- Andrew Ryan McGill
Infobox Governor
name=Andrew Ryan McGill
caption=Andrew Ryan McGill
order= 10th
office= Governor of Minnesota
term_start=January 5 ,1887
term_end=January 9 ,1889
lieutenant=Albert E. Rice
predecessor=Lucius Frederick Hubbard
successor=William Rush Merriam
birth_date= birth date|1840|2|19|mf=y
birth_place=Saegertown, Pennsylvania , U.S.
death_date= death date and age|1905|10|31|1840|2|19|mf=y
death_place=St. Paul, Minnesota , U.S.
party= Republican
profession= educator
spouse= Eliza Bryant (1st), Mary Elizabeth Wilson (2nd)
religion=
footnotes=Andrew Ryan McGill (
February 19 ,1840 ndashOctober 31 ,1905 ) was an Americanpolitician of theUnited States Republican Party . He served as the 10thGovernor of Minnesota fromJanuary 5 ,1887 toJanuary 9 ,1889 .Andrew Ryan McGill, the son of Angeline (née Martin) and Charles McGill, was born in
Saegertown, Pennsylvania , onFebruary 19 ,1840 . Andrew's father, Charles Dillon McGill (1802–1875), was the youngest son of Patrick (1762–1832) and Anna (née Baird) McGill. Patrick had emigrated from CountyAntrim, Ireland , about 1774, settling inNorthumberland, Pennsylvania . In 1795 Patrick and Anna moved their family to the western part of Pennsylvania, homesteading several hundred acres in Crawford County. Andrew's mother, Angeline Martin (1811–1849), was the eldest of Armand (1785–1861) and Mary (née Ryan, 1789–1866) Martin's nine children. The Martin family also owned land in western Pennsylvania. Armand's brother, Lieutenant General Charles Martin, who commanded troops stationed at Fort de Boueff (Watertown, Pennsylvania ) in the late 1790s, settled inCarlisle, Pennsylvania .In 1859, at the age of nineteen, Andrew Ryan McGill moved from
Pennsylvania to Kentucky to become a schoolteacher. When the Civil War began and teaching, work was no longer feasible inKentucky , McGill left for Minnesota, arrivingJune 10 ,1861 . He became principal of the public school in St. Peter, Minnesota, in August 1862. In that same year, at the age of 22, McGill enlisted in Company D,9th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry . In 1863 he was discharged for disability. Soon after his discharge he was elected county superintendent of public schools (Nicollet County, Minnesota), a position he filled for two terms. From 1865 through 1866 McGill was the editor and proprietor of the St. Peter Tribune. In 1865 he was also elected clerk of the district court ofNicollet County for a term of four years. McGill took the opportunity to study law under JudgeHorace Austin and was admitted to the bar in 1869.In 1870 Austin was elected governor of Minnesota and McGill was selected as his private secretary. In 1873, McGill was appointed insurance commissioner of the state, a position he held for thirteen years. In 1886, the Republican state convention nominated McGill as their candidate for
governor of Minnesota . He won the nomination and the election, serving a single, two-year term as governor (1887–1889). During his term he recommended a revision of the railroad laws pertaining to transportation, storage, and grading of wheat, the watering of railroad stocks, a simplification of the tax laws, regulation of liquor, abolition of contract prison labor, establishment of a soldiers' home, and creation of a Bureau of Labor Statistics. While not re-elected, McGill remained active in politics, supporting the presidential candidacy ofCushman K. Davis (1896) and serving as state senator from the 37th District, St. Paul (1899–1905). McGill was appointed postmaster of St. Paul (1900) while concurrently serving as senator.Andrew Ryan McGill married Eliza E. Bryant (d. 1877), daughter of Charles S. Bryant, a lawyer and author from
St. Peter, Minnesota . Together they had three children: Charles Herbert (b. 1866), Robert C. (b. 1869), and Lida B. (b. 1874). In 1879, two years after Eliza's death, Andrew married Mary E. Wilson, daughter of Margaret Maleena (née Stone) and Joseph Carlton Wilson, a prominent physician ofEdinboro, Pennsylvania . Mary and Andrew had two children: Wilson (b. 1884) and Thomas (b. 1889).References
* [http://www.mnhs.org/people/governors/gov/gov_13.htm Minnesota Historical Society]
* [http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=13780 Minnesota Legislators Past and Present]
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