1st Minnesota Territorial Legislature

The 1st Minnesota Territorial Legislature first convened on September 3, 1849. The 9 members of the Minnesota Territorial Council and the 18 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives were elected during the General Election of August 1, 1849.

First Minnesota Territorial Legislature
← 5th Wisconsin Territorial Assembly 2nd →
Overview
Legislative body	Minnesota Territorial Legislature
Jurisdiction	Minnesota Territory, United States
Term	September 3, 1849 (1849-09-03) – January 1, 1851 (1851-01-01)
Minnesota Territorial Council
Members	9 Councillors
President	David Olmsted
Party control	Democratic Party
Minnesota House of Representatives
Members	18 Representatives
Speaker	Joseph W. Furber
Party control	Democratic Party

Sessions

The territorial legislature met in a regular session from September 3, 1849, to November 1, 1849. There were no special sessions of the first territorial legislature.^[1]

Party summary

Council

	Party[nb 1] (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total	Vacant
	Democratic	Whig
Begin	6	3	9	0
Latest voting share	67%	33%
Beginning of the next Legislature	6	3	9	0

House of Representatives

	Party[nb 1] (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total	Vacant
	Democratic	Whig	Unknown
Begin	12	4	2	18	0
Latest voting share	67%	22%	11%
Beginning of the next Legislature	8	3	7	18	0

Leadership

President of the Council

David Olmsted (D-Long Prairie)^[2]

Speaker of the House

Joseph W. Furber (W-Cottage Grove)^[3]

Members

Council

Name	District	City	Party
Boal, James McClellan	03	St. Paul	Whig
Burkleo, Samuel	02	Stillwater	Whig[nb 2]
Forbes, William Henry	03	Saint Paul	Democratic
Loomis, David B.	04	Marine	Whig
Martin McLeod	07	Bloomington	Democratic[nb 3]
Norris, James S.	01	Cottage Grove	Democratic
Olmsted, David	06	Long Prairie	Democratic
Rollins, John	05	Saint Anthony Falls	Democratic
Sturgis, William R.	06	Elk River	Democratic

House of Representatives

Name	District	City	Party
Babcock, Lorenzo A.	06	Sauk Rapids	Whig
Bailly, Alexis	07	Mendota	Democratic
Black, Mahlon	02	Stillwater	Democratic
Brunson, Benjamin Wetherill	03	Saint Paul	Whig
Dewey, John J.	03	Saint Paul	Democratic
Dugas, William	05	Little Canada	Democratic
Furber, Joseph Warren	01	Cottage Grove	Whig
Holmes, Thomas A.	06	Sauk Rapids	Democratic
Jackson, Henry	03	Saint Paul	Democratic
Johnson, Parsons King	03	Saint Paul	Democratic
Marshall, William Rainey	05	Saint Anthony Falls	Democratic
Morrison, Allan	06	Crow Wing	Democratic
Pond, Gideon H.	07	Oak Grove	Unknown
Russell, Jeremiah	06	Crow Wing	Unknown
Setzer, Henry N.	04	Stillwater	Democratic
Trask, Sylvanus	02	Stillwater	Democratic
Wells, James	01	Lake City	Democratic
Wilkinson, Morton Smith	02	Stillwater	Whig

Notes

1. Known party affiliations taken from the members' profiles in Minnesota Legislators Past & Present.
2. Minnesota Legislators Past & Present does not provide information on Samuel Burkleo's party affiliation; however, Samuel Burkleo signed on to an open letter from the Whig members of the legislature published in The Minnesota Pioneer newspaper^[4] which would imply that Burkleo was a Whig.
3. Minnesota Legislators Past & Present does not provide information on Martin McLeod's party affiliation; however, it has been documented that McLeod was a close political ally of Democratic future-Governor Henry Hastings Sibley,^[5] which fact would imply that McLeod was a Democrat.