William Thomas BLAND, Congress, MO (1861-1928)

BLAND William Thomas , a Representative from Missouri; born in Weston, Lewis County, Va. (now West Virginia), January 21, 1861; was graduated from the University of West Virginia at Morgantown in 1883 and from the law department of that university in 1884; took a special course in law at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1885; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Weston, W.Va.; moved to Atchison, Kans., in 1887; prosecuting attorney of Atchison County, Kans., 1890-1892; mayor of Atchison in 1894; elected judge of the second Kansas district in 1896; reelected in 1900, and served until 1901, when he resigned; entered the wholesale drug business in 1901; moved to Kansas City, Mo., in 1904 and continued in business until 1917 when he engaged in banking; chairman of the Kansas City River and Harbor Improvement Commission 1909-1918; director of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress; vice president of the Mississippi Valley Waterway Association; elected to the Kansas City Board of Education in 1912 for a six-year term and served as vice president and president; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1919-March 3, 1921); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress, moved to Florida and settled in Orlando in 1921; engaged in banking; served as a member of the Orlando Utilities Commission for three years; died in Orlando, Orange County, Fla., January 15, 1928; interment in Greenwood Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present