The Miller Families of Berrien County, Michigan

WILLIAM HENRY MILLER, living on section 29, Berrien township, where he carries on general agricultural pursuits, was born in Preble county, Ohio, November 21, 1837, and is a representative of a family that was established in America in colonial days. His paternal grandfather, David Miller, was a Revolutionary soldier and spent the greater part of his life upon the farm in Montgomery county, Ohio, where his son, Henry Miller, the father of our subject, was born and reared. The family is supposed to be of Scotch, Welsh, Irish and German lineage. On leaving his native county Henry Miller removed to Preble county, Ohio, and there earned and followed

77 the matter's trade and subsequently engaged in the manufacture of hats at Winchester, Ohio, where he died at the age of thirty-nine years. His wife, Mrs. Nancy (Simpson) Miller, was a native of Maryland, where she remained until early womanhood, when she accompanied her parents, Walter and Elizabeth Simpson, to Ohio. She came to Berrien county, Michigan, in 1849, locating on section 29, Berrien township. She brought with her a family, numbering four sons and a daughter, the eldest of whom was about seventeen years of age, while the youngest was nine years old.

William Henry Miller was the third child and second son, and was a youth of twelve years when he arrived in Berrien township. He was reared in his mother's home and assisted her in the farm work until after the inauguration of the Civil war, when he put aside all business and personal considerations and with patriotic ardor espoused the cause of the Union, enlisting as a member of Company I, Twelfth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. He joined the army as a private and was elected sergeant on the organization of the company while later he was promoted to orderly sergeant and afterward to first lieutenant, holding that rank when honorably discharged after a service which covered three years and eight months. He then re-enlisted as a veteran in the same company and regiment. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Iuka, Metamora, Little Rock, the siege of Vicksburg and many other military movements of lesser importance. He was in active duty throughout the entire period of his connection with the army save for about four weeks, when he was in the hospital and on a furlough home. He resigned in May, 1865, and returned to Berrien township, having made a splendid military record by reason of his unfaltering fidelity to the old flag and the cause it represented.

When he again became a factor in business life in Berrien county Mr. Miller purchased the interest of the other heirs in the old homestead and was engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He was married June 25, 1865, to Miss Eva Johnson, a daughter of John and Annie (Lybrook)

Johnson, who were pioneer residents of Berrien township. In their home there on section 29 Mrs. Miller was born and her girlhood days were spent under the parental roof. Mr. Miller took his bride to the old home place on which he had located with his mother many years before and here he has lived continuously since, and their marriage has been blessed with two children, Josephine and Fred, but the latter died when about six months old. The daughter is now the wife of Royal Morris, by whom she has two children, Eva L., in eighth grade, and Henry M., in the fifth grade, and they reside with Mr. Miller on the old home place.

Mr. Miller is now the owner of one hundred and twelve acres of excellent land on section 29, also has eighty-five acres on section 18 and twenty acres on section 30, Berrien township, making in all two hundred and seventeen acres. He rents the farm to his son-in-law and is practically living retired from the more arduous duties of an agricultural life. In politics he has been a stalwart and earnest Republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise standing loyally by the party which was the support of the Union in the dark days of the Civil war and he has always been the champion of progress and reform. He has acted as treasurer of his township and is now justice of the peace and in connection with educational interests has done effective service in an official capacity. For many years he has been a member of Kilpatrick Post, No. 39, G. A. R., at Berrien Springs,, in which he has filled all of the offices and is now chaplain. He and wife belong to the United Brethren Church in the township, of Berrien, and his life, upright in its principles, has been in entire harmony with his professions. Living in Berrien county for fifty-seven years he may well be classed among the pioneer residents and his fidelity to every many principle makes him a man honored and esteemed: by all with whom he has been associated.

Mr. Miller has a curiosity in the way of a relic deed. It is the description of a piece of land, and the surveys are made by ''meets and bounds," and it is made under the commonwealth of Virginia when Governor

