SAMUEL RINNAH VAN SANT Fifteenth Governor of the State of Minnesota, was born in Rock Island, Illinois, May 11, 1844. He served in the Civil War, and afterward engaged in lumber business and steamboating, and resided in Minnesota. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the State Legislature in 1895; and was governor of Minnesota from January 7, 1901, to January 4, 1905. SAMUEL RINNAH VAN SANT FIFTEENTH GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA January 7, 1901, to January 4, 1905. HE many and varied interests of our state have been well represented in the gubernatorial chair. Ramsey and Sibley personated the early pioneers; Miller, Marshall, and Hubbard, stand for our war memories; Austin and Davis exhibited the legal and judicial interests of the state; Pillsbury and Merriam stood for the general business interests; Lind and Nelson represented the force and power of the Scandinavian element; and Clough stood for the great lumber interests. Thus these great concerns, which so largely intertwined, make the fabric of our state, have each had a representative man in the executive chair to guard their part, if not in action, certainly in sympathy. And now comes our vast rafting and steamboat business on the greatest river of the continent, and receives a representation among the governmental state pilots. The Van Zandts were Hollanders, and the earliest ancestor known came to this country in 1607, on the ship "Gude Freund," and landed on Staten Island. His |