Edward D. Neill is born in Philadelphia. A Presbyterian minister, Neill would arrive in St. Paul in 1849, where he would be a leader in the city's intellectual and religious life until his death in 1893. In addition to founding the First Presbyterian Church, he would help establish public schools in St. Paul, serve as superintendent of instruction in Minnesota Territory, found the Baldwin School and Macalester College, and serve as chancellor of the University of Minnesota. During the Civil War he would fulfill duties as chaplain of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment and as private secretary to presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. After the war he would serve as US consul in Ireland and as secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society.