James Wood was governor of the Colony of Virginia. The date of execution is given June 22, 1797, two years before General Washington died. This parchment deed is the oldest deed possibly found in the state of Michigan, being one hundred and nine years old. Mr. Miller, who is one of the prosperous farmers as well as a veteran of the Civil war and a resident of Berrien county, Michigan, values this parchment highly. Mrs. Miller has an old coverlet which her mother wove and is three-quarters of a century old. They have an old Testament of 1828 and the Bible of 1835, and they also have one of the old-fashioned hand sickles, which is a pioneer implement. It was in 1904 that Mr. and Mrs. Miller met with the severe loss of their barns, but they have builded anew.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHRISTIAN MILLER. Among the worthy residents of Berrien county of foreign birth is numbered Christian Miller, a native of the province of Saxony, Germany, born September 12, 1836. Reared and educated in his native country he was married in 1857, to Miss Anna Sophia Weber, who was likewise a native of Saxony, born February 9, 1839. It was in war times — in the year 1861 — that Christopher Miller became a resident of Chicago. He had been a coal miner in Germany, and afterward worked for three months on a farm. Subsequently he learned the cooper's trade, which he followed in Chicago for three years during the period of the Civil war. He had been in this country for a year when he was joined by his wife. In 1866 they removed to Michigan, and Mr. Miller purchased twenty acres of land in the midst of the forest. So dense was the timber that he had to cut a road to his new possession. He built a house of rough boards and it was necessary to clear a space on which to erect a little structure. For forty years Mr. Miller has remained upon his place, carrying forward the work of cultivation and improvement as the years have gone by and as he cleared away the timber and prepared the land for the plow he determined to give part of his attention to horticultural pursuits and planted each orchards. For his first twenty acres of land he paid five hundred and twenty-five dollars, which he had saved from his earnings as a cooper in Chicago. He worked by the piece there and earned good wages. After coming to Michigan in 1866 he returned to Chicago on one or two occasions in order to make money at his trade that he might thereby be enabled to continue his farm work. He cleared his first five acres in four weeks and paid for the plowing with a double harrelled gun. After returning from Chicago he cleared six acres of land for a home, taking out the grubs, his wife assisting him in this work. He paid one hundred dollars for a wagon and twenty-nine dollars interest thereon. Times were hard and money scarce in early days but he persevered in his undertakings and in the course of years his labors were crowned with success. In early days he raised very fine peaches, which brought a high price on the market. As his financial resources permitted he bought more land from time to time until he became the owner of eighty acres, which he still retains. He has cleared it all and has about forty acres planted to fruit, peaches being his principal crop although he has made considerable money from years.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been born six children: Augusta A., the wife of William Dunn, a merchant at Derby, Michigan; Eba, the wife of Rev. Frederick Ewald, a minister of the Evangelical church, at Elkhart, Indiana; Minnie, the wife of Fred Schroeder, of Royalton; Martha, the wife of Charles Johnson, of Stevensville; Anna, the wife of William Schneider, a section boss at New Bufifalo on the Michigan Central Railroad; and Frank, who is assisting in the operation of the home farm.

Mr. Miller is a Mason, belonging to the lodge and chapter and is also connected with the Grange. He and his wife hold membership in the Evangelical Association and are most prominent and worthy people of Lincoln township. A self-made man Mr. Miller owes his success entirely to his own efforts and the assistance of his estimable wife, who has indeed been a helpmate to him. She aided him in his cooper work, in the arduous task of clearing a farm and hauled ties to St. Joseph, Michigan, where they were sold. In former years their was a strenuous existence but now they have a good farm property which has been brought under a high state of cultivation and which yields to them a good financial return because of the well kept orchards and the fine variety of fruit raised. They have never had occasion to regret their determination to seek a home in America, for in this country where effort is unhampered by case or class they have made steady advancement to a place among the substantial residents of Berrien county.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JAMES J. MILLER, whose intense and well-directed activity has been an important element in the public life and interests of Benton Harbor as well as in his private business affairs, is a native of Canada, born in 1854. His early education was there acquired and he came to Michigan at the age of thirteen years. His parents were Angus and Flora (Black) Miller.

Owing to the limited financial circumstances of the family James J. Miller found it necessary to provide for his own support when quite a young lad, and in Canada worked for two dollars per month and his board. From his earnings he at length saved enough to take him to Michigan, having determined to remove to the United

