The Miller Families of Montgomery County, Ohio

ISAAC MILLER, whose post-office is Chambersburg, Ohio, is one of the old soldiers of the Civil war and a highlyrespected citizen. He was born in Butler township, Montgomery county, Ohio, March 7, 1828, and is a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Sunderland) Miller. Isaac was a son of James Miller, who came to Montgomery county, Ohio, from Kentucky, in 1794, settling in Butler township. His children were John, James, Mary, Martha and Isaac. When he came to Ohio in 1794 James Miller settled on 140 acres of land, being the first settler within the limits of Butler township. His farm consisted of an unbroken forest, which he cleared as fast as possible, in the meantime making a part of his living by hunting. Later he left Butler township and settled on the Wabash river near Lafayette, Ind. He was a typical pioneer, and lived to a great age, dying in the last-named state.

Isaac Miller, father of the subject, was born in 1790, and came with his parents from Kentucky to Ohio in 1794. Growing up in the wilderness among the pioneers, his education was necessarily limited. He married in 1811, when he was twenty-one years old, Elizabeth Sunderland, who was born in 1794, in Pennsylvania, and who was a daughter of Richard and Nancy Sunderland, for fuller mention of whom the reader is referred to the biography of Richard Sunderland, in this volume. After their marriage Isaac Miller and his wife settled on the old Sunderland homestead, and lived there the remainder of their lives. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was stationed at Greenville about eight months. He and his wife had the following children: Nancy, Martha, Pattie, Massie, Richard, Martin, William, Isaac, Benjamin, John and Elizabeth. Mr. Miller lived to be seventy-nine years old. He was a member of the German Reformed church, and in politics was first an old-line whig and became a republican upon the formation of that party. Four of his sons were in the Civil war, viz: Richard, Martin, Benjamin and Isaac. Martin was a private soldier in company H, Thirty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, served his full time and was in many battles. Benjamin was in an Illinois regiment, served three years and veteranized, and participated in many engagements.

Isaac Miller, the subject of this sketch, was born March 7, 1828, in Butler township, and was educated in the common schools. Reared on the farm he naturally became a farmer. On October 14, 1833, was born Martha Westerman, whom Mr. Miller married in Butler township. She was a daughter of Henry and Ellen (Harrison) Westerman, the former of whom was of English ancestry, and married his wife in Maryland. His children were as follows: Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, Thomas, Lafayette, William, and one that died in infancy. Henry Westerman came as a pioneer to Butler township and purchased a good farm of 100 acres. He lived to be eighty-two years old, an honored citizen and an upright man.

Mr. and Mrs. Miller settled on the old Sunderland homestead, upon which they lived for thirty years, and then moved to Henry Westerman’s farm in Butler township, upon which they lived ten years. They then removed to their present home in Chambersburg. Mr. Miller now owns a farm of fifty-six acres and is in comfortable circumstances. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have had the following children: Ellen, Henry, who died at the age of eleven years, and Elizabeth. The parents are members of the Lutheran church, and Mr. Miller has been a trustee of his church for twenty-five years. In politics he is a republican.

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Ohio volunteer infantry, and enlisted to serve three years, or during the war. He served until he veteranized at Chattanooga in 1864, in the same organization, and served until mustered out at Camp Dennison, July 17, 1865, thus serving his country faithfully three years and nine months. He was in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. The principal battles in which he took part were Stone River, Dalton, Buzzard’s Roost Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, the battle of Atlanta, in which McPherson was killed, and Jonesboro. Mr. Miller was also in many minor battles and skirmishes, and went with Sherman to the sea, taking part in the battle of Savannah. He was in all the battles, marches and skirmishes in which his regiment was engaged. He is a member of Milton Weaver post, No. 594, G. A. R., and has held the offices of junior and senior vice-commander. Mr. Miller is now a hale and hearty man, and is a splendid specimen of the veteran American soldier and the true and worthy American citizen.

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

AARON MILLER, a prominent and substantial farmer of Madison township, Montgomery county, Ohio, is a son of John and Susan (Bowman) Miller. John Miller was a son of Daniel Miller, the noted pioneer of Montgomery county, who lived on Wolf creek, and who is frequently referred to in this volume. John Miller was eleven years of age when brought to this county by his parents in 1804, was given the best education obtainable in the country schools of his day, and was brought up to farm life and labor. Remaining at home until he was thirty-three years of age, he then married Mrs. Annie Sollenberger, a widow, whose maiden name was Winger.

