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Author: WellsVolunteer
Surnames: MILLER, SUTTON, SEWELL, SHREVE, ARNOLD, KILLERMAN, BURGAN
Classification: biography
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Message Board Post:
Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 398-400.
CHARLES M. MILLER.
Charles M. Miller was born on a farm in the vicinity of the village of Murray, Wells
county, Indiana, on the 20th of May, 1851, being the sixth in order of birth of the ten
children of Jacob and Mary A. (Sutton) Miller, the family comprising five sons and five
daughters, of whom four of the sons and five of the daughters are living at the present
time. Jacob Miller was born in Pennsylvania of stanch German ancestry, the name having
been identified with the annals of the Keystone state from an early epoch in its history.
He became one of the pioneers of Wells county, Indiana, whither he came as a young man in
the year 1837. In his native state he had learned the trade of millwright, and to this he
devoted his attention until after his marriage, when he took up his abode on a quarter
section of land in Lancaster township, this county, effectually reclaiming the same and
developing a valuable farm, upon which he continued to reside for many years, the old
homestead being the bi!
rthplace of all his children. In his declining days Jacob Miller retired from the farm
and passed the golden evening of his life in the home of his eldest daughter, where he
received that deep filial solicitude which was so justly due him. Here he died at the age
of eighty-two years. The mother of the subject was a woman of noble and gracious
attributes. She was a daughter of Rev. Elijah Sutton, a pioneer clergyman of the Baptist
church in this section of the Union, and who is said to have preached the first sermon
ever delivered in Wells county. His descendants assembled each year in reunion on the old
homestead farm, one and one-half miles north of Murray, this county, the twenty-fourth
annual reunion having been held in the month of June, 1902.
Charles M. Miller, whose name initiates this review, received his preliminary educational
training in the common schools of the village of Murray and continued to assist in the
work of the old home farm until he had attained the age of about seventeen years. During
the ensuing four years he devoted his attention, through the winter months, to teaching in
the district schools of Lancaster township, while through the results of such effort he
was in the interim enabled to defray his expenses while continuing his personal study in
the graded schools of Bluffton. In the spring of 1873 he entered into a partnership
association with James Sewell and opened a general store at Murray, the enterprise being
conducted under the firm name of Miller & Sewell until the autumn following, when the
junior member was succeeded by L. F. Shreve, and the business was continued successfully
under the title of Miller & Shreve, until April, 1879, when Mr. Miller sold his
interest to his partner and!
removed to Bluffton, where he accepted a clerkship in the dry goods establishment of H.
C. Arnold, with whom he remained consecutively until January, 1883, when he effected in
this city the purchase of the stock and business of Killerman Brothers and established
himself in the grocery and queensware business, which he continued until his election to
public office. Ever according a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party, Mr. Miller
became an active and efficient worker in its ranks within a short time after taking up his
residence in Bluffton, and his zeal in the cause, as well as his unmistakable eligibility,
received recognition of definite and gratifying order when he was made the nominee of his
party for the office of county auditor, to which he was elected by a satisfactory and
flattering majority in November, 1886. After his election he disposed of his grocery
business and in the interim of a year which elapsed before his induction into office he
devoted his attent!
ion to buying grain for H. C. Arnold. In November, 1887, Mr. Miller en
tered upon the discharge of his duties as auditor, and served in this capacity for the
ensuing four years. The important work of constructing the fine new court house was
consummated during his regime. With the discovery of natural gas in Indiana Mr. Miller
became financially and actively interested in the development of the gas fields, and thus
was led to later identify himself with the concomitant industry of developing the oil
wells of the state. He was one of the original members of the directorate of the Bluffton
Light & Fuel Company and for two years was secretary of the company. In 1893 he had
engaged in the drug business in Bluffton, but in 1896 he disposed of this enterprise to
devote his entire attention to his oil interests, which had greatly increased in scope and
importance. Since the year last mentioned he has operated extensively in the oil fields of
the state, both individually and as an interested principal in various corporations, and
his energy, discrimina!
tion and administrative ability have been the potent factors in insuring him a high
degree of success in this important field of productive enterprise. He was actively
concerned in the organization of the Midway Oil Company, his interests in which he
subsequently sold at a good profit, and he is now actively identified with a number of
fine properties and the exploiting of new prospects of distinctive promise.
On the 27th of September, 1877, Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie L.
Burgan, daughter of George F. Burgan, now deceased, one of the first settlers of Bluffton
and one of its most honored pioneers. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three children, namely: Guy
B., who was born July 18, 1878, is a traveling salesman for a wholesale drug house in
Kansas City, Missouri; Dwight C., born April 29, 1887, and Edith, born January 28, 1891,
remain at the parental home, which is recognized as a center of gracious hospitality.
Fraternally Mr. Miller is identified with the time-honored order of Freemasons, in which
he takes a lively interest, being fully appreciative of the noble teachings and beneficent
values of the fraternity.
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