States, for he believed that he might have better business opportunities across the border. Accordingly he made his way to Bay City and secured employment in a meat market at a salary of fifteen dollars per month. Gradually he was advanced and his wages increased as he displayed efficiency and trustworthiness, and when his earnings had brought to him sufficient capital he embarked in business on his own account opening a meat market in Gladstone, Michigan, where he carried on business for a number of years. Moreover he was very active and influential in town affairs there and did much to mold public thought and opinion. His fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, called him to various positions of trust and honor. He was chosen the first president of the village board upon its organization and following the incorporation of Gladstone as a city he was elected its first mayor, serving for two terms in that office. He gave to the new city a public-spirited, practical and beneficial administration. He had been active in securing the city organization and his efforts in behalf of the public welfare were far-reaching and beneficial. He had affiliated with the Democratic party, but he placed the general good before partisanship and the welfare of the community above personal aggrandizement. In 1891 Mr. Miller removed to Benton Harbor after disposing of his business in Gladstone and in this city established a meat market, which he continued for ten years. He then sold out and joined Seeley McCord in the establishment of a brick and tile factory conducted under the firm name of McCord, Miller & Company. The Benton Harbor Brick and Tile Company was incorporated in March, 1904, with Mr. Miller as president, treasurer and general manager. They manufacture brick and tile and have a capacity of about four or five million brick per year and two million tile. This is one of the important productive industries of the city, employment being furnished to from forty to sixty men, and the product is shipped to all parts of the state. It has become a profitable enterprise owing to the careful direction of its manager, who has been watchful of every indication pointing to success and has displayed keen discernment in the control of the plant.

In Benton Harbor Mr. Miller has also become recognized as a prominent and influential citizen, and for the past ten years has been and still is a member of the board of public works, acting thereon since its establishment. He has been president of the board and was trustee for nine years. He is also a member and director of the Benton Harbor Development Company. Any movement or plan for the benefit of the city receives his co-operation and endorsement. His insight is penetrative, his labors practical and his work has therefore proved an element in the best interests of Benton Harbor. Prominent in Masonic circles, he belongs to the lodge of this city, to the Chapter and Commandery in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and he is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Pleasantly situated in his home life, he was married in 1876 in Bay City, Michigan, to Miss Lydia R. Powell, a native of that place and they have four living children: James M., Charles A., Flora B. and Fred McK. In a review of the life record of Mr. Miller we find perhaps that his dominant quality has been his unremitting diligence and upon this he has builded the superstructure of his success. Making his own way in the world from early boyhood, he has developed all his latent powers and resources and his concentration of purpose and laudable ambition have enabled him to progress where men of less resolute purpose have faltered.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES MILLER, superintendent of the Berrien County Infirmary, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 1, 1845. His father, Joseph Miller, was a native of Germany, in which country he was reared and married. He wedded Miss Catharine Manning, likewise born in Germany, and on coming to America they settled at New Orleans but after a short period came north to Indiana. A brief period was passed in that state and Mr. Miller then returned to New Orleans but later became a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, where he died at the age of sixty-seven years. In the meantime, however, he had made a trip to Germany, and while in that country his wife passed away. In their family were five children.

Charles Miller, the youngest, was but a lad when his parents went to the fatherland. Much of his youth was spent in Indiana and he was in Indianapolis when Oliver Morton was governor of that state and did many chores for him. He resided for a time in Wisconsin and about 1865 located in St. Joseph, Michigan, where he was engaged in the milling business. He was also connected with a surveying party that surveyed the West Michigan Railroad, now the Pere Marquette. Later he returned to the mill, having charge of the interests of the St. Joseph Milling Company as head miller for about twelve years. On the expiration of that period he engaged in merchandising in his own building in St. Joseph and to the business devoted the succeeding decade meeting with good success in the conduct of his store. After selling out he became city treasurer of St. Joseph, which office he held for two terms and he also served as supervisor for six consecutive years. He was likewise a member of the city council and was closely and actively identified with the interests of St. Joseph and the county. He was also one of the prime movers in the organization of the St. Joseph Improvement Association and through this means as well as in public office he contributed to the progress and substantial upbuilding of the city. Three times he was appointed superintendent of the poor, occupying that position until appointed superintendent of the infirmary in 1906, in which capacity he is now serving.

On the 20th of May, 1875, Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Mary Berg, who was born in Berrien county, a daughter of Simon Berg, one of the pioneers of this part of the state. This marriage has been blessed with seven children, four sons and three daughters, namely: Simon C, who married Miss Pearl Stanley and resides in St. Louis, Missouri; Joseph J., who married Miss Helen Stoltz, and lives in Chicago; George, Charles, Catherine, Ellen and Mary, all at home. For over thirty years Mr. Miller has been a member of the Masonic fraternity and he also holds membership relations with the Knights of the Maccabees. His residence in the county covers a period of forty years and he is well known here. His business relations and public service have brought him a wide acquaintance, and investigation into his history shows much that is commendable and worthy of emulation.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.