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

GEORGE W. MILLER.

George W. Miller, a most enterprising and prosperous agriculturist of Tackson township, is numbered among the worthy native sons of Montgomery county, his birth having occurred in Madison township on the 29th of February, 1864. His parents, the Rev. George and Catherine (Wampler) Miller, celebrated their marriage in 1853, the ceremony taking place in the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio. The paternal grandparents were Benjamin and Elizabeth (Bowser) Miller, while the mother of our subject was a daughter of Philip and Catherine (Royer) Wampler. George W. Miller, of this review, is one of a family of ten children, the others being as follows: Benjamin, Philip, Anna, William, Edward, Jesse, Ira, Ezra and Lizzie.

On the 15th of February, 1891, George W. Miller was married to Miss Carrie Calhoun, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Elizabeth (Kuns) Calhoun, of Madison township. By this union there are three children, namely: Edith, born in

1893: Hugh, whose birth occurred in 1894; and Russell, who was born in 1898.

Throughout his entire business career Mr. Miller has been identified with the pursuit of general farming and by reason of his untiring industry and unremitting energy has gained a measure of success that entitles him to recognition among the most substantial, progressive and representative citizens of the community. He has an extensive circle of warm friends in the county where he has always resided, for the principles that have actuated his life have been such as to win for him the highest esteem and good will of his fellow townsmen.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

DAVID W. MILLER, superintendent of construction at the national military home, at Dayton, is a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, born August 25, 1841, a son of Jacob and Susannah (Stoner) Miller, and was reared to manhood and learned the carpenter’s trade in his native county.

Jacob Miller, his father, was born in Dauphin county, Pa., February 13, 1809, and descended from a German family, who spelled the name Mueller, and who settled in Pennsylvania prior to the war of the Revolution. Jacob Miller was a carpenter by trade, and in his early manhood came to Montgomery county, Ohio, and here married, in 1835, Miss Susannah Stoner, a native of Maryland, born in 1817. To this marriage were born six sons and six daughters, of whom four died in infancy; William died at the age of fourteen years, and Jacob when eighteen years old. Of the five living, beside David W., Elizabeth is the wife of Noah Kinsey, a farmer residing seven miles north of Dayton; Michael B., a carpenter and contractor, lives in Riverdale, Dayton; Mary Ann is married to Adam Greenewalt, of Mansfield, Ill.; Susannah is the wife of George Leattor, of Elgin, Ill., and Henrietta Williamson lives near Dayton, Ohio. The mother of these children died on the Montgomery county farm, in 1861, and the father took for his second wife Miss Hannah Stoner, a sister of his first wife, with whom he lived until his death in Montgomery county, in 1875; his widow now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Williamson.

David W. Miller enlisted, February 7, 1864, in company K, Sixty-third Ohio volunteer infantry, and served until the close of the Civil war, his brother, Michael B., being a member of the same company. The scope of this memoir cannot be expanded sufficiently to permit mention of the numerous battles in which Mr. Miller took part; suffice it to say that he served in the army of the Tennessee, and participated in all the marches, skirmishes, and battles in which his regiment was engaged, including the march of Sherman to the sea and through the Carolinas to Washington, where he participated in the grand review in May, 1865, and received an honorable discharge in Louisville, Ky., in July of the same year, when he returned to his native county and resumed active work at his trade.

January 10, 1867, David W. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Ann Landis, a native of Montgomery county, and a daughter of David and Rachel (Welbaum) Landis. David Landis was born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1816; his wife is a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, born in 1821, and both are now living in Salem, in the latter county. They have had born to them a family of ten children, viz: John W., Jacob H., Josiah, Rachel, William W., Lucinda, Mary Catherine, Harvey, Dora Ellen and Theodore. Of these, John W. lives on the old homestead, near Salem; Jacob H. is a bookkeeper in a law office in Dayton; Josiah was a soldier in the Civil war, was married, and died in 1869, leaving one child; William W., teacher, died in 1868, in his twenty-first year; Lucinda died in young womanhood, and Mary Catherine is also deceased; Dora Ellen is the wife of H. C. Boyer, a farmer near West Milton, Ohio.

To the marriage of David W. Miller and wife, seven children have been bom, in the following order: Carrie May, who is the wife of H. H. Prugh, an attorney of Dayton; Lillie Ada, married to Rev. Freeley Rohrer, a Presbyterian minister, of Paulding, Ohio; Wilbert Alfred, a notary public, bookkeeper and stenographer, and in the insurance business in Dayton; Chester Earl, employed in Dayton; Daisy Ann, who died at the age of three years and six months; Mabel Maud, and Charles Howard; the youngest four living of these are still under the parental roof.

