Charles Alfred Pillsbury
| Charles Alfred Pillsbury | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
December 3, 1842 Warner, New Hampshire |
| Died | September 17, 1899 (aged 57) Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Ann Stinson |
| Children | Charles S. Pillsbury |
| Relatives |
Philip W. Pillsbury (grandson) Charles Pillsbury (great-grandson, through grandson, George S. Pillsbury) |
Charles Alfred Pillsbury (December 3, 1842 – September 17, 1899) was an American flour industrialist, co-founder and namesake of the Pillsbury Company and a member of the Minnesota State Senate.
Pillsbury was born December 3, 1842 in Warner, New Hampshire, first of three children born to George Alfred Pillsbury and Margaret Sprague Carleton. His sister Mary A. died in infancy. His brother Frederick Carleton Pillsbury was born in 1852. Pillsbury had a modest upbringing. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1863, paying for his college education by teaching part-time. He then worked for six years as clerk and partner in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at a mercantile enterprise. During this time, he met his future wife, Mary Ann Stinson, daughter of Capt. Charles Stinson and his wife Mary Ann Poore. The two married on September 12, 1866.
The two had four children. The two first-born children, George Alfred (1871–1872) and Margaret Carleton (1876–1881), both died in childhood. On 6 December 1878 twin sons were born, Charles Stinson and John Sargent II, both of whom lived into adulthood. Charles married Nelle Pendleton Winston in 1901, while John married Eleanor Jerusha Lawler in 1911.
Pillsbury was drawn to business in Minneapolis after experiencing and observing the commercial interests in Montreal, which processed grain from the west. Pillsbury's uncle, John S. Pillsbury, had settled at the Falls of St. Anthony at Minneapolis in 1855; in 1869, Charles Pillsbury moved to the growing city of Mineapolis and established his flour business.
At that time of Pillsbury's arrival, four or five flour mills, deriving their power from the Falls, were small in size and ground their grain with large buhr stones. Pillsbury was employed by his uncle and soon gained part-ownership in his own mill. Mr. Pillsbury made a close and thorough study of the methods of flour milling and contemplated better results through the industry's innovative practices in flour processing. At his own mill, Pillsbury discarded the buhr stones, and introduced and improved on the newer practices. He competed with Cadwallader C. Washburn and the Washburn family, Mr. Christian, and other millers in the production of what was called "new process" flour.
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