Gustav E. Miller

As printed in 1910

GUSTAV E. MILLER.

Gustav E. Miller, a farmer, stock raiser, feeder and shipper of Geneseo township, who owns two hundred and thirteen acres on sections i8 and 19, about a mile west of the city of Geneseo, was born on a farm near Schwetz, West Prussia, April 15, 1848. His parents were David and Carolina (Sichmansky) Miller, the former also a native of Schwetz, of whose large family six are located in the United States. Herrmann, the youngest, also came to this country, but after remaining about two years returned to Germany and is now living on the old home place. David Miller died in 1893 in his native land. His wife had passed away many years before while her son Gustav E. Miller was still in the army.

Gustav E. Miller, the oldest of the family, was reared upon the home farm and received a good education in the public schools of his native land. In 1869, when he was about twenty years of age, he was called into the German army and during the three years of his service took part in many of the important battles of the Franco-Prussian war, among them being Gravelot, the siege of Metz and the siege of Paris. He was also at Dijon when Garibaldi was in command of the opposing forces, and where his regiment — the Sixty-first — lost its flag, although, through the bravery of one of its members, it was later recovered. In the fall of 1872 Mr. Miller was honorably discharged from the army and the following spring came to America. He embarked on a steamer, which took two weeks to make the voyage, and on landing at New York came almost immediately to Henry county, Illinois, where he had two uncles. He had brought a little money with him, but, thinking it wiser to save this for emergencies, he went to work by the month. After a short time he was able to purchase forty acres of land in Edford township. This he cleared of the brush and timber that covered it and on it built a house and barn. For about fifteen years it remained his home, although in that time the original acreage had been doubled. He had paid about forty dollars an acre for the land and toward the end of the '80s he sold it at some profit and bought one hundred and sixty acres, the farm on which his son Albert now lives.

422 HISTORY OF HtNRY COUNTY

He paid about sixty-five dollars for that land and made it his home for about seven years, when he bought the three hundred and twenty acres on sections 34 and 35, Geneseo township, on which his son Otto lives. In 1906 he bought the place where he lives today. It is almost unnecessary to add that he has been successful, for the fundamental lessons in farming he learned in his native land he has applied with excellent results in this country.

In Edford township, February 20, 1876, Mr. Miller married Miss Paulina Pobanz, who was born in Bagnevo, West Prussia, Germany, March 22, 1857, and is a daughter of George and Henrietta (Dettmann) Pobanz. She was about five years old when her parents came to this country. They were eleven weeks on the water and landed in New York, coming almost immediately to Henry county. In Edford Township they purchased a home, as they had brought some means with them. On that farm Mrs. Miller grew up, receiving her education in the common schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been born nine children: Albert E., of whom mention is made in another part of this volume; Emily, who lives at home, Otto H., whose sketch appears elsewhere; Mary, who married Rev. Christ D. Reichle, of Missouri, and is the mother of a son, Richard; Gustav L.. born May 30, 1884; Mathilda, a stenographer in Chicago; Ernst, born June 6, 1889, who lives at home; George, born June 19, 1891; and Grace, who died at the age of nine. The oldest daughter, Emily, is a graduate of a music school in Chicago, and Mary was graduated from the Geneseo high school, while Ernst and George are students in the Geneseo Collegiate Institute. Mr. Miller's son, Gustav, is a born musician and, though he has never had any instruction in the art, he is not only a teacher but a composer as well. He also organized an orchestra of boys, which in the winter of 1908-9, accompanied by a pianist, traveled in Illinois and Missouri, with pronounced financial success.

Mr. and Mrs. Miller and their children belong to the German EvangeHcal Lutheran church, of which Mr. Miller served three terms as trustee. Although he is not a charter member of the congregation he enjoys the distinction of having hauled the first load of bricks for the erection of the edifice. In his political views Mr. Miller is a republican, and for several years rendered efficient service as school director, collector and road overseer in Edford township. In 1909, accompanied by his wife, he returned to Germany for a three months' visit, with the result that he was well satisfied with his home in the United States, where the years of his active life have been spent and where he has made stanch and loyal friends among those who have watched his progress.

As printed in History of Henry County, Illinois (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.