Mr. Miller followed his vocation of carpenter and contractor, and that of superintending the business of Beaver & Butt, contractors, until 1888, when he was appointed to his present responsible position as superintendent of construction at the national military home. He has charge of twenty-six regular carpenters, beside a force of forty auxiliaries, and also of all the material used in the various departments of construction and repair.

Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also of the Old Guard post, Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs.

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

GEORGE W. MILLER, M. D.

Dr. George W. Miller, practicing medicine with ability that has brought him prominently into public notice, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 18, 1870, his parents being Charles H. and Hannah C. (Combs) Miller, representatives of old families of Cincinnati. The former was a son of George C. Miller, who established his home in Cincinnati when it contained only about three thousand population. He had previously been a resident of New Jersey and came of Revolutionary stock. He established the first carriage factory west of the Allegheny mountains and his output included the first iron-tired buggy manufactured in this section of the country, the tires being forged by hand from scraps of iron. On his retirement from business at an advanced age he was succeeded by his two sons. His labors, however, were an indispensable factor in the early growth and progress of the city. He not only contributed to its industrial development but was also one of the founders of the Commercial Bank of Cincinnati and as one of the founders of the Seventh Presbyterian church was a factor in moral advancement there. His son, Charles H. Miller, father of Dr. Miller, was for some time engaged in the manufacture of plows and carriages in Cincinnati, so that the

MTLI.E1 family was long associated with industrial life. He was the father of five children.

Pursuing his education in the public schools, Dr. Miller eventually became a high school student and thus completed his literary course. Later he pursued a commercial course and in 1887 entered Pulte Medical College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1891. Dr. Miller began practice in Cincinnati and a year later was called to the chair of anatomy in Pulte Medical College, being thus identified with educational interests for two years. He has practiced continuously in Dayton since 1893, in which year he became a partner of Dr. Joseph E. Lowes. His practice has constantly increased, for he has given proof of his ability to cope with intricate problems of the profession. He is now a member of the Miami Valley Homeopathic Medical Society, the Montgomery County Homeopathic Medical Society and the Ohio State Homeopathic Medical Society.

In November, 1897, Dr. Miller was joined in wedlock, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Miss Jennie D. Tuttle, a daughter of Lucius Tuttle, president of the Boston & Maine and the Maine Central Railroads. They have two children, Mary and Ruth. In his political views Dr. Miller is a republican but not an active worker in the party ranks. He belongs to the Dayton Bicycle Club and is a member of the First Presbyterian church, in the work of which he is helpfully interested. He is also a representative of the Masonic Lodge, the Knights of Pythias and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a most genial gentleman, whose good will is manifest in deference for the opinions of others, kindliness and unfailing courtesy.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

LUCIUS O. MILLER.

Lucius O. Miller of Dayton, general church treasurer of the United Brethren church of the Lmited States, is a native son of Ohio, his birth having occurred in St. Johns, Auglaize county, April 19, 1856. His grandfather, Daniel Miller, was a native of Maryland and in his boyhood days went with his parents to Pairfield county, Ohio, the family being there established during the pioneer epoch in the history of this state. Daniel Miller followed the occupation of farming as a life work. His son, the Rev. Daniel R. Miller, was born on the old home farm in Pairfield county, June 13, 1835, and in 1860 became actively identified with the ministry of the United Brethren church. He has since devoted his time and energies to the work of upbuilding the denomination in all of its varied activities for the promotion of the cause of Christianity, and his influence has been of no restricted order. He is now a resident of Bloomdale, Ohio.

As the father’s ministerial labors called him to various points, Lucius O. Miller was reared in different towns where he attended the public schools until 1873, when he entered Otterbein University at Westerville, Ohio, remaining for three years a student in that institution. He afterward entered the Earmers Bank at Marion, Ohio, in the capacity of bookkeeper, occupying that position for three years, when he became bookkeeper in a wholesale men’s furnishing goods house at West Liberty, Ohio. He was for two years employed there and on the 15th of August, 1881, came to Dayton where he entered the United Brethren publishing house as shipping and bill clerk. His enterprise, diligence and capability won him promotion to the position of cashier on the ist of January, 1882, and served in that capacity until the ist of July, 1905, when he assumed the duties of the general church treasurer to which he had been elected by the general conference of the United Brethren church for a term of four years. He is a man of good business ability, manifesting keen insight as well as capable control and moreover his industry is unflagging and his resolution unfaltering. In this capacity he has charge of the finances of the home missions, foreign missions, general Sunday-school, general conference expense, the Union Biblical Seminary, ministerial education and church erection.

