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DANIEL W. MILLS, of the firm of Mills & Peters, liverymen at Vinton and proprietors of the Ralyea House barn, is a son of John H. and Harriet (Emery) Mills, and was born in Lorain County, Ohio, Nov. 9, 1840. His father was a native of Virginia, of Scotch descent, and a farmer by occupation. The mother of our subject was born in Maryland, and was likewise of Scotch descent. The father died in Lorain County, and the mother is still living and resides on the old homestead, in Ohio. They had seven children, six of whom are yet living: Henry is a farmer and lives on the old homestead; our subject was next in order of birth; Charles is a farmer in Ohio; Hiram is a carpenter by trade; Lydia is the wife of Frederick Betts, living in Ohio, and Flora married George Jones, who follows the occupation of farming in the Buckeye State.Daniel Mills was reared on a farm and received a good education in the common school. When twenty-two years old he became the owner of forty acres of land in Lorain County, on which he lived and which he cultivated for three years. He then sold and rented a larger farm, and engaged in the dairy business, which he carried on with no small degree of success. He was married in Lorain County, Ohio, Nov. 17, 1868, near his birthplace, to Miss Sarah Marietta, daughter of John and Margaret Marietta, born in Columbiana County, Ohio, Dec. 15, 1841, and they have one child — Mamie, born Dec. 23, 1873.
In 1875 our subject came West and stopped at Vinton, where he had relatives. He liked the place so much that he concluded to make it his permanent home, and in 1876 he engaged in his present business in company with his brother-in-law, Curtis Marietta. The copartnership existed for about seven years, when Mr. Marietta disposed of his interest to Sylvanus Peters, the present partner of our subject. They usually keep from twelve to fourteen horses, and sufficient carriages and vehicles to accommodate their patrons, and also keep a board, feed and sale stable. For many years Mr. Mills shipped and dealt in horses.
Mr. Mills is a member of the I. O. O. F., the A. O. U. W. and the G. A. R. He enlisted during the late Civil War, in Co. H, 2d Ohio Vol. Cav., as private, and served twenty-three months in the Army of the Potomac. He participated in the battles of Cedar Creek. Va., Wilson's raid, the Wilderness, siege of Petersburg, and numerous skirmishes, and passed through the conflict without serious injury.
Source Citation: "1887 Benton County, Iowa Biographies" [database online] Benton County IAGenWeb Project. <http://iagenweb.org/benton/>
Original data: "Portrait and Biographical Album of Benton County, Iowa." Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887, p. 320.
Transcribed by: Sue Soden. Submitted to the Benton County IAGenWeb Project on February 13th, 2009. Copyright © 2009 The IAGenWeb Project.
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