Samuel James Renwick McMILLAN, Congress, MN (1826-1897)

McMILLAN, Samuel James Renwick, a Senator from Minnesota; born in Brownsville, Fayette County, Pa., February 22, 1826; completed preparatory studies; graduated from Duquesne College, Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1846; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1849 and commenced practice in Pittsburgh, Pa.; moved to St. Paul, Minn., in 1852, then to Stillwater, Minn., in 1854, and engaged in the practice of law in both cities; returned to St. Paul in 1856; judge of the first judicial district 1858-1864; served as second lieutenant of the Stillwater Frontier Guards during the Indian war of 1862; appointed and subsequently elected associate justice of the State supreme court in 1864; reelected in 1871 and served until his resignation in 1874; appointed in 1874 and subsequently elected chief justice of the State supreme court and served until 1875, when he resigned; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1875; reelected in 1881 and served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1887; was not a candidate for renomination in 1886; chairman, Committee on Claims (Forty-fifth Congress), Committee on Commerce (Forty-seventh through Forty-ninth Congresses), Committee on Revision of the Laws of the United States (Forty-seventh Congress); engaged in the practice of law until his death in St. Paul, Minn., October 3, 1897; interment in Oakland Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present