HENRY MILLER, an able business man, leading hardware merchant and successful
general farmer, desirably located in Chester Township, Ottawa County, Mich., is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and was born January 29, 1834. He is
the son of Christian and Barbara Miller, his mother having passed away in the Fatherland in 1849. The father married again
in 1852 or 1853, wedding Miss Sophie Kober, also a native of Germany, with whom he emigrated to the United States in 1874, locating
in Ottawa County, Mich., where he died in 1881, at the advanced age of eighty years. His last wife is yet surviving. By his marriage to the
mother of our subject, Christian Miller became the father of four children: Michael, of Ottawa County; Henry; Fred, residing in Ottawa County; and Frederica, wife of Fred
Ata, of this county. By his second marriage the father had three children: Barbara, wife of John Sehler, of Grand Rapids;
Regina, wife of Benjamin Wildemburg, of Chester Township; and Christiana, widow of Robert Bauer, of Grand Rapids.
Henry Miller received his
education in the public schools of Germany and was but fourteen years old when he began the work of life. He remained with his father, who was
by occupation a farmer and nail-maker, until twenty years of age, and in 1854 emigrated to America. Landing in Buffalo,
N.Y., with twelve shillings in his pocket, our subject laboriously worked six months to pay his board, and meantime studied
ambitiously at home to learn the English language. In 1855, leaving Buffalo for the farther West, Mr. Miller journeyed to
Grand Rapids, where, March 6, he was met by his brother Michael, who had preceded him to America by two years. For six continuous
years our subject worked in Grand Rapids, doing heavy teaming, hauling wood and stone. He had reached there $25 in debt but
by patient toil had in 1860 amassed a small capital. At this period of time October 10, 1860, he removed to Chester Township,
and located upon section 27, when this part of the country was almost entirely covered with a heavy growth of timber. Purchasing
eighty acres of land, for which he paid $650, almost his total savings, Mr. Miller erected a log house, in which he lived
for some years.
When his wife, Mrs. Catherine
(Fluhrer) Miller, with whom he was united in marriage in 1857, first saw her new home she wept, and our subject admits it
must have looked a little cheerless to her, coming as she did from the city. As time passed on, however, the appearance of
the farm and its surroundings rapidly changed. The timber, yielding to the steady strokes of the axe, gave cleared and fertile
land, which, yielding to high cultivation, annually furnished a bounteous harvest and buildings large and comfortable arose,
residence, barns and sheds.
Financially prospered, Mr.
Miller now owns over one hundred and seventeen valuable acres, ninety-five acres of which are finely cultivated. He has also
given to his children about one hundred acres of excellent land. In 1884, our subject went to Coopersville and engaged in
farming for three years, and in 1888 returned to Conklin, where he erected the first store building in the village, and opened
it to the public with a well-selected stock of farming implements. Succeeding beyond his expectations, be built in 1889 his
present spacious store, 25x80 feet in size, constructed of brick, two stories in height, finely finished in modern style,
and which cost $3,000. As soon as the building was completed Mr. Miller stocked with a variety of farming implements and added
a large line of hardware. Commencing business with a modest capital, he now carries a complete stock of goods, valued at from
$7,000 to $10,000, and transacts a business of from $15,000 to $25,000 annually, with ease supplying the increasing demands
of one of the best trades in this part of the county.
The estimable wife of our
subject was a native of Germany and was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Fluhrer. The pleasant home has been blessed by the birth
of seven children: Elizabeth, the wife of Christian Dinkle, of Chester Township; Sophia, the wife of Henry Weldenberg, of
Wright Township; George M., Jr.; Christian, deceased; Margaret B.; Henry, deceased; and Anna B., who completes the list of
sons and daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are both valued members of the Lutheran Church and active in religious work.
Our subject is, politically,
a strong Democrat and has been a member of the Democratic County Convention. He was appointed in 1886 by President Cleveland
the first Postmaster of the village of Conklin; for eleven consecutive years he ably discharged the duties of Township Treasurer,
and for four years served faithfully as Highway Commissioner. In 1893, re-elected Township Treasurer, Mr. Miller is now with
great acceptability holding the position of trust assigned him by his fellow-townsmen, who repose in him the highest confidence
as a friend, neighbor and citizen.
Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1893, Pgs 202, 203
