M. M. Miller

As printed in 1910

M. M. MILLER.

An analyzation of the life work of M. M. Miller shows that he has been dependent upon no inheritance or influential friends for what he has acquired, but has through his own continued effort and capable management, gained a desirable property whereby he is classed among the self-made and influential men of Canaan township, Wayne county. His birth occurred in Wayne township, near Guyer Chapel, April 6, 1842, the son of Michael and Margaret (Miller) Miller, both natives of Gerhartbruna, Rhinish Germany. They came to America about 1815 and located m Pennsylvania, where they remained for a short time. Later they came to Columbus, Ohio, then in a short time settled in Wayne county, this state. At that time there were but three houses in Wooster (about 1820). They first bought one hundred and sixty acres of land north of where Smithville now stands. After clearing five acres of the same, they sold it and bought ninety acres near Guyer’s Chapel. In those days the early settlers went to mill on horseback, the residents of this locality being compelled to go as far as where Alliance now stands. Game was plentiful, and it is related that twelve deer were seen on going from Michael Miller’s place to Smithville. Adolph Miller, the maternal grandfather of M. M. Miller, came to this county with Michael Miller and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land near Smithville and he remained there until his death, that farm having been retained in the family until 1907. Part of it is now owned by a Mr. Yoder. Michael cleared the farm he purchased near Guyer’s Chapel and lived there the balance of his days.

M. M. Miller, of this review, remained on the home farm until he was sixteen years of age, when he began learning the trade of stone-mason with Adam Kieffer and Peter Presler, and he followed that vocation until 1865. He saved his money and at the close of the Civil war he began to make investments in land.

Mr. Miller was married February 18, 1865, to Catherine, daughter of Samuel Sommers. Her father was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, the son of Abraham and Maiw Magdalene Sommers, who came from that locality in the early thirties and settled in Wayne township, Wayne county, Ohio, taking up a quarter section of land which they cleared, living there until 1865, when Mr. Sommers moved to Fayette county, Illinois, where his death occurred.

Augustus B. Miller, brother of M. M. Miller, enlisted in the Union army at Wooster when the last call for troops was made.

M. M. Miller is a.self-made man, as already intimated, having made

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

At the June primaries in 1893 he became the choice of the Democratic party for a member of the board of county commissioners, and he was elected by a triumphant majority. He made a very faithful official, and was reelected to the same office in 1896, having then been made president of the board, very ably fulfilling the duties of this important place. The fact that his majority in 1896 was eight hundred would indicate that his standing among his constituents was of the best, and that he was popular with his party and voters from other parties as well.

imr. Miller accumulated in all one hundred acres of land, purchashig sixty acres in 1865, and an adjoining forty in 1881. He lived on his fine farm, bringing it up to a high state of improvement and prospering by his general crops and stock raising, until 1897, when he ret-’red from active life, moving to Creston, where he has a beautiful and modern residence and a small lot. He retired from his office in September, 1900. He has served as a member of the city council in Creston. He and his estimable wife are members of the Presbyterian church. Their children are; Emmit U., Zeno S.; Frankh'n died when one year old; Ella Irene. This family stands in the front rank of Wayne county's best citizenship. Mr. Miller is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Seville Lodge No. 268.

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