MN House Legislator

SESSIONS SERVED

Legislative Session: 22nd (1881-1882) Session Details
Body: House Elected: 11/2/1880 Term of Office: 1/4/1881 to 1/1/1883
Committees: Enrollment, Ways and Means

Legislative Session: 18th (1876) Session Details
Body: House Elected: 11/2/1875 Term of Office: 1/4/1876 to 1/1/1877
Committees: Finance, Railroads

District: 20 Residence: Hastings
Counties Represented: Dakota
Occupation: Merchant
Gender: Male

GENERAL NOTES He came to Minnesota in 1856 or 1858.
City of Residence (when first elected): Hastings
Occupation (when first elected): Merchant
Family Relationships: Married
Party: Not Available

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Obituary John F. Norrish. St Paul Globe dated 15 Nov 1897

DIED AT HIS DOOR

JOHN F. NOURISH

OF THE BOARD OF PRISON MANAGERS,

EXPIRES SUDDENLY AT HIS HOME IN HASTINGS. HEART FAILURE WAS THE CAUSE OF HIS TRAGIC DEMISE. MANY YEARS IN OFFICIAL LIFE.

Long, Career at Public Service Came to an Abrupt Termination. Special to the Globe. HASTINGS, Minn., Nov. 14.— John F. Norrish, the pioneer merchant of this city and for about ten years identified with public affairs in Minnesota as a member of the board of managers of the Minnesota state prison, died very suddenly this morning at the hall door of his residence, 301 Second street. The news fell upon the community with a terrible shock, for the tall, spare figure of the veteran businessman has been a familial- figure on the streets of Hastings for a generation, up to within a few minutes of his death, which occurred just as he had returned from the post office, where he had taken some letters and secured some mail to carry home. While his intimates have suspected recently that Mr. Norrish’s vitality was failing, yet it was believed that he might look forward yet to several years of service as useful to his community as had been the decades of his residence before. The veteran’s tragic end was almost unheralded. At the meeting of the prison managers as recently as Tuesday last, Mr. Norrish was visibly exhausted by the trip from his home and the incident labors of the meeting, his interest in the affairs of the board with which he had so long been connected having been most active. At that time some of his associates expressed the fear that his official connection with the institution would be terminated in the near future. His term was to expire in 1898, and it was thought he would decline a reappointment if tendered. But even the prophets little dreamed of so early and so tragic a fulfillment. Heart failure was the cause of death. The arrangements for the funeral are not as yet announced. John F. Norrish was born in Devonshire, England, July 6, 1829, so he had nearly reached the’ allotted span of three-score years and ten. He had resided in Hastings ‘during almost the entire term of his business life and had always taken a great pride in the town of his adoption. A Democrat in politics, he was esteemed by his townsmen without regard to partisan affiliations and worked hand in hand with them in all movements for the benefit of the city. He was indefatigable in his efforts last winter, and during the year of skirmishing previous to the legislative fight, to keep before all concerned the superior advantages, as he believed them at least, of the Hastings insane hospital site. Nor was he slow to aver his entire confidence in the justice of his contention that Hastings had been legally selected. While always active in politics, he had been content with modest official places. He served as a member of the house of representatives in” the legislature, in 1876, among those who were his contemporaries being John L. Gibbs, the present lieutenant governor, Capt. William Crooks, Fred Richter, Capt. Gilfillan, C. H. Pettit, the Minneapolis miller, Col. John H. Stevens, the founder of Minneapolis; Capt. C. B. Tirrell, Daniel Bassett. A. M. Reid and Frank L. Morse, of Minneapolis, and Dar S. Hall and S. G. Comstock, since in congress. During the first term of President Cleveland the deceased was United States surveyor general for the district of Minnesota. He was for many years, and up to 1892. a member of the board of directors of the state agricultural society, and while not as prominent officially in the organization during the last few years, he has been a regular participant in the general meetings of the society. He took a great deal of interest in the work of the fairs, as well as in the scientific discussion which was made possible by the experimental station in which the agricultural society had been so active a co-worker in earlier years. When the legislature of 1889 passed an act reorganizing the state prison and providing for its management by a board of five directors, Mr. Norrish, although of opposite political faith from the party in power, was appointed on the board, after he has ever since been identified with the prison. At the time of the international prison congress in Paris in 1895 he was sent as Minnesota’s representative. Mr. Norrish is survived by his wife and one daughter, Miss Gertrude A. Norrish, who is prostrated by the sudden, death of her father. A brother, Samuel Norrish, also a resident of Hastings for a quarter of a century, survives also. As soon as the news of the death of Manager Norrish reached Stillwater, President O’Brien, of the board of managers, and Warden Wolfer started for St. Paul, arriving in time to take an afternoon train for Hastings. They conferred with the relatives of their deceased associate, and it is probable that the board will attend the funeral services as such. No date has been fixed for the services yet. “I have known John F. Norrish for years,” said Senator O’Brien last night. “He was a perfect gentleman, and thoroughly honorable in all his dealings. He was sensitive in a high degree to his duty as a man and a citizen, and, determined as he was to do no one any wrong, he expected equal consideration for others.” The sudden death of Mr. Norrish caused profound sadness in Stillwater, where Mr. Norrish was almost as well-known as in his own home, and on the occasion of his Official and other visits had made many, warm friends.