Library of Congress

EDGERTON, Alonzo Jay, a Senator from Minnesota; born in Rome, Oneida County, N.Y., June 7, 1827; pursued preparatory studies; graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in 1850; settled in Mantorville, Minn., in 1855; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1855 and commenced practice in Mantorville; prosecuting attorney of Dodge County; member, State senate 1858-1859; during the Civil War served in the Tenth Minnesota Volunteer Regiment 1862-1867 and was brevetted brigadier general; railroad commissioner 1871-1875; member, State senate 1877-1879; moved to Kasson, Minn., in 1878; appointed as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Windom and served from March 12 to October 30, 1881, when a successor was elected; appointed chief justice of the Territorial Supreme Court of Dakota; upon the admission of South Dakota as a State into the Union was made United States judge of that district; served as president of the constitutional convention of South Dakota; died at Sioux Falls, S.Dak., on August 9, 1896; interment in Evergreen Cemetery, Mantorville, Minn.