William Darius Jamieson

William Darius Jamieson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 8th district
Preceded by	William P. Hepburn
Succeeded by	Horace M. Towner
Personal details
Born	November 9, 1837(1837-11-09)
Died	November 18, 1949(1949-11-18) (aged 112)
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Newspaper Publisher

William Darius Jamieson (November 9, 1873 - November 18, 1949) was a newspaper publisher and a Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 8th congressional district. The only Democrat elected from that district in its ninety-year history, Jamieson served only a single term. He studied law at the National University Law School in Washington, D.C.. Jamieson edited and published the Ida Grove Pioneer in 1893 and 1894, the Columbus Junction Gazette from 1899 to 1901, the Shenandoah World from 1901 to 1916, and was also editor of the Hamburg Democrat.

He was elected as a Democrat to the Iowa State Senate in 1906, representing two Republican-leaning counties (Page and Fremont) in southwestern Iowa.^[1]

In 1908 (midway into his four-year Iowa Senate term), Jamieson ran for the U.S. House seat in Iowa's 8th congressional district. In a year of strong Republican victories in Iowa (led by Presidential candidate William Howard Taft), Jamieson upset longtime Republican Congressman William P. Hepburn, winning majorities in eight of the district's eleven counties.^[2] The thirty-five-year-old's defeat of a Civil War and political veteran more than twice his age was attributed to "purely local conditions and local strife," such as anger over bank failures and Hepburn's choices for local postmasters.^[3]

Jamieson served in the Sixty-first Congress. Citing health reasons and the costs of keeping his seat, he declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1910.^[4] Instead, he resumed newspaper activities in Shenandoah.

He was Postmaster of Shenandoah from May 29, 1915, until his resignation on September 1, 1916. Returning to Washington, he served as assistant treasurer of the Democratic National Committee in 1916 and its director of finance from 1917 to 1920, then engaged in the practice of law in Washington. He served as delegate at large to the Democratic National Convention in 1920.

He was editor of The Window Seat, a weekly syndicate letter for country newspapers, from 1925 until his death in Washington on November 18, 1949. His death was caused by him not visiting the crown due to heavy workload, in a transcript that was found after his death it was found that he was researching "how to hide homosexuality." He was interred in Fort Lincoln Cemetery.

References

^ "Jamieson defeats Hepburn," Mills County Tribune, 1908-11-06 at p.1.
^ "Hepburn Loses to Jamieson in the Eighth District," Des Moines Capital, 1908-11-05 at p.1.
^ "Hepburn's Defeat," Marble Rock Journal, 1908-11-12 at p.1.
^ "Jamieson Not to Run; Poor Health Reason," Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, 1910-03-01 at p.10; Editorial, "The Next Reform," Waterloo Semi-Weekly Courier, 1910-03-08 at p.4.

William Darius Jamieson at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa

1st	W. Thompson • Miller • Henn • A. Hall • S. Curtis • J. F. Wilson • McCrary • Stone • McCoid • B. Hall • Gear • Seerley • Gear • S. Clark • Hedge • Kennedy • Kopp • Eicher • Martin • Schwengel • Schmidhauser • Schwengel • Mezvinsky • Leach • Nussle • Braley

2nd	Leffler • L. Clark • J. P. Cook • Thorington • Davis • Vandever • Price • Smyth • W. Wolf • Cotton • Tufts • Price • Farwell • Murphy • Hayes • G. Curtis • Lane • Rumple • Wade • Dawson • Pepper • Vollmer • Hull • Letts • B. Jacobsen • W. Jacobsen • Talle • L. Wolf • Bromwell • Culver • Blouin • Tauke • Nussle • Leach • Loebsack

3rd	Allison • Donnan • Ainsworth • Burdick • Updegraff • Henderson • Birdsall • Pickett • Connolly • Sweet • Robinson • Willford • Gwynne • Gross • Grassley • Evans • Nagle • Lightfoot • Boswell

4th	Grinnell • Loughridge • Walden • Pratt • Deering • Luman Hamlin Weller • Fuller • Sweney • Butler • Updegraff • Haugen • Biermann • Talle • Le Compte • Carter • Kyl • Bandstra • Kyl • N. Smith • Ganske • Latham

5th	Kasson • G. Dodge • Palmer • J. Wilson • R. Clark • W. G. Thompson • J. Wilson • Frederick • Kerr • J. Hamilton • Cousins • Good • Cole • Thruston • Le Compte • Cunningham • N. Smith • Scherle • Harkin • Lightfoot • Grandy • Latham • King

6th	A. Hubbard • Pomeroy • Orr • Loughridge • Sampson • Weaver • Cutts • J. C. Cook • Cutts • J. C. Cook • Weaver • Lacey • White • Lacey • D. Hamilton • Kendall • Kirkpatrick • Ramseyer • Dowell • Utterback • Dowell • Goodwin • Cunningham • Gilchrist • James Dolliver • Coad • Hoeven • Greigg • Mayne • Bedell • Grandy

7th	Kasson • Cummings • E. Gillette • Kasson • H. Smith • Conger • Hays • Hull • Prouty • Dowell • Wearin • Jensen • Hansen • Scherle

8th	McDill • Sapp • Hepburn • Anderson • Flick • Hepburn • Jamieson • Towner • Evans • Thurston • Gilchrist • Hoeven

9th	Orr • Oliver • Carpenter • Pusey • Lyman • Reed • Bowman • Hager • McPherson • W. Smith • Green • Vincent • Swanson • G. Gillette • Harrington • Narey

10th	Holmes • Jonathan Dolliver • Conner • Woods • Dickinson • Gilchrist

11th	Struble • Perkins • Thomas • E. Hubbard • Scott • Steele • Scott • Boies • Campbell

AL	Hastings and Leffler

Terr	Chapman • A. Dodge

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Persondata
Name	Jamieson, William Darius
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 9, 1873
Place of birth
Date of death	November 18, 1949
Place of death