House 1873 (District 38)
Party when first elected: Republican
Counties Served:
Cottonwood, Jackson, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Rock
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Date of Birth:
1/7/1816 (uncertain)
Birth Place:
Perry, Pennsylvania
Birth County:
Cumberland
Birth Country:
United States
Date of Death:
8/18/1881
Gender:
Male
Religion:
Reported Minority: None Reported
Other Names:
City of Residence (when first elected):
Worthington
Occupation (when first elected):
Real Estate Agent/Land Agent, St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad Co./Formerly Practiced Law/Former Grocery Business/Former Editor, Daily Telegraph/Former Feed and Commission Business/Former Worker Including Captain on the Wheel-House; Erie Canal/Former Miller
EDUCATION
Cumberland County Common Schools, Pennsylvania; At Least Elementary School;
Studied Law; With Judge McKelvy; Admitted to the Bar, 1859
OTHER GOVERNMENT SERVICE
Judicial Administration:
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (Prothonotary, 6 years);
18?? to 18??
County Government:
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (Probate Officer);
1849 to 1855
State Agency:
Philadelphia Flour Inspector (Appointed by Governor Pollock);
1855 to 1858
[Appointed]
Military:
Union Army, 1st Minnesota Regiment of Volunteers and (United States Civil War, Battles of the Potomac up to Antietam; Private, 1st Lieutenant, Colonel of the 7th Regiment);
1861 to 09/1862
Military:
Minnesota Garrison Forces, 7th Regiment (Sioux Indian War, State Commander, Brigadeer General; Joined Sibley's Expedition Against Hostile Indians, Left in Charge of the Sioux Indian Prisoners at Mankato, Minnesota, Oversaw the Execution of 38 of Them);
09/1862 to 01/1864
State Governor:
Minnesota;
01/11/1864 to 01/08/1866
[Elected]
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
Spouse:
Margaret Funk (married in 1839)
Children:
Four children: (daughter, died in infancy); Wesley (son, he died at the battle of Gettysburg), and 2 more sons
Family Members Who Have Served in the Minnesota Legislature:
GENERAL NOTES
He was of German (Bavarian) ancestry.
The Minnesota Legislative Manual, 1873 lists his place of birth as Bavaria. The Minnesota Historical Society's Governors of Minnesota, Progressive Men of Minnesota, 1897, and The Fifteenth Legislature of Minnesota, 1873 list Pennsylvania. Progressive Men of Minnesota, 1897 also states that his grandfather came to America from Germany around 1785.
The Minnesota Historical Society's Governors of Minnesota, and The Fifteenth Legislature of Minnesota list his birth date as January 7. Progressive Men of Minnesota, 1897 lists January 17.
He moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1858. He moved to Nevada in 1866. He returned to Minnesota in 1871.
His party affiliation was provided by The Fifteenth Legislature of Minnesota, 1873.
"In politics as a young man he was a Whig,.." (Progressive Men of Minnesota, 1897, p. 380)
He died, from gangrene which had started in his left foot, in Worthington, Minnesota.