In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1896) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1824
From History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers (1882), Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio (1896)
Anson H. Miller, who has been so prominently connected with this bank, and consequently with the business interests of the city, is a native of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, and was born May 2, 1824. His father, John Miller, was a descendant of Nathan Doyles, who was a sufferer by the burning of New London, Connecticut, during the Revolution, and to whose heirs was granted a large tract in the Firelands near New London, in Huron county. By inheritance and purchase Mr. Miller came into possession of the whole tract. He removed with his fami to Norwalk in 1825 and m 1839 settled on the farm near New I ndui. Anson H., during the lamiK's residence in Noiwalk, attended the seminary, and during the year 1845 continued his studies at Milan academy. In 1847 Mr. Miller entered the employ of Prague & Sherman, lumber dealers, at New Orleans. He was there about fourteen months, during the yellow fever epidemic, and was himself a sufferer from the disease. In 1852 he attended Commercial college at Cleveland, and soon after was employed as bookkeeper in the office of the treasurer of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad, which position he held until entering the bank in 1854. Since 1856 the burden of management has mainly been borne by the cashier. The exceptionally successful career of the bank, both as a partnership and a corporation, is the best commentary on Mr. Miller’s worth as a banker. His management has always been honorable to himself and profitable to the stockholders.
As printed in History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers (1882). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
During the residence of the family in Norwalk Anson H. Miller attended the seminary at that place, and during the year 1845 continued his studies at Milan Academy. In 1847 he entered the employ of Prague & Sherman, lumber dealers at New Orleans, remained there about fourteen months, and after his return in
1848 was engaged in farming on the New London lands until 1852, when he took a course of study in the Bryant, Lusk & Stratton Commercial College, at Cleveland, after which he accepted a position as bookkeeper in the office of the treasurer (Dr. William F. Kittrege) of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland railroad, which he held about two years. In 1854 he was offered the position of cashier of the banking firm of Birchard & Otis, Fremont, Ohio, made vacant by the resignation of Rev. F. S. White. He accepted the offer, and coming to Fremont August 2, 1854, entered at once upon the duties of the position. Judge Otis, being about to move to Chicago, retired from the firm of Birchard & Otis, and on the first day of January, 1856, Mr. Miller became a partner with Mr. Birchard, under the firm name of Birchard, Miller & Co. One year later Dr. James W Wilson came into the bank as partner, the firm continuing under the name of Birchard, Miller & Co. They occupied a small, one-story brick building on the east side of Front street, between Croghan and State, and the bank did a good business and prospered, without further change, until 1863, when it was merged into the First National Bank of Fremont, with a paid-up capital of $100,000, and an authorized capital of $200,000. This bank was the fifth National bank organized in the United States. The articles of association were signed by Sardis Birchard, James W. Wilson, Anson H. Miller, James Justice, R. W. B. McLellan, Jane E. Phelps, La Ouinio Rawson, Martin Bruner, Robert Smith, Abraham NefT and Augustus W. Luckey. The first board of directors was elected May 27, 1863, and consisted of Messrs. Birchard, Wilson, Justice, Bruner, Smith, Luckey and Miller. The first officers of the board were Sardis Birchard, president; James W. Wilson, vice-president; and A. H. Miller, cashier.
At the time the old bank wns merged into the First National, Mr. Miller, with the help of a young clerk, did all the routine work of the bank, which now requires six experienced men. The bank occupies the ground floor of its fine three-story block, with Amherst stone front, erected by the stockholders, on the southwest corner of Front and Croghan streets, Fremont. Mr. Miller still holds the position of cashier. There were five pioneer National banks organized in 1863 in the United States, andMr. Miller and Morton McMichael, of the First National Bank of Philadelphia, are the only men still living who are occupying the same positions in the same banks that they did at the beginning.
In March, 1854, Mr. Miller married Miss Nancy J. Otis, daughter of Joseph and Nancy B. Otis, of Berlin, Ohio, and children as follows came to their union: Mary O., born April 11, 1856, who was married October 3, 1894, to Samuel Brinkerhoff, an attorney at law, of Fremont, Ohio; Fannie B., born June 15, 1860, who married Thomas J. Stilwell, and who died April 4, 1887; and Julia E., born March 27, 1865, who died March 2, 1884.
As printed in Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio (1896). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Named in this biography: James Justice Sardis Birchard
The printed record stops around 1882. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.