The Miller Families of Buchanan County, Iowa

WILLIAM B. MILLER.

William B. Miller is a native son of the county and has gained and held the respect of those who have come in contact with him. He is now manager of a hardware and implement store in Winthrop for the W. D. Hoyt Company, which concern also owns stores in Manchester, Earlville and Robinson. He was born in Quasqueton, Liberty township, on the 12th of March, 1862, a son of William and Lavonia (Fleming) Miller. The former was born in Prussia, January 11, 1829, and removed to Canada with his parents when but a child of two years. He was married on the 2d of November, 1856, in this county, where he had settled in 1855. He was a blacksmith by trade and followed that occupation until late in life, when he became a partner of his son William

B. in the conduct of a hardware business. This association was formed in October, 1890, and was continued until the death of the father on the 3d of August, 1898. In 1862 he enlisted in the First Iowa Cavalry and served throughout the Civil war until its close, being honorably discharged in 1865. His wife was born in New York state, November 27, 1836, and died November 8, 1887. She arrived in this county in 1853. They had three children, namely: Delia, now the wife of William Baitey, who lives in Sebastopol. California; William B., of this review; and Minnie, the wife of C. W. Bucher. of Winthrop.

William B. Miller received his education in the district schools and in the schools of Quasqueton. After reaching manhood he farmer for tavo years and subsequently, in connection with his father, bought the hardware stock of William Wynette, of AVintbrop, on the ist of October, 1890. After the death of his father he continued alone in business until 1912, or for twenty-two years. During that time he became thoroughly familiar with the various makes of hardware and implements and acquired the ability to judge accurately the value and lasting qualities of any article in those lines. He also came to understand the problems of the buyer and salesman and was recognized as one of the most able men in the hardware trade in this county. In 1912 he sold his store and accepted the position of manager for the AVinthrop branch store of the W. D. Hoy.t Company, Avhich is one of the largest concerns in the county, incorporated under the state laws of Iowa. Their name is a synonym for integrity, initiative and high quality of goods. The fact that Mr. Miller is their representative in Winthrop is added proof of his capability and enterprise.

Mr. Miller married Miss Lizzie A. Griswold, who was born on the loth of December, 1863, and is mentioned elsewhere in this work. To their union have been born three children: Glen H.. born 1890, is a graduate of Cornell College at Blount Vernon. Iowa, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1913; Donna, born 1894, is a graduate of the Winthrop high school and is bookkeeper in the store of Mhich Mr. Miller is manager; and Alarjorie, born 1900, is attending school.

Mr. Miller is a republican and since attaining his majority has taken an active part in politics. Fraternally he is a member of the Ma.sonic order, of the Eastern Star and of the Woodmen. His wife is likewise a member of the Eastern Star and the Congregational church. Mr. Aliller owns his comfortable home in Winthrop and is one of the substantial citizens of the town.

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

Samuel Miller is numbered among the pioneer settlers of this county, he and his wife arriving here from the east in 1857. hi the nearly fifty-eight years succeeding they have resided here continuously, and they have done their full share in the upbuilding and development of this section of their adopted state.

Mr. Miller was born in Preble county, Ohio, in May, 1883, a time when the Buckeye state itself was on the frontier. In early life he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed till 1856, when he embarked in the grocery business at Lexington, conducting a store there for a year, when he concluded to try his fortune in the new and growing west. His father had been here the previous year and had bought a small farm near Littleton, which they were to divide.

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

WARREN F. MILLER.

Warren F. Miller, editor of the Independence Conservative, is a native of Buchanan county and has passed most of his life here. He is the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Miller, pioneer settlers, and was born on a farm in Perry township, November 13, 1866. He was fortunate in parents who indulged his wish for a better education than the county schools afforded, and he entered Lenox College at the age of thirteen, graduating from there with the degree of Bachelor of Sciences in 1884, when a little past seventeen years of age. That fall he began his first term as a teacher in a Delaware county rural school, having to get a special permit from the state superintendent because of being under the required age. lie followed teaching for several years succeeding, in the meantime taking a course in the Cedar Rapids Business College during a summer vacation.

