Richard P. Bland
Richard Parks Bland (August 19, 1835 – June 15, 1899) was an American politician, lawyer, and educator from Missouri. A Democrat, Bland served in the United States House of Representatives from 1873 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1899,[1] representing at various times the Missouri 5th, 8th and 11th congressional districts. Nicknamed "Silver Dick" for his efforts to promote bimetallism, Bland is best known for the Bland–Allison Act.
Richard P. Bland
5th district (1873–83)
11th district (1883–93)
8th district (1893–95)
Joel D. Hubbard
June 15, 1899 (aged 63)
Lebanon, Missouri, U.S.
Virginia Elizabeth Mitchell (1873–1899; his death); 9 children
Hartford College (Kentucky)
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Born in Kentucky, he established a legal practice in Utah Territory after working as a miner and schoolteacher. He served as the treasurer of Carson County from 1860 to 1864 during the peak years of the Comstock Lode mining rush. He settled in Missouri in 1865 and established a legal practice in Lebanon, Missouri. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1872 and quickly established himself as a leading advocate of the free silver movement. He sponsored the Bland–Allison Act, which required the United States Department of the Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars.[2] He also established himself as an anti-imperialist. Bland lost re-election in the 1894 election but won his seat back in 1896.
Bland was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1896, though he expressed reluctance about running for president. His marriage to a Catholic woman engendered opposition from the anti-Catholic elements of the party. Bland received the most votes on the first three ballots of the 1896 Democratic National Convention, but not enough to win the necessary majority. William Jennings Bryan, who also favored bimetallism, won the Democratic nomination on the fifth ballot and went on to lose to Republican William McKinley in the 1896 presidential election. After the convention, Bland served in the House from 1897 to his death in 1899.
Early life and education[edit]
Bland was born near Hartford, Ohio County, Kentucky to Stoughton Edward and Mary P. (Nall) Bland.[3] His father was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia, including statesman and Continental Congress member Richard Bland.[4] The Blands and Nalls were among the early families to emigrate from Virginia with Daniel Boone into the Kentucky wilderness.[3] Despite the family pedigree and wealth in Virginia, Richard and his three siblings were raised in relative poverty on his parents' small farm.[4] In 1842, when Richard Bland was seven years old, the situation was exacerbated by the unexpected death of his father.[3] His mother's death followed in 1849, leaving the young teenager an orphan and forcing Bland to hire himself out as a farm laborer to survive.[4][5] Despite growing up poor, he was able to attend Hartford College and graduate with a teacher's certificate. Bland then taught school in his hometown for two years before moving to Wayne County, Missouri at age 20, in 1855.
His first time of residence in Missouri was brief, Bland teaching just one term at a school in Patterson, Missouri before heading further west to California. While there he began to study law.[6] He then moved to the western portion of the Utah Territory, part of present-day western Nevada, where he taught school, and tried his hand at prospecting and mining.[5] It appears, from a eulogy delivered in Congress, that while in the West Bland was also involved in conflict with Native Americans on multiple occasions, although few details are known.[4] While teaching school he continued to study law and after passing the bar began practicing in Virginia City and Carson City.[6] It was during his time in California and Nevada he developed a lifelong interest in mining, silver in particular.[4]
Death[edit]
Richard P. Bland died at his home in Lebanon, Missouri on June 15, 1899. He had been in failing health for some years,[4] and in the spring of 1899 returned to Lebanon from Washington, D.C. to recover from a severe throat infection, but his condition only worsened.[5] He is buried in the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Lebanon, Missouri. A crowd of several thousand flocked to the small Missouri Ozarks town to attend Bland's funeral.[4]
Honors[edit]
Richard P. Bland is the namesake of Bland, Missouri.[13]