Davidson-Trousdale County TN Archives Biographies.....Miller, James T. 1871 -
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Author: Will T. Hale
JAMES T. MILLER. An able and representative member of the bar of his native
state, Mr. Miller is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the
city of Nashville, where he established his residence in the year 1909.
Mr. Miller was born on a farm near Hartsville, Trousdale county, Tennessee,
on the 5th of September, 1871, and is a son of George W. and Lucy (Harris)
Miller, the former of whom was born at North Vernon, Jennings county, Indiana,
and the latter at Hartsville, Tennessee, a daughter of Andrew Harris, who was of
stanch Virginia stock and who was numbered among the early settlers of Trousdale
county, Tennessee. The paternal grandparents were Daniel and Sarah Goodwin
Miller, the former of whom was born in Maine and the latter in Massachusetts and
both having been representatives of colonial families in New England, that
gracious cradle of much of our national history. Daniel Miller was one of the
sterling pioneers of Indiana and both he and his wife continued to reside in the
Hoosier state until their death. George W. Miller learned in his youth the trade
of cabinetmaker and he came to Tennessee when a young man. Here he became one of
the representative agriculturists of Trousdale county, and for a number of years
he was engaged in the general merchandise business also. When the Civil war was
precipitated he gave unqualified allegiance to the cause of the Confederacy, and
he served as a valiant soldier of the Second Tennessee Infantry from the first
battle of Bull Bun to the close of the war. George W. and Lucy Miller both died
near Hartsville, Tennessee. He believed in religion deeply, but was not a member
of a church. Mrs. Miller was a devout member of the Baptist church. Of the three
children, all of whom are living, James T. of this review was the second in
order of birth.
James T. Miller was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and
gained his early education in the public schools of his native county and
thereafter he continued his studies for a few years in the Hartsville Masonic
Institute, one of the well ordered educational institutions of that section of
the state. In the meanwhile his ambition had become quickened with an earnest
desire to prepare himself for the legal profession, rather than to pay
allegiance to the great basic industry under whose influences he had been
reared. He accordingly began reading law at Hartsville at night, while he worked
by day, and he made rapid and substantial progress in his absorption of and
assimilation of the science of jurisprudence, with the result that in 1896 he
proved himself eligible for and was admitted to the bar of his native state. He
forthwith engaged in practice at Hartsville, his native town and the judicial
center of Trousdale county, and he soon won his professional spurs. He built up
a substantial practice at Hartsville, where he continued his labors until 1909,
when he removed to the city of Nashville, in order to obtain a wider sphere of
professional endeavor. Here his success has been unequivocal and he now controls
an excellent practice, with a clientage of representative order. He has appeared
in connection with a number of important litigations since establishing his
residence in Nashville and is known as a strong and versatile trial lawyer.
Mr. Miller has been a zealous and effective worker in behalf of the cause of
the Democratic party, even as he was in that of the Populist party during the
period of the latter's activities. In 1908 he became a candidate for nomination
on the Democratic ticket for representative of his district in the United States
congress, and he came within fifteen votes of receiving the nomination, thus
making a splendid showing, as the total number of votes cast was fully eighteen
thousand. Though not formally identified with any religious body, Mr. Miller has
the deepest reverence for the spiritual verities as represented in the Christian
faith, and in early life he made a confession of faith.
Additional Comments:
From:
A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in
commerce, industry and modern activities
by Will T. Hale
Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1913
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