Mark Hill DUNNELL, Congress, MN (1823-1904)

DUNNELL Mark Hill , a Representative from Minnesota; born in Buxton, York County, Maine, July 2, 1823; completed preparatory studies, and was graduated from Waterville College (now Colby University), Waterville, Maine, in 1849; for five years was principal of Norway and Hebron Academies; member of the Maine house of representatives in 1854; served in the State senate in 1855; State superintendent of common schools in 1855 and 1857-1859; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1856 and commenced practice in Portland, Maine, in 1860; entered the Union Army as colonel of the Fifth Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry, May 6, 1861; mustered out August 31, 1861; United States consul at Vera Cruz, Mexico, in 1861 and 1862; moved to Minnesota and settled in Winona in 1865, and in 1867, in Owatonna; member of the Minnesota house of representatives in 1867; State superintendent of public instruction from April 2, 1867, to August 1870, when he resigned; elected as a Republican to the Forty-second and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1883); unsuccessful candidate for Speaker of the Forty-seventh Congress; was not a candidate for renomination in 1882; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1883; elected to the Fifty-first Congress (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1891); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1892; one of the founders and a member of the board of trustees of Pillsbury Academy; died in Owatonna, Steele County, Minn., August 9, 1904; interment in Forest Hill Cemetery.

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