William Thomas Bland

William Thomas Bland (January 21, 1861 - January 15, 1928) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri, grandson of John G. Jackson and cousin of James M. Jackson.

Born in Weston, Virginia (now West Virginia), Bland 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.He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Weston, W.Virginia.He moved to Atchison, Kansas, in 1887.He served as prosecuting attorney of Atchison County, Kansas from 1890 to 1892.He served as mayor of Atchison in 1894.

Bland was elected judge of the second Kansas district in 1896.He was reelected in 1900, and served until 1901, when he resigned.He entered the wholesale drug business in 1901.He moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1904 and continued in business until 1917 when he engaged in banking.He served as chairman of the Kansas City River and Harbor Improvement Commission 1909-1918.He served as director of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress.He served as vice president of the Mississippi Valley Waterway Association.

Bland was elected to the Kansas City Board of Education in 1912 for a six-year term and served as vice president and president.

Bland was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1919-March 3, 1921).He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress, moved to Florida and settled in Orlando in 1921.He engaged in banking.He served as a member of the Orlando Utilities Commission for three years.He died in Orlando, Florida, January 15, 1928.He was interred in Greenwood Cemetery.

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