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1907 Past and Present Biographies

James P. Miller

James P. Miller has resided upon his present farm on section 17, Kendrick township, for almost twenty years, or since 1888, and the improvements which are found upon his land, comprising one hundred and twenty acres, indicate his careful supervision and progressive methods. He is a diligent agriculturist and his work has been executed along modern progressive lines. He was born on the 14th of December, 1866, in this county, and is therefore well known to many of its residents. His parents, Gideon and Mary S. (Goodnight) Miller, had but the one child. The father was born May 31, 1843, in Ohio, and devoted his life to farming save for the period of his service in the Civil war. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities between the north and south, he offered his aid to the government, enlisting August 15, 1862, when but nineteen years of age. He became a member of Company E, Thirty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry and served with that command until the close of the war, being mustered out at Washington, D. C., June 5, 1865. He afterward went to Indiana, where he married Miss Mary S. Goodnight, whom he had met in Tennessee while a soldier, and in 1865 he came to Greene county, Iowa, establishing his home on section 16, Kendrick township. For five years he devoted his time and energy to the care and improvement of that property and was then called to his final rest, passing away on the 10th of May, 1870. His widow subsequently married Alfred Anderson, now deceased, but now the widow of J . B. Williamson, whose sketch appears on another page of this volume. She is a resident of Scranton, Iowa.

James P. Miller was reared in Greene county by his mother and his grandfather, Dr. J . P. Miller, having lost his father when only four years of age. He was a pupil in the public school in his boyhood and youth and he received thorough training in farm labor. At the age of twenty years he was married and began farming on his own account. Having no money with which to purchase land, he first rented a farm for a year, and then with the capital which he had saved from his labors he purchased his present property. This has been his home since 1888 and comprises one hundred and twenty acres of land that has been brought under a high state of cultivation and is now very fertile and productive. Indeed, his farm constitutes one of the best improved places in this part of the county, and all of the modern equipments have been added to it by Mr. Miller. He keeps abreast with the times in agricultural progress and his work has been attended with a measure of success which is most gratifying.

On the 14th of December, 1887, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Miller and Miss Etta L. Nesbitt, who was born December 14, 1866, in Greene county, Iowa, her parents being John and Annie (Bradley) Nesbitt. Her father is now deceased but the mother still survives and is living in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the wife of Dr. B. Anderson. In their family were five children, as follows: Melville, whose home is in Colfax, Washington; Mrs. Miller; Mrs. Alice Van Horn, living in Greene county; Alva, of this county; and Mrs. Annie Wilson, a resident of Ralston, Iowa Mr. and Mrs. Miller have become the parents of a daughter and son, Josephine Ina and Gerald Royce, both of whom are at home.

Mr. Miller and his family are connected with the Society of Friends and are interested in the work and growth of the church. He votes with the republican party and has continuously filled the office of township trustee since 1897 or for a period of ten years - a fact which indicates the unqualified trust and confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen. He has always lived in this county and many of his staunchest friends are those who have known him from his boyhood days - a fact which indicates that his life has been upright and honorable.

Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.

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