John Gilfillan, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

John Gilfillan

American politician

Date of Birth: 11-Feb-1835

Place of Birth: Barnet, Vermont, United States

Date of Death: 19-Aug-1924

Profession: lawyer, politician

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius


Show Famous Birthdays Today, United States

👉 Worldwide Celebrity Birthdays Today

About John Gilfillan

  • John Bachop Gilfillan (February 11, 1835 – August 19, 1924), known as J.B., was a Minnesota politician and lawyer active in the late 19th century.
  • Gilfillan was born on February 11, 1835 in Caledonia County, Vermont.
  • He attended school there, first Caledonia County Grammar School and then Caledonia County Academy, until 1855, when he moved to Minnesota.
  • He was later admitted to the bar and began law practice in 1860.
  • Although not certain, he probably worked as a teacher at some point between 1855 and 1860.
  • Once he became a lawyer, he began his public life. In 1860, the year he was admitted to the bar, he began his political life.
  • Gilfillan's first political position was as a member of one of the region's first school boards.
  • Long a proponent of education, Gilfillan helped to found the grade school system in Minneapolis.
  • Over the next decade, Gilfillan was a prominent member of the Minneapolis legal establishment. Gilfillan served four terms as the municipal attorney for St.
  • Anthony, Minnesota.
  • By 1863, he was the county attorney for Hennepin County.
  • He remained in that position for 10 years, although was briefly replaced by George Robinson (from 1867 to 1869).
  • From 1865 until 1869, Gilfillan was also a city alderman.
  • Before seeking higher office in 1875, Gilfillan practiced law with Lochren, McNair and Gilfillan.Voters placed Gilfillan in his first statewide office in a special election for state senate in 1875.
  • He served as a state senator for 10 years, first representing Minnesota's District 25 and later District 28.
  • During his time in the state senate, Gilfillan became a regent of the University of Minnesota.
  • He left the senate in 1885 to pursue national office. In 1885, Gilfillan was elected to the United States Congress to represent Minnesota's 4th congressional district.
  • He served one term and was replaced, in 1886, when he lost the election to St.
  • Paul mayor Edmund Rice. After losing the 1886 election, Gilfillan returned to Minnesota.
  • He endowed the University of Minnesota with $50,000 in 1901.
  • By 1903, he was president of the First National Bank.
  • Gilfillan continued to work with the bank as a member of its board of directors from 1905 until at least 1907.Gilfillan was married twice and had four children.
  • His first marriage, to Rebecca Corse Oliphant in 1870, left him a widower in 1884.
  • Nearly a decade later, he married Hannah Lavinia Coppock, a woman 25 years his junior, in 1893 in Chicago.
  • Gilfillan had four children, three sons and one daughter.
  • He was a member of the Minneapolis Club until his death in 1924.
  • He is interred at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also