Bryant Morgan

Ancestors

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Larry Snyder [send private message]

Biography

Henry Bryant Morgan was born on April 27, 1924 in Lynchburg, TN to Henry Bryant Morgan and Maude Stone (Moore) Morgan. Bryant died in Harlan, KY as the result of a massive heart attack on March 3, 1964 at the young age of 39.

Bryant’s mother died of tuberculosis on April 23, 1926, a few days before Bryant’s 2nd birthday. Bryant’s father apparently felt unable to raise him properly so he entrusted Bryant to his niece, Mary Boone (Billingsly) Tong. As a child growing up we knew Mary Boone as “Boonie” and were told for many years that she was our grandmother. Bryant’s dad was known as “Uncle Henry” to us and at some point in our childhood we were told the truth. “Uncle Henry” was not in our lives much and I have very few memories of him.

Bryant’s early school years were spent in Tullahoma, TN. Sometime after 1930, the Tongs moved to Harlan, KY. In Harlan, Boonie ran a boarding house and had a hat business. Bryant completed high school in Harlan, where he met Martha Gunn. Bryant played basketball and football (center) in school. His senior year he was a starting guard on the Harlan basketball team that finished runner-up in the Kentucky State High School Basketball tournament. He attempted to obtain a basketball scholarship at the University of Kentucky but was told in a letter from Adolph Rupp that he was too small.

He started college at UK in 1943 and he and Martha were married on March 21, 1943. The war interrupted college and Bryant joined the Air Force. His assignments were all stateside. I know that he spent time in Cleveland, OH, Biloxi, MS and Panama City, FL while in the service. After his discharge he completed college at UK, obtaining a degree in Civil Engineering in 1948 or 1949. He went to work for Silas Campbell Construction Company located in Harlan following graduation. He continued to work for Silas until the late 1950s when he and Jack Langley began their own company, L & M Construction. His work career centered around construction of coal-related facilities.

Bryant and Martha divorced in the late 1950s and Bryant later married Fannalea Bennett in the early 1960s.

Dad’s work required him to be away from home Monday through Friday almost every week. That makes it difficult to have much of a relationship. He did coach my little league baseball team for a couple of years and I always felt I was held to a higher standard than other players. I had fun times with mom and dad in the 1950s attending the Kentucky State High School basketball tournament in Lexington/Louisville. In my younger years I would go with dad to his office on Saturday morning. I remember going through the office cabinets looking for paper, pencils, etc. In my teen years dad allowed me to work in the construction business as a laborer. I spent the summer of 1960 living with dad in Calvert City, KY where he was managing the construction of a large coke oven project on the Tennessee River. I believed dad loved us but because of his commitment to his job was unable to spend time with us. ^[1]

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources? This comment, and everything else, can be edited or removed.

Sources

"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7TQ-21C : accessed 28 April 2016), Earnest A Tongue, Harlan, Magisterial District 1, Harlan, Kentucky, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 48-1, sheet 4B, family 87, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 1313.

"Florida, State Census, 1945," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNFQ-HK4 : accessed 5 May 2015), Henry B Morgan, Grammer School, Bay, Florida; citing line 47, State Archives, Tallahassee; FHL microfilm 2,425,177.

Obituary, "Harlan Daily Enterprise", Harlan KY, 3 Mar 1964

1. ↑ Bryant Liddell Morgan, Knoxville TN, 4/27/2015