William James Bryan

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, 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. Bryan counted one of his great, great grandfathers as an early pioneer from England to the Province of North Carolina.

Bryan was admitted to the bar later in 1899 and began the practice of law in Jacksonville, Florida.

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.

Death and legacy

About a month after his arrival in the nation's capital,