Edward H. Miller

Edward H. Miller is numbered among the self-made men of Worth county. He started out in the business world empty-handed, but was possessed of industry, determination and laudable ambition, which have constituted the foundation upon which he has builded his prosperity. He became one of the leading farmers of Worth county and after many years' connection with agricultural interests retired from active business life as the possessor of a very substantial competence won through his own labors. Since that time he has lived in Northwood and he is now filling the position of town assessor there. A native of Vermont, his birth occurred in Hartland, April 10, 1846, his parents being James M. and Lucy (Spaulding) Miller, who were also natives of Hartland, where they were reared and married. The father followed farming in the Green Mountain state until 1854, when he brought his family to the middle west, settling first in Windsor, Wisconsin, about ten miles north of Madison. There he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he improved and cultivated, spending his remaining days upon that place, his death occurring January 27. 1892, when he was seventy-four years of age. For a few years he had survived his wife, who passed away in 1888 at the age of sixty-eight years. Both were consistent members of the Universalist church and in politics Mr. Miller was a republican, giving loyal support to the party, upon whose ticket he was elected a member of the board of supervisors, serving as its chairman for a number of years.

Edward H. Miller was a youth of eight years when the family removed from Vermont to Wisconsin. There he continued his education in the public schools and in the State University. When his textbooks were put aside he began learning the carpenter's trade and later he returned to the farm with his father, whom he assisted in the cultivation of the fields until he reached the age of twenty-two years. He then moved to Nebraska and accepted a position with the King Bridge Company of Topeka, Kansas, and subsequently he took up his abode in Gosper county, Nebraska, where he secured a claim, upon which he remained for nearly four years, being forced to leave on account of the grasshopper scourge which infested that county during his entire residence there. While there residing he also taught school in 1873-4 and again in 1875-6, in a sod schoolhouse. He was elected county superintendent of schools for a term of four years, but only served for two years, resigning in order to return to Wisconsin, where he lived for two years on his father's farm. He moved to Worth county in the spring of 1879 and purchased a farm of eighty acres in Danville township. This he at once began to develop and improve, but later sold the property and bought a farm of two hundred acres in Deer Creek township, giving his attention to its cultivation until 1893, when he rented his farm and took up his abode in Northwood, where he has since lived retired, enjoying the fruits of his former labors. He has always been deeply interested in agricultural progress and advancement and in 1882 became connected with the Worth county Agricultural Society, of which he was for many years president or secretary. He also has taken great interest in the farmers' institute, of which he is now president.

On the 3d of October, 1869, Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Melvina Knapp, a daughter of George and Electa (McLeod) Knapp. She was born in Melbourne, Canada, while her parents were natives of the state of New York. They had removed, however, to Canada, where the father followed the occupation of farming for a time, while later he became a resident of Wisconsin, settling near Madison, in Dane county. It was in that locality that Mr. and Mrs. Miller were married. Her parents afterward removed to Smith Center, Kansas, where her mother died, while the death of her father occurred at Trenton, Missouri, Mr. and Mrs. Miller have a family of three children: William E., who married Miss Caroline Suhring, by whom he has one child, Albert E.; May E., the wife of H. I. Squire, of Miltonville, Iowa; and Maud B., who married G. E. McQuatters, of the McQuatters & Dwelle Company of Northwood. Mr. and Mrs. McQuatters have one child, Geneva Faye.

Mr. Miller has always been a stalwart supporter of republican principles and he is now filling the offices of secretary of the school board and town assessor. In Masonry he has attained the Knight Templar degree and is a worthy exemplar of the craft, which is based upon a recognition of the brotherhood of mankind and the obligations thereby imposed. His life work has wrought for material advancement and for intellectual progress and his influence has led to the upbuilding of the district in which he has made his home. Moreover, his example should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished when determination and laudable ambition point out the way, for he started out in life empty-handed and is today one of the men of affluence in Northwood.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; PAGES 191-192

Transcription by Gordon Felland, 9/22/2006