William James Bryan

William James Bryan ( born October 10, 1876 at Fort Mason, Orange County, Florida; † 22 March 1908 in Washington DC) was an American lawyer and politician (Democratic Party), who represented the state of Florida in the U.S. Senate.

Born in what is now Lake County William Bryan was the younger brother of Nathan P. Bryan, who was also from 1911 to 1917 for Florida in the U.S. Senate. He attended the common schools and received his first degree in 1896 at Emory College in Oxford ( Georgia). His law degree, he passed in 1899 at the Law School of Washington and Lee University in Lexington (Virginia), after which he was admitted in the same year to the bar and commenced practice in Jacksonville. From 1902 to 1907 he worked as a solicitor for the criminal court in Duval County.

After the death of U.S. Senator Stephen Mallory, Jr. on December 23, 1907 Bryan was appointed by Governor Napoleon Broward his successor in Congress. He took his seat in Washington from December 26, 1907 true, but succumbed already almost four months later, on March 22, 1908, of typhoid fever. William Bryan, who was buried in Jacksonville, so that is still the youngest died during his term senator.