Miller, Jonathan H.

MILLER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 13:57:30

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.948

JONATHAN H. MILLER
Jonathan H. Miller, one of the few remaining veterans of the Civil War, is a prosperous and up-to-date farmer residing on section 25, Palmyra Township, where he owns and operates a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He was born in Princeville, Peoria County, Illinois, December 3, 1842, and was there reared and received a good education, attending the schools near his boyhood home and later the high school. When but nineteen years of age he enlisted August 23, 1861, in Company D, Eleventh Illinois Cavalry and was sent south with his regiment. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Iuka, Corinth; two engagements at Jackson, Tennessee, and one at Jackson, Mississippi. He was in the siege and surrender of Vicksburg, later in the battles at Black River Bridge and Yazoo City, and also took part in a number of skirmishes and lesser engagements. He reenlisted and returned home on a veteran fur­lough, after which he again engaged in active service and remained at the front until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged at Springfield, Illinois, October 8, 1865.
Mr. Miller then returned to his old home and on the 8th of November of that year, was united in marriage to Miss Ellen McGregor, who was born and reared in Peoria County, Illinois. They continued to reside in Peoria county for a little more than a year after their marriage, when they removed to Warren County, Iowa, in the spring of 1867. Here Mr. Miller rented a farm for one year, and, having decided to locate permanently here, the following spring he bought a farm, on which he resided for a number of years. He later sold that place and purchased his present farm, which he has improved until it bears small resemblance to its appearance at the time of his acquiring it. He has erected a good house, remodeled the barn, has built a large hay barn, has set out fruit trees and has fenced and tiled the place, and altogether has converted it into an ideal home, having with all the neces­sary requisites for the continuation of a profitable business.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been born four sons and one daughter. One son, Ora, died at the age of eighteen years, in 1896. Of those living, Frank, resides on a farm in this township; Lewis is a carpenter and mechanic of Palmyra; Archibald is married and helps to carry on the work of the farm, and Alice is the wife of Samuel Black, a farmer residing near Hartford.
Since ageconferred upon him the right of franchise Mr. Miller has been a staunch Republican. He cast his first presidential vote for General Ulysses S. Grant in 1868, since which time he has always supported every Republican presidential nominee. He has ever taken an active interest in public affairs of local importance and has been twice elected to the state legislature, having served in the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh general assembly, also during one extra session. He was chairman of the committee of the Soldiers Orphan Home and has served on other important committees. Since the organization of the district school system of the county he has been actively identified with its work, having filled the various offices of director, secretary, treasurer and president of the board. He is preeminently public-spirited and progressive and is always willing to give his support to every enterprise which he believes will prove of public good. Fraternally, he is a member of the Hartford Post, G. A. R., on which he has served as commander at various times. Both he and his es­timable wife are members of the Methodist Church. They take an active interest in Sunday school work, Mr. Miller having served as superintendent of the Sunday school for twelve or fourteen years.