On the 6th of September, 1877, Mr. Miller was married in Westerville, Ohio, to Miss Lida J. Haywood, a daughter of John and Sylvia (Carpenter) Haywood, the former professor of mathematics in Otterbein University. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been born six children: John Daniel Miller; Sylvia Grace, the wife of Richard Campion; Winton Leroy; Lucius Haywood; Edna Elaine; and Marjory Mae.

In his political views Mr. Miller is a republican, interested in the growth and success of his party because of his belief in its principles, yet without aspiration for political preferment. He has served as a member of the board of education and at all times is interested in intellectual progress. He is a member of the Present Day Club of Dayton and of the United Brethren church, manifesting active support of all the different branches of church work. Alert and energetic, with a thorough preliminary business training, he is well qualified for the complex and onerous duties which devolve upon him in his present connection.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN CHARLES MILLER, the well known and popular pharmacist at No. 504 East Xenia street, Dayton, Ohio, is a native of Clay county, Ind., was born October 3, 1869, and is a son of Rev. Jacob and Huldah (Pickhart) Miller, both natives of Germany.

Rev. Jacob Miller was born in Martsheim, Germany, February 1, 1833, and his wife, Huldah Pickhart, is a native of Hueckswagen, Germany, born November 29, 1834. They were married in Cannelton, Ind., August 12, 1854, the mother having come to America in 1848, and of their family of five sons and five daughters, two of each are still living. The father died October 9, 1891, at No. 1 19 Boltin street, Dayton, where his widow still resides. Rev. Jacob Miller received his education in his native land, and there also learned the coopering trade. He embarked for America January 31, 1853, landed at New Orleans, came up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and reached Evansville, Ind., April 5 of the same year. There he established a cooper shop and followed his trade until 1866, when he abandoned it to enter the ministry of the Evangelical church. Though his services in this work were but poorly recompensed in that then frontier country, his heart was in the cause of the Master, and he continued to labor in his vineyard, in various sections of the country, until within three years of his death, when ill health compelled him to retire.

John C. Miller, his son, was educated in the common schools and within the family circle, in the latter receiving a thorough training in the German language, which has been of great value to him from a business point of view. July 5, 1886, he became a clerk in a drug store in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he remained two years, and then entered the Illinois college of Pharmacy at Chicago, passed through a one-year course of lectures, and then, for about two years, clerked in a drug store in that city. In 1890 he came to Dayton, and here, for a short time, was employed by a leading drug firm. From January, 1891, until January, 1892, he resided in Cincinnati, and while there passed an examination before the Ohio board of pharmacy, receiving his license as a pharmacist in the last named year — this license being reissued in 1895. September 5, 1892, he opened business on his own account at his present location in Dayton, and now carries a well selected stock of drugs, patent medicines, toilet articles, etc. He compounds some of the standard proprietary remedies, and bears an excellent reputation, personally and as a careful, painstaking prescription druggist. He is doing an altogether prosperous trade, and well deserves the success attending him.

May 11, 1892, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Kuebler, daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth Kuebler, old settlers of Dayton. To this union have been born two children — Frederick John, who died when seven weeks old, and one that died in early infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are strict members of the Evangelical church, and Mr. Miller is a Forester. In politics he is independent, but is possessed of strong silver republican proclivities. In social life, he and wife hold a high position and are greatly respected by all who know them.

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

WILLIAM HARRISON MILLER, one MM I of the well-known young members 111 of the Dayton bar, was born in the northern part of Montgomery county, Ohio, November 15, 1862. His parents are Benjamin and Mary A. (Zeigler) Miller, both natives of Montgomery county. Benjamin Miller has followed farming to some extent, and was one of the pioneer threshers of this section, he having operated a horse-power threshing-machine between Dayton and Greenville for many years. He was also in the nursery business for a short time, and is at present engaged in mercantile business at Brookville, this county. To his marriage nine children have been born, eight sons and one daughter, one of the sons being now deceased.

