John Lind is born in Kånna, Småland, Sweden. In 1899 he was the first Swede elected governor of Minnesota and the first Democrat to hold the office since Henry H. Sibley. He was also be the first Swede elected to Congress, where he served four terms, and in 1913 he acted as President Woodrow Wilson's envoy to Mexico. He died in Minneapolis on September 18, 1930.