Posted on: Wells County, Indiana Query Forum
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Surname: MILLER
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Biographical sketch extracted from:
Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana
Benjamin G. Shinn; The Lewis Publishing Company 1914
Pages 173, 174
FREDERICK G. MILLER. From the great empire of Germany the United States
has had much to gain and nothing to lose, for Germany has given to our
republic an element of citizenship than which can be found none superior
in intellectual and material productiveness and sterling worth of character.
Of this element an honored and venerable representative in Blackford county
was the late Frederick Miller, who passed the gracious evening of his life,
retired from active labors, in the little city of Montpelier and who had
the unqualified respect and high regard of the entire community.
Mr. Miller was born in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, on the 11th of
November, 1836, and he sturdily and without perturbation passed the psalmists
allotted span of three score years and ten, admirable preserved in both
mental and physical powers, his death occurring at his home in Montpelier
on the 4th of June, 1908. He was a scion of an old and influential family
of Bavaria, where in past generations the name was one of prominence in
connection with industrial and civic affairs. Christoph Miller, grandfather
of the subject of this memoir, was born in Bavaria in the latter part of
the eighteenth century and there he died about the year 1860, having been
successful in business, as operator of both grist and flour mills, and
having been influential in local affairs of a public order. He was survived
by only one child, Christoph, Jr., who was born about the year 1795, and
who was reared in his native town, where he eventually succeeded to the
substantial milling business of his father and where he continued to reside
until his death, at the age of sixty-two years. In 1815 was solemnized
his marriage, the personal name of his wife having been Margaret, and she
having been born and reared in the same vicinity as her husband, and both
having been zealous members of the Lutheran church. Their eldest son, Andrew,
passed his entire life in Bavaria, was operator of a grist mill for a term
of years and though he married he left no children; Margaret reared her
children and passed her entire life in her native land, as did also her
sisters, Elizabeth and Anna; Henry came to the United States in 1838 and
became a pioneer of Wells county, Indiana, where he passed the residue
of his life and where he reared his family of ten children; John A. G.
resides in Montpelier, this county, and is individually mentioned on other
pages of this history; Catherine came to the United States and in Ohio
she married a fellow countryman named Geo. Fensel, her home having been
for many years in Blackford county, Indiana, where she died, leaving two
sons, and one daughter; and Frederick G., of this review, was the youngest
of the number, the devoted mother having been fifty-one years of age when
she was summoned to the life eternal.
Frederick G. Miller was a youth at the time of his mothers death, and
at the age of fifteen years he served the ties that bound him to home and
fatherland, where he had been reared to the trade of miller and had received
the advantages of the schools of his home town, and he came with his sister,
Catherine, to the United States, residing for a time in Ohio, and thence
coming with the same sister to Blackford county, Indiana, where he became
identified with the milling business on Salamonie creek, near Montpelier,
this milling enterprise having been founded by his elder brother, Henry.
In the ownership and operation of this early grist mill Mr. Miller later
became associated with his brother, John A. G., and they there continued
the enterprise successfully for many years. Frederick finally retired from
this field of business and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits.
He purchased a farm near the village of Montpelier, and he developed this
into one of the model places of the county, the fine old homestead, adjacent
to the town, having continued to be his place of abode until he was called
from the state of lifes mortal endeavors, in the fullness of years and
well earned honors. Mr. Miller was a man of strong individuality, positive
and well fortified in his convictions, and endowed with fine mental powers,
and these attributes combined with his sterling integrity to make him a
man of influence and one worthy of the unequivocal confidence and esteem
that were always accorded to him. He was a staunch supporter of the cause
of the democratic party, was liberal and public spirited, and both he and
his wife were earnest members of the Baptist church.
In 1856, in Wells county, this State, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Miller to Miss Charlotta Lowrey, who was born in Guernsey county, Ohio,
on the 12th of May, 1838, and who was twelve years of age at the time of
her parents removal to Wells county, Indiana. She proved a devoted and
loved companion and helpmeet to her husband and her memory is revered by
all who came within the compass of her gentle and kindle influence. She
survived her husband only a brief interval and her death occurred on the
9th of June, 1910. The eldest of the children is Andrew, who is a well
known citizen of Montpelier, who married Miss Katherine Murray, and who
has three sons and one daughter; Hanna is the wife of William Bonham, of
Montpelier, and they have six children; Miss Jennie R. remains at the old
homestead and has kindly supplied the data from which this brief memoir
to her honored father is prepared; Benjamin died in childhood; Lillie May
became the wife of George Kelley, and died when a young woman, leaving
one son, Frederick; Lottie is the wife of Daniel Davis, of Sharon, Pennsylvania,
and they have three children, Jeanette, Adelbert and Glenn; Mollie is the
wife of Dr. Charles G. Mulvey, of Auburn, New York, and they have one son,
john Sellers Mulvey; and Kittie is the wife of John Bain, of Mount Etna,
Huntington county, she having one son, Max, by her first marriage, to the
late Harry ODonnell.
Miss Jennie R. Miller acquired her early education discipline in the public
schools of her native county, and her deep filial love and solicitude caused
her to care for her parents during the declining years of their lives,
- a service which is an enduring source of satisfaction to her now that
the loved ones have passed forward to the land of the leal. She remains
in the attractive old family homestead, on Warren avenue, Montpelier, and
the place is a favored rendezvous for her many friends, who are ever assured
of gracious welcome and good cheer.