William H. Miller was educated in the common schools, Randolph township high school, Antioch college, Ohio Wesleyan university, and the Ohio normal university. He also took a law course at the last named institution, graduating there in 1892, with the degree of LL. B. He taught school at different times for a period of about nine years, and during two summers taught the normal school at Greenville, Ohio. He began reading law with Julian Irwin, of Greenville, was admitted to the bar in Indiana in 1893, and in Ohio in October, 1894. He began the practice at Marion, Ind., came to Dayton in 1894 and opened an office, and has since continued in general practice. Mr. Miller was married June 7, 1893, to Esther C. Trump, of Castine, Darke county, Ohio, daughter of William K. Trump.

Mr. Miller is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, in which order he is the high counselor of Ohio. He is also a member ' of the Modern Knights’ Fidelity league. a

All of the children of Benjamin Miller and s wife who have attained their majority are fol- ] lowing professions: V. L. Miller, M. D., is a t practitioner of Brookville, Ohio; H. W. and r

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

William Miller, who is now living retired in the enjoyment of well earned and well merited rest, but in former years was closely and successfully associated with commercial interests as a leaf-tobacco merchant of Dayton, was born in Emmettsburg, Maryland, in the year 1846. The first nine years of his life were there passed and in 1855, he accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio, the family home being established in Fairfield. Later they went to Midway, Ohio, and in 1867, Mr. Miller came to Dayton, where for forty-two years he has now made his home. He had previously acquainted himself with cigarmaking and in this city began to work at his trade, which he followed in the employ of others for about five years. Throughout this period, however, he was stimulated by a hope and desire of one day engaging in business for himself and when his earnings and careful expenditure had brought him sufficient capital, he began dealing in leaf tobacco, remaining in active connection with the trade from 1872 until March, 1909. In the intervening thirty-seven years, he had built up an extensive business and had derived therefrom a handsome competence which now enables him to live retired without recourse to labor.

Mr. Miller is a respected and exemplary member of the Odd Fellows society, belonging to Wayne Lodge of Dayton. In politics he is a democrat, but has never taken any active part in the work of the organization. Through many years his energies were concentrated upon his business affairs and his close application was one of the salient features of his success.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

GEORGE MILLER, blacksmith and farmer, P. 0., EllertOn, was born in Germany, Dec. 23, 1831, and is a son of G. and Catherine (Straub) Miller, who were the parents of seven children, four now living, viz: Henry, George, Catherine and Conrad. Our subject emigrated to the United States in March, 1852, and engaged in farm work in Delaware, and the following May went to New York, possessing a capital of about $50, and there worked on a farm about six months, then came west to Circleville, Ohio, where he. served a three years apprenticeship at the blacksmith trade, afterwards working about one year as a journeyman for the same firm. He then came to Dayton, Ohio, worked three months in a carriage shop and the following three years was employed in the Union carshops, from where he went to Germantown, this county; remained there one year, working at his trade; thence to Simsbury, where he commenced in business for himself, which he prosecuted about nine years; then came to Gettersburg and purchased the comfortable residence where he now lives. Here he continued the blacksmithing business for about ten years, since which time he has devoted his attention principally to the raising of tobacco, and has been very successful. He was married in 1855 to Mary A. Schaffer, of Dayton, daughter of the Rev. Absalom Schaffer, who was Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dayton for many years. Mrs. Miller was born in 1832, and had four children by this union, viz; David, Isaiah, Clara and Sarah M. The mother dying Aug. 25, 1871, Mr. Miller married for his second wife Mrs. Anna Beck, daughter of-John Getter, who died March 25, 1879 without issue. In religious belief Mr. Miller is a Lutheran, as were his parents before him; yet he is a man of liberal views, devoid of narrow-mindedness, and is much respected by friends and neighbors.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

MICHAEL C. MILLER, farmer, P. 0. Yandalia, was born at Linglestown, Dauphin County, Penn., March 28, 1829, and removed with his father to Montgomery County, in 1834. In 1847, the family again removed to Preble County, Ohio. He remained on the farm with his parents until 1858, then rented a farm near Germantown; here he remained five years, and during this time by industry and economy he saved 82,000. With this capital he purchased a farm of eighty-six acres, near New Madison, Darke County. Here he remained another five years. Having an opportunity to sell to good advantage, he disposed of all his possessions and removed to where we now find him. He owns twenty acres in a high state of cultivation, and a fine two-story frame residence graces the grounds. Although Mr. Miller is not an old resident of the county a he is one of its prosperous men. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Hetzler, of Germantown, Ohio, January 14, 1858. He has been a consistent member of the United Brethren Church for eighteen years.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.