More seriously, Brambleberry, here’s a hypothesis for you.
William Cullen Bryant was one of the most famous American poets of the nineteenth century (a time when poets could actually be famous…).
According to this source, he was also an enthusiastic orchardist, planting more than 800 apple trees on his property in the hill towns of Western Massachusetts:
Significantly this was during a period when the cultivation of seedling apples was common. In Massachusetts, for instance, this led to the introduction of varieties such as Mother and Hubbardston Nonesuch (among many others - Baldwin and Westfield Seek-no-further were slightly earlier, end of the 18th century).
Bryant also wrote this poem, “The Planting of the Apple Tree”:
I’m not sure of the composition and publication dates, but given the time frame of Bryant’s career and fame, it seems likely that it would have been pretty well-known in the second part of the 19th century. (Again, we’re talking about a time when poets could become well-known public figures, which Bryant was.)
Taking this information together, we might hypothesize that there were multiple “Bryant” apples in circulation in the late 19th c.
One possibility is that a seedling apple from Bryant’s own orchard was introduced into wider cultivation and named after him.
Another possibility is that Bryant’s poem inspired one or more of his readers to name their new varieties in his honor. (This seems rather more likely to me. People named a number of things after Bryant in this period - for example, Bryant Park in NYC)
One of these “Bryant” apples becomes the late dessert apple you found via Archive. Another, quite different, “Bryant” becomes the apple that appeared at the county fair.
Given the state of communications in the nineteenth century, it’s quite possible that nobody realizes that there are multiple Bryants out there, or maybe they realize at some point, but don’t bother to differentiate them. (Think of how many “Golden Russets” of one kind or another were running around.)
Just a hypothesis, of course, but an attractive one, I think.
