Independent Statesman

Hon John S. Pillsbury

The Republican State Convention of Minnesota, held on the 28th, at St. Paul, nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor, Hon. John S. Pillsbury, a son of New Hampshire, who by his public career has reflected credit upon himself and his native State to a marked degree. We congratulate the Republicans of Minnesota on selecting so strong a candidate, one of whose election there can scarcely be a doubt.

Hon. John S. Pillsbury was born in Sutton, this State, July, 1827, and is consequently 48 years old. At the age of 16 he went to Warner as a clerk for his brother, Geo. H. Pillsbury, Esq., who was at that time in trade at that place, and remained with him until 1851, when he went into business in that town with Ex-Gov. Harriman. He was afterwards in trade at Andover, for a short time. In 1853 he came to Concord and went into business first with Thomas Andrews, and afterwards with J. S. McFarland. He remained here about one year, and then went West to look over the country. He spent one year mostly in the States of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, and finally, in 1854, settled down at the Falls of St. Anthony, in Minnesota, then a small village with great natural advantages. He immediately went into the hardware business, and has succeeded in building up the largest business in that line west of Chicago. The small village has grown to be a city of 35,000 inhabitants. He has taken a lively interest in the prosperity of his adopted State, and has been a member of the State Senate for some ten or twelve years, serving for several years as chairman of the Finance Committee. In 1864 he was made President of the Board of Regents of the State University, and holds that position to this time. At the time he was made a Regent, the University, by bad management, had been nearly ruined. The donations of Land made by the general government and by the State had been squandered and the buildings only commenced. Mr. Pillsbury at once went to work to save the institution, if possible, and mainly by his zeal and efforts the University has become one of the most prosperous in the country.

The Minneapolis Tribune paid him this tribute a fortnight before his nomination:

For ten or twelve years he has been a member of the State Senate, and during all this time his course has been marked by his broad and liberal views, and the earnestness and zeal with which he has labored for the welfare and best interests of the State. His excellent business habits and talent have been called into frequent requisition, and as chairman of the committee on Finance he has made a record as honorable and of as much benefit to the people as he has by his connection with the University. In the Senate he has won the esteem and profound respect of every man with whom he associated, by his far seeing policy, his enlarged ideas, and his gentlemanly and courteous manner. There is scarcely a man in the State who, as a public servant, has made a record so thoroughly pure and honorable, and which so completely commands the respect of all. In this community he is recognized as one of our clearest, shrewdest, most active business men.