James Miller, Justice of the Peace, Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, Secretary-Treasurer of the Lykens Valley Mutual Insurance Company, was born 16 February 1835. He is a son of Daniel Miller and Catherine [Snyder] Miller, referred to in the biographical sketch of Nathaniel Miller, previously posted. [Note: Also, see link at conclusion of this post].
John Miller, great-grandfather of James Miller and Nathaniel Miller, came from Wurtemberg, Germany, leaving at home an elder brother, Casper Miller, and settled in Mahantongo Valley, below County Line, Pennsylvania, where he died and is buried. He married a Miss Kerstetter. Among the children are: Peter Miller; Daniel Miller; John Miller, grandfather of James Miller and Nathaniel Miller. With these three sons, Mr. Miller’s widow came to Armstrong Valley. She died at Daniel Miller‘s where Michael H. Miller now resides. Her remains are buried at Fetterhoff’s Church, below Fisherville, Pennsylvania. Her son, John Miller, lived where Centre View post office now is. He died there, and is buried at Miller’s church, near his home. His wife Catherine and many relatives are buried there. William Snyder and Elizabeth Snyder, maternal grandparents of James Miller, with some of their children, lie buried in the same churchyard.
James Miller was educated in the old log school house of his native place, in Jackson Township. He was early put to work on the farm, and was reared as a farmer’s boy. In March 1857 he went west and spent the summer in Ogle County, Illinois, working at anything at which he could find employment. In the fall of that year he returned home. James Miller was married, in Jackson Township, 4 July 1858, to Miss Sarah Hoffman, daughter