is no more reason to believe that man descended from some inferior animal than there is to believe that a stately mansion has descended from a small cottage.W. J. Bryan
You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns - you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!W. J. Bryan
