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WILLIAM S. MILLER, one of the leading farmers of Elliott Township, residing on section 35, was born in St. Louis County, Mo., Feb. 11, 1847, and is a son of Adam and Elizabeth (Smith) Miller, both natives of Germany, the mother of Darmstadt. In 1834, when only fourteen years of age, Adam Miller emigrated to this country, and two years later, the lady who afterward became his wife also sailed for America. He settled in St. Louis County, Mo., where he engaged in farming until his removal to Franklin, Lee Co., Iowa, afterward, in 1853, to Des Moines County. He purchased a farm in Union Township, the latter county, and there continues to reside. He is a well-educated man, was a teacher for several years, and has always taken an active part in public affairs. Politically, he is a stalwart Republican, and an earnest supporter of the principles of that party.
The boyhood days of our subject were passed upon his father’s farm, and his education was received in the common schools. On the 1st of August, 1871, Mr. Miller led to the marriage altar Miss Harriet A. Creighton, a daughter of W. H. Creighton, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. The young couple began their domestic life upon a farm near the city of Burlington, comprising eighty acres, forty of which Mr. Miller had purchased, the remainder having been given him by his father. They made that their home for two . . .
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. . . years, and then in the fall of 1873 they removed to Louisa County, locating upon a part of the W. H. Creighton estate, situated on section 35, Elliott Township. Mr. Miller now owns 158 acres of land, which is finely improved, and everything about the place denotes the thrift and enterprise of the owner.
To our subject and his estimable wife have been born seven children: William A., Abner Hedges; Martha Elizabeth, who died at the age of five years; Anna Sarah; Arthur Jonas, who died in infancy; Robert Joseph and Iona Levia. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are members of the Methodist Protestant Church, in which they are active workers. In the Sunday-school work he takes special interest. Politically, he is a Republican, and has held various township offices, having also been a member of the School Board. He is held in high esteem by all who know him.