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