John S. Pillsbury

John Sargent Pillsbury (July 29, 1827 – October 18, 1901) was an American politician, businessman, and philanthropist. A Republican, he served as the eighth Governor of Minnesota from 1876 to 1882. He was a co-founder of the Pillsbury Company.

John Sargent Pillsbury
8th Governor of Minnesota
In office January 7, 1876 – January 10, 1882
Lieutenant	James Wakefield Charles A. Gilman
Preceded by	Cushman Davis
Succeeded by	Lucius Frederick Hubbard
Personal details
Born	(1827-07-29)July 29, 1827 Sutton, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died	October 18, 1901(1901-10-18) (aged 74) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Resting place	Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mahala Fisk (1832–1910)

Pillsbury at a Board of Regents meeting at the University of Minnesota.

Early life

Pillsbury was born in Sutton, New Hampshire, the son of John and Susan (Wadleigh) Pillsbury. He was a descendant of William Pillsbury, who emigrated from England to Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1640.^[1] In 1851, he opened a store in Warner, New Hampshire, partnering with Walter Harriman, a future Governor of New Hampshire and Civil War general.

Career

Pillsbury Company

Pillsbury underwent a tour of the West in 1855, and decided to make St. Anthony, Minnesota, now part of Minneapolis his home. Shortly after settling in Minnesota, he would marry Mahala Fisk.^[2] Pillsbury began a diverse entrepreneurial career including ventures in hardware, real estate and lumber before he would found his most successful business, C. A. Pillsbury and Company,^[3] along with his nephew Charles Alfred Pillsbury, for whom the company was named.^[4][5]

Political career

After the American Civil War, Pillsbury was elected as a third class companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.^[6]

Pillsbury served in the Minnesota Senate for several years before becoming the eighth Governor of Minnesota.^[7] He served as governor from January 7, 1876, until January 10, 1882.^[8] During the Grasshopper Plague of 1877, Governor Pillsbury called for a day of prayer on April 26, 1877.^[9] A subsequent sleet storm killed all the grasshoppers. In Cold Spring, Minnesota, a chapel was built to honor the miracle.^[10]

Philanthropist

Pillsbury was a noted philanthropist and often anonymously donated funds to causes he favored. In particular, he helped the University of Minnesota recover from debt in its early years, and later served as a regent. Since then, he has become known as "The Father of the University."^[11] Pillsbury Hall at the University of Minnesota is named in his honor.^[12][13]

Personal life

Pillsbury married Mahala Fisk on November 3, 1856.^[14] He and Mahala had four children, daughters Addie, Susan May, and Sarah Belle, and then son Alfred.^[15] Addie married Charles M. Webster, but died at the age of 25; Susan married Frederic Beal Snyder and died at the age of 28; Sarah Belle married Edward C. Gale, an area lawyer and son of the area's first real estate developer, Samuel Chester Gale. Edward Gale was also an art collector and contributed to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) as well.^[16] Alfred did not go into business, but instead became an art collector. When he died in 1950, the works were donated to MIA.^[17][18]

His daughter's Susan's only son, John Pillsbury Snyder (1888 –1959), was a survivor of the RMS Titanic in 1912. John and his wife, Nelle, returning from their European honeymoon, are said to have been the first people to have entered the very first lifeboat, No. 7.

Pillsbury died on October 18, 1901, and is interred in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[19] He is featured on a New Hampshire historical marker (number 44) along New Hampshire Route 114 in Sutton.^[20]

Quote

Early John S. Pillsbury signature, January 1855

A 1901 magazine article described him as follows:

[Pillsbury's] impulse always was: "Act; act now; act effectively; act for the greatest good." He belonged to the type of man who "does things."^[21]

— Horace B. Hudson, The American Monthly Review of Reviews