Daniel Miller

DANIEL MILLER.

Daniel Miller, who follows farming on section 25. Harrison township, is a highly respected farmer, whose life has been quietly and unostentatiously passed, yet contains features that may well be emulated, for in all relations he has been found true to his duty to his neighbors, his family and his country.

He was born near West Alexandria, Prebie county, November 19, 1829, and in August, 1 83 1, was brought by his parents to the farm upon which he now resides. His father. George Miller, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, about 1793, and died in Xew Madison, Ohio, in 1872, having located there the previous year. John Miller, the grandfather, was a well-to-do farmer of I pennsylvania, anil reared five children, including George Miller, who spent almost his entire life in the Buckeye state. Having arrived at years of maturity he married Elizabeth Cunningham, who was born in Ireland and during her girlhood was taken to Pennsylvania. By her marriage she became the mother of eleven children, one of whom, Nancy, died at the age of two years. Seven sens and three daughters reached adult age: Mrs. Anna Adams, a widow now living in Kansas at the age of eighty-three years; Mary, the wife of Washington Ulam, a farmer living near Winchester, Indiana; William, a farmer of Harrison township, who died at the age of seventy-eight years, leaving three children; John, who died in the prime of life on his farm in Indiana, leaving five children; Robert, who died in New Madison, in his sixtieth year, leaving four sons; Elizabeth, the wife of John Ray, who died ai the age of seventy-three, leaving four daughters, while four died in infancy; George, who died at the age of twenty-seven years; David, who died at the age of twenty-four; Samuel, who died in Harrison township about 1893, leaving three sons and a daughter; and Daniel, of this review. The mother passed away about 1852, and the father afterward married Mrs. Hannah Gray, nee Worthington. She was the mother of five children, including I. P. Gray, a prominent statesman of Indiana, who served as minister to Mexico. The father of our subject was reared and married in West Virginia, and after the birth of the greater part of his children came to Ohio, where in 1830 he preempted eighty acres of land, taking up his above thereon in August, 1831. Not a furrow had been turned, a tree cut or an improvement made upon the farm. He secured his land from the government for a dollar and a quarter per acre and subsequently he made other purchases until he was the owner of a valuable tract of two hundred and twenty acres, together with a house and lot in New Madison. He also hail a g 1 hank account and was one of the substantial residents of the community.

Daniel Miller was reared upon a large farm and early took his place in the forest with an ax, aiding in clearing away the trees and preparing the land for the plow. He attended school for two or three months each year in a little frame building, supplied with luncheon seats. The writing desk was formed of rough boards laid upon wooden pegs driven into large auger holes bored into the wall. To his father he gave the benefit of his services until his marriage, which occurred October 15. 1871. Miss Rebecca Lawrence becoming his wife. Their acquaintance had continued from childhood, for they were reared on adjoining farms. Mrs. Miller was born October 6, 1829, a daughter of Rial and Minerva (Braffet) Lawrence. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, and at an early epoch in the pioneer history of Darke county came to Ohio, locating near the home of C. C. Walker. At his death, which occurred May 7, 1885, tne following obituary appeared in one of the local papers: "Death has claimed another of the pioneer citizens of Yankeetown. On the 7th instant died Rial Lawrence, in the eighty-fourth year of his life. He wasborn in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, on January 19. 1802. and in 1825 was married to Minerva Braffet. They lived together sixty years and had six children, who with their mother survive him." Now, in 1900. the children are all living, but the venerable mother passed away at their home in January, 1899. at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Mr. Lawrence was an industrious and economical husbandman, a good manager and a square man in his business dealings, his word being as good as his bond. His remains were interred in the new cemetery at Madison, by the side of those of his wife.

Mr. Miller is the owner of three hundred and twenty-two acres of valuable land, lying in Harrison and Butler townships. He purchased one hundred and forty-six acres of land of his father, and the farm includes ninety acres of good timber land. He carries on general farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of short-horn cattle and fine sheep, having from fifty to a hundred head of the latter upon his farm most of the time. His well-tilled fields yield to him good returns, and he raises annually from two to three thousand bushels of corn and about fourteen hundred bushels of wheat. He sowed fifty acres of wheat in the fall of 1899. and for the first time in years the crop proved a total failure. He feeds all of his corn to his stock, and in addition to his cattit and sheep he raises about one hundred head of hog's annually. His place is one of the best improved in this part of the county. In iSS_> he built a large red wagon house, and the foil owing year an immense barn, 42X 72 feet, with an L.32x42 feet. There is a good two-story residence upon 'the place, which was erected in 1886. He has never moved but once, and that was when he left the old home for the new. The old frame house, however, erected by his father, in 1842, is still standing, but in 1886 he tore down the log cabin which had been built in early days of round logs with a mud-andstick chimney. He is very thorough, systematic and methodical in his work, and is at the same time progressive and enterprising. His land is divided into fields of convenient size by well kept fences. The place is well drained and everything upon the farm is neat and thrifty in appearance, indicating the careful supervisor of the owner. Both Mr. and Mrs. Miller are widely known in Darke county, and enjoy the warm friendship 1 d" a large circle of acquaintances, and their many excellencies of character have gained them high regard and esteem, and it is with pleasure that we present to our readers their life record:

As printed in A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography (1900). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.