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Minnesota Humanities Commission

Charles Gilfillan

Biographical Notes

Date of birth: July 4, 1831, New Hartford, New York
Date of death: December 8, 1902, Redwood Falls, Minnesota

Charles Duncan Gilfillan. Pioneer Redwood County farmer and lawmaker. Born a year after his parents came to the United States from Bannockburn, Scotland. Attended Homer Academy and Hamilton College, both in New York. At age eighteen taught in Potosi, Missouri. Moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, and taught school and studied law in 1851. Admitted to Minnesota bar, 1853. Elected first town recorder of Stillwater, Minnesota, 1854. Practiced law with his brother, James Gilfillan, St. Paul, 1857-63. Elected first chairman of the Minnesota Republican central committee, 1856. Republican candidate for St. Paul mayor, 1860. Represented Ramsey County in the Lower House of the State Legislature, 1864-66; state senator, 1866-76. Served on board of directors, First National Bank, St. Paul, 1865-1902. Instrumental in the planning and construction of the St. Paul waterworks system. Organizer of the Minnesota Valley Historical Association. Moved to Redwood Falls, Minnesota, 1882. Honorary MA, Hamilton College, 1895.

Selected Works

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Additional Resources

Sources used to prepare this author entry

The following bibliography may include links to Web sites that are no longer operable or have changed location. The sources are shown as they existed in the fall of 1999 when the entries were compiled.
  • Flandrau, Charles E. Encyclopedia of Biography of Minnesota. History of Minnesota. Chicago: The Century Publishing and Engraving Co., 1900.
  • History of Ramsey County and the City of St. Paul. Minneapolis: North Star Publishing Co., 1881.
  • Legislative Manual of the State of Minnesota. St. Paul: State of Minnesota, 1889, 1893-1911.
  • Minnesota History. Vol. 40, no. 5, p. 221.
  • St. Paul Pioneer Press. 11 Feb. 1940, Second Section, p. 1.
  • The United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-made Men, Minnesota Volume, New York: American Biographical Publishing Co., 1879.
This pilot database compiled and maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society.
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