William James Bryan

William James Bryan
United States Senator from Florida
In office December 26, 1907 – March 22, 1908
Appointed by	Napoleon B. Broward
Preceded by	Stephen Mallory II
Succeeded by	William H. Milton
Personal details
Born	(1876-10-10)October 10, 1876 Fort Mason, Florida, U.S.
Died	March 22, 1908(1908-03-22) (aged 31) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic

William James Bryan (October 10, 1876 – March 22, 1908) was an American politician, attorney, and prosecutor who was a Democratic U.S. Senator from the American state of Florida. Bryan's stint in the Senate was brief, having been appointed to fill a vacancy the day after Christmas of 1907 — less than three months before his own death at the age of 31.

Biography[]

Early years[]

William James Bryan was born in Fort Mason, Florida Orange County, Florida, (now Lake County, Florida) on October 10, 1876. He was the son of a planter named John Milton Bryan and his wife, the former Louise Margaret Norton.^[1] Bryan counted one of his great, great grandfathers as an early pioneer from England to the Province of North Carolina.^[1] His grandfather had first moved from North Carolina to Florida and his father had become prominent in the politics of the state.^[1]

Bryan attended public schools, graduating from Osceola High School of Kissimmee, Florida.^[1] He studied extensively at home and gained admission to Emory College in Oxford, Georgia (forerunner of today's Emory University) at the age of 16.^[1] Bryan graduated from Emory with a B.A. degree in 1896.^[1]

Following graduation, Bryan taught school for one year and worked on a plantation for another, all the while studying for law school.^[1] Bryan then enrolled in the law department of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, from which he graduated in 1899.^[2]

Bryan was admitted to the bar later in 1899 and began the practice of law in Jacksonville, Florida.^[2] Bryan initially opened a partnership but separated from his partner to open his own private office the following year.^[1]

In 1903 Bryan married Janet G. Allan, the daughter of a staff officer to Stonewall Jackson during the American Civil War who had gone on to become a mathematics professor at Washington and Lee University.^[1] The couple had two children.^[1]

Political career[]

In 1902 Bryan was elected as Duval County solicitor in its Criminal Court of Record.^[2] He was re-elected to this office in 1906, remaining in that capacity throughout 1907.^[1] Bryan assumed office in May 1903 and took action to ensure the enforcement of the Florida legislature's prohibition against Sunday operation of saloons and oversaw a crackdown against gambling in Jacksonville.^[3]

Bryan achieved prominence in the Florida Democratic Party during this interval, serving on the party's State Committee and elected as a delegate to the 1904 Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri.^[1]

On December 26, 1907, Bryan was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Stephen Mallory II.^[2] Bryan traveled to Washington, DC to take the seat on January 8, 1908.^[4]

Death and legacy[]

About a month after his arrival in the nation's capital,^[4] Bryan was stricken with typhoid fever, an illness which caused his premature death on March 22, 1908, at the age of 31.^[2] Bryan was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida.^[2]

Bryan's older brother, Nathan Philemon Bryan (1872–1935), would be elected to the United States Senate in 1910 and served a full term in Washington before becoming a Federal Circuit Court judge.^[5]

See also[]

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)

Footnotes[]

Further reading[]

• William James Bryan (Late a Senator from Florida): Memorial Addresses, 60th Congress, 1st Session: Senate of the United States, May 2, 1908; House of Representatives, May 3, 1908. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1909.