William Josiah MacDonald (November 17, 1873 – March 29, 1946) was a politician from the

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. MacDonald was born in

Potosi, Wisconsin Potosi is a village in Grant County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 688 at the 2010 census. The village is in the Town of Potosi. History Potosi is located where Wisconsin's lead ore belt intersects with the Mississippi. The pos ...

. He attended the common schools and graduated from the high school at

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. He attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

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and

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He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Calumet, Michigan in 1895. He served as prosecuting attorney for

Keweenaw County Keweenaw County (, ; , ) is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, the state's northernmost county. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 2,046, making it Michigan's least populous county. It is also the ...

from 1898 to 1904 and prosecuting attorney for Houghton County from 1906 to 1912. In 1911, he was an unsuccessful candidate for circuit judge in the 12th District of Michigan. In 1912, MacDonald ran as a candidate for the

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against incumbent

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H. Olin Young to the

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from the Michigan's 12th congressional district. Although unofficial returns showed that MacDonald had won the seat, some votes were not included in the official count by the state board of canvassers due to a mistake in how MacDonald's name appeared on the ballot in Ontonagon County. H. Olin Young presented credentials as a Member-elect to the 63rd United States Congress and served from March 4, 1913, until his resignation, effective May 16, 1913, while a contest for the seat was pending. Subsequently, the House Committee on Elections unanimously reported a resolution to the full house awarding the 12th District seat to MacDonald, who took the oath of office August 26, 1913 and served until March 3, 1915. In 1914 and again in 1916, MacDonald lost to Republican William F. James. MacDonald and Roy O. Woodruff ( 10th district) were the only two Michigan residents elected to the U.S. House from the Progressive Party. MacDonald resumed the practice of law in Springfield, Illinois in 1917. He moved to

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in 1922 and engaged in the practice of his profession. William J. MacDonald died in

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and was interred in

Graceland Cemetery Graceland Cemetery is a large historic garden cemetery located in the north side community area of Uptown, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Established in 1860, its main entrance is at the intersection of Clark Street and Ir ...

, Chicago.

References

The Political GraveyardChapter VI - Michigan's Congressional Delegation
''Michigan Manual 2003-2004'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, William Josiah 1873 births 1946 deaths People from Potosi, Wisconsin Progressive Party (1912) members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Michigan Progressives (1912) 20th-century American politicians University of Minnesota alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago) Members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan