Brandon R. Millikin

As printed in 1905

BRANDON R. MILLIKIN.

This well-known attorney of Hamilton is a representative of one of the most distinguished families in Butler county. He is descended from pioneer stock, and the name of Millikin in Butler county stands for a high class of citizenship and, among the males, almost invariably, for a professional career. Dr. Dan Millikin was the first physician in Hamilton. He and his brother Samuel took up their residence in this city on the 7th of May, 1807, and to this early pioneer family is traceable the entire Millikin family now living in Butler county. Samuel Millikin, before mentioned, opened the first drug store in Hamilton.

Brandon R. Millikin, of this review, is descended in direct line, four generations removed, from Dr. Robert B. Millikin, a brother of Dr. Dan and Samuel. He was the sixth son bom to James and Dolly Millikin, the former a native of Ireland, born on the 5th of January, 1752, in County Antrim.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

Robert B. is the paternal great-grandfather of Brandon R., of this sketch. At the time his three brothers departed for the West to seek new homes he was a lad in his fourteenth year, and he remained with his parents until about twenty, when he became imbued with the spirit of emigration and followed his older brothers to Hamilton. He arrived here in the spring of 1813 and took up his residence with the family of his brother, Dr. Dan, where he remained until the time of his marriage. In Hamilton he completed his preparatory education and took up the study of medicine under the tutorship of his elder brother. In 1817, having mastered the intricacies of professional lore, he was licensed to practice medicine, established an office in Hamilton, and began his professional career. He devoted his attention closely to his profession for many years and was successful in the accumulation of property, as well as in the relief of the distressed. As he approached the age of middle life he relaxed his professional efforts somewhat, though he never retired entirely from the practice of medicine. He was a man of resourceful mind and readily adapted himself to other lines of human effort. He was for years a brigadier general of the Ohio state militia and discharged the duties of several other honorable positions.

He was a trustee of the Miami University,

8 1 2 served for a time as county treasurer, was one of the commissioners for the selection of canal lands belonging to the state, and served as a member of the Ohio legislature.

Dr. R. B. Millikin, on the 6th of December, 1816, married Sarah Gray, who was connected with many of the pioneer families of that day. She died in young womanhood, leaving three children, who arrived at the age of maturity. The eldest of these was Samuel, who resided in Hamilton for many years, but subsequently removed to Missouri, where he ended his days. Thomas was the second born in this family, and the paternal grandfather of the subject of this review. Elizabeth, the youngest child, married William A. Elliott. Both are now deceased. Dr. Robert B. Millikin married, for his second wife, Mrs. Ann Eliza Yeaman, who survived him. Dr. Millikin died on the 28th of June, 1860, at the age of sixty-six years, six months and nineteen days.

Thomas Millikin, grandfather of the subject, was born in Ross vi lie, now Hamilton, on the 28th of September, 1819. No man ever lived in Hamilton who contributed more to the growth and progress of the city, or who maintained a higher grade of citizenship than Thomas Millikin. He was abreast of the times in everything, and the later years of his long and illustrious life were as fertile as the earlier ones. His life career was devoted to professional work, and he never sought, nor would he accept, a purely political office. Thomas Millikin was liberally educated, beginning his career in the classics, under the tutorship of Rev. Joseph G. Monfort, in 1832. After two years of this preparatory work he entered Miami University and was graduated from that institution in July, 1838. In the autumn of the same year he became a student of law in the office of Elijah Vance, and was admitted to the bar December 20, 1840. He at once engaged in active practice, which continued without interruption for more than half a century. In 1843 he was appointed prosecuting attorney and served one year under this appointment, but never again, during fifty years and more, do we find the name of Thomas Millikin announced as a candidate for any office not purely professional. But throughout all of these years he held the post of honor at the Butler county bar. None were there to dispute it. He was a lawyer, and desired to be nothing more. As a public speaker, however, there were few his equal and his voice was always heard as one of the principal orators on occasions of state. His style was terse, convincing and pleasing. Never in his life did he resort to the petty methods of the pettifogger, even in the most animated political debates. He was always a gentleman and treated his adversaries as such, whether they were or not. He was an ardent supporter of the Union during the Civil war and sent two stalwart sons to the front in its preservation. Yet he never believed in the necessity of a resort to arms.- He believed in peaceful arbitration of national difficulties, and recognized the “power of might” only as a last resort. But all of his public utterances breathed an ardent desire for the suppression of the Rebellion and the preservation of the national union, at any cost.

Mr. Millikin was the originator of the Hamilton Gas Company and also of the Lindenwald Electric Transit Company. He was chosen the first president of the latter corporation and remained in that position until the day of his death. As a promoter of these two beneficent enterprises, without which the city could scarcely exist today, he proved himself a man of public spirit and advanced ideals. From 1852 until his death he was attorney for the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Company. Subsequent to 1852 he was also selected as attorney for the Big Four Railroad Company, serving in that capacity for many years. In 1874 he was tendered a commission as one of the judges of the supreme court of Ohio, an honor which he declined. There are many of Mr. Millikin's public addresses now in print, but probably the masterpiece of his lifetime is the address delivered on the hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This was delivered in Hamilton, on July 4, 1876. His address on the occasion of laying the cornerstone of the new court house in Hamilton is another of the sacred relics of past days. It is tempered throughout with a spirit of love and justice between man and man, the sentiment of which could not have been uttered by any save a pre-eminently good man. During the later years of his life he took two partners into his legal business, his grandson, Brandon R. Millikin, of this sketch, and Robert N. Shotts, under the firm title of Millikin, Shotts & Millikin.

Thomas Millikin was married in Columbus, Ohio, November 4, 1841, when he wedded Mary, the daughter of the late William B. VanHook. She was born in 1824, and proved a most exemplary wife and mother. The union was a most happy one, and after walking side by side on life’s journey for fifty-two years, it was terminated on the 13th of January, 1894, when Mrs. Millikin was called to her final earthly rest. They were the parents of seven children, namely:

William B., Robert B., Sallie G., Murray G., Matie M., Ira S. and Julia M. William, Murray and Matie are deceased. The others are, for the most part, residents of their native city. William served as a soldier in the Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war and Robert B. was a member of the Ninety-third Regiment in the same service.

But it is as a lawyer that Thomas Millikin achieved the highest honors and most brilliant success. For more than a quarter of a century there was scarcely an important case brought to trial in Butler county that Mr. Millikin did not appear on one side or the other. He has also carried some very complicated cases through the higher courts of the state and nation, where his ability and sterling integrity were always recognized. Mr. Millikin was a over of history, and delighted to well on reminiscences and scenes of the past, especially during the period of the seventy years with which he was so familiar. He was exceptionally well informed on the current history of Butler county and took special pleasure in discussing the events of the early days. His death occurred in Hamilton, on the loth day of November, 1899.

The father of the subject, Robert Barbour Millikin, was born in Hamilton, March 2 r, 1844. He acquired his elementary education in the schools of his native city. He then spent two years at the Park Latin Schools, in Boston, Massachusetts. Soon after this he entered Miami University, and, after two years’ study there, his college career was suddenly terminated by his enlistment as a soldier in the Union army. He entered the service on the 16th of July, 1862, as a member of the Ninety-third Ohio

Volunteer Infantry. After serving two years at the front and being twice promoted, he resigned his commission as first lieutenant on the 22d of November, 1864, by reason of disability contracted in the service. Mr. Millikin has filled various offices of trust and responsibility. He was the city clerk of Hamilton from 1875 to 1881, retiring from the office to accept the office of clerk of the courts of Butler county, to which he was elected in t88i, and served until 1887.

Mr. Millikin engaged in the manufacture of farm implements and machinery in 1865, continuing that business for many years. He is now quite extensively engaged in real estate and insurance business in Hamilton. R. B. Millikin was married August 16, 1865, at Piqua, Ohio, to Miss Carrie E., daughter of Abel and Martha Brandon, a prominent pioneer family of Miami county. These are the parents of Brandon R. Millikin, the subject of this sketch.

Brandon R. Millikin was born in Hamilton. August 19, 1868. He enjoyed the excellent educational facilities of his native city, where he fitted himself for entrance upon a collegiate course. This he did in 1885. when he entered the classical department of Amherst College, in Massachusetts. Returning from that institution, he took up the legal profession as a life work and entered the office of Hon. Thomas Millikin, where he passed one year in preparatory study. Continuing his professional studies, he entered the Law School of Cincinnati, where he completed the prescribed course and was graduated in 1891. Mr. Millikin then returned to Hamilton and soon thereafter the law firm of Millikin. Shotts & Millikin was formed, the subject becoming the junior member.

Since the death of Thomas Millikin, the senior partner, the firm title has been Shotts & Millikin. The subject is a thorough scholar and endowed with all the characteristics which constitute a successful lawyer. He has the prestige of a long line of ancestors distinguished in the learned professions, the counsels of his late preceptor, and the example of a successful life career fresh in his mind. Mr. Millikin is an exceedingly popular and talented attorney. Along professional lines he inherits many of the peculiar characteristics of his lamented grandfather and early preceptor, and has already established for himself a career of prominence and usefulness. Though a pronounced Democrat, and zealous in the supremacy of party principles, he has never entered politics as a candidate for public honors, but is content with assisting his party and friends with his voice and influence.

Mr. Millikin was married on the 9th of January, 1895, when he those as his life companion Miss Grace E. Jewett, of Wyoming. Ohio. She is a daughter of Joseph E. and Cecelia C. Jewett. Her father was a prominent business man at Wyoming for many years and is now the president of the Cincinnati Carriage Goods Company. Mrs. Millikin was educated at the Wyoming high school, subsequently taking an extensive course in the Cincinnati College of Music, where she studied piano and organ. Mr. and Mrs. Millikin have three children, Caroline E., Margaret B. and Jewett. Mrs. Millikin is a member of the First Presbyterian church, which the family attend regularly.

As printed in Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.