In 1891 Mr. Miller resigned the principalship of the Fairbank schools to accept the position of deputy to L. F. Springer in the office of clerk of the district court. After two years he resigned this to enter the law school of the University of Iowa, from which he graduated in 1894. A few weeks later he and a classmate, the late C.Tj. Everett, opened a law office in Independence, but this partnership was dissolved with the beginning of the succeeding year, when Mr. Everett entered a partnership with Judge Ransier. and ]\Mr. Miller with his former chief, L. F. Springer, under the firm name of Springer & Miller. He was elected city attorney of Independence the succeeding spring, serving two years, during which time it fell to him to prepare the ordinances, contracts, etc., for the new municipal lighting plant. In the fall of 1896 he gave up the practice of law to enter country newspaper work, he and his father purchasing an interest in the Conservative. He was associated with L. W. Goen for a little over six years in publishing the Conservative, the Millers then selling their interest back to Mr. Goen. It was during this time that Warren F. Miller was elected mayor of Independence, serving two terms and declining to be a candidate for a third. He then moved to Kansas, where he owned and published the Courier-Democrat for upward of six years. His next newspaper venture was at LeMars, where he purchased the LeMars semi-weekly Globe-Post, which he conducted till he sold it in December, 1913, and returned to Independence.

In March, 3914. Mr. Miller of this review, associated with S. Miller and Mattie E. Stevenson, purchased the Independence Conservative from the Goen estate and he became its editor and business manager.

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

WILLIAM C. MILLER, M. D.

Dr. William C. Miller, engaged in the active practice of medicine and surgery in Independence and recognized as one of the leading representatives of the homeopathic school in this section of the state, was born in Buchanan county in 1863, a son of Samuel Miller, a native of Ohio. His youth was spent upon the old homestead farm and when twenty years of age he began its cultivation, devoting two years to tilling the soil. In 1885 he went to Walker, Iowa, where he purchased stock and grain for his father. In the fall of 1885 he went to Yankton, South Dakota, where he spent the winter and in the following spring began farming near Aberdeen, that state, but because of the brought he returned to his father's farm in Iowa and spent one year thereon.

In 1887 he began the study of medicine and was graduated from the Chicago Homeopathic College, now the Hahnemann Medical College, in 1891. Following his graduation he located for practice in Edgewood, Iowa, where he remained for four and a half years and then came to Independence, where he purchased the practice of Dr. Howard. Here he has been located continuously since and his pronounced ability has brought to him a large and growing practice to which he devotes practically his entire time. He closely studies the different phases of professional work, is careful in the diagnosis of his cases and is seldom, if ever, at fault in anticipating the outcome of diseases. He is constantly reading along the line of his profession and his knowledge is now comprehensive and exact. At the present time he is serving as health officer of Washington township.

In February, 1893, Dr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Cora Held, who was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and spent practically all of her life prior to her marriage in Chicago. Her father, Adolph C. Held, is a native of Canton, Ohio, and her mother, who bore the maiden name of Ella Williamson, was also born in Ohio but lived for many years in Buchanan county, to which place her parents had removed during her early girlhood. Mr. Held devoted his early life to the holder's trade and won advancement that brought him eventually to the position of foreman of the Dearborn Foundry of Chicago. He is now living retired and makes his home in Paw Paw, Michigan. At the time of the Civil war he responded to the country's call for troops, going to the front from Ohio together with six brothers, all of whom were members of the same regiment. One of the number was killed in battle. Mr. Held was very active in republican politics but occupied no political office, preferring always to devote his entire attention to his business. The iron work of the new Northwestern depot in Chicago was the last work which he superintended as foreman. In the Held family were three children, of whom Mrs. Miller is the eldest and by her marriage she has become the mother of two sons: Harold R., who was born in Edgewood, Iowa, in 1894 and is now a student in the Independence high school; and Walter S., who was born in Independence in 1899 and is now attending school.

Dr. Miller is a democrat in his political views but has never been an aspirant for public office. He holds membership in the Presbyterian church and along professional lines is connected with the State Homeopathic Association. The high ideals which he cherishes find embodiment in practical effort for their adoption and because of the innate refinement of his nature he rejects every thing opposed to good taste. Mrs. Miller is quite prominent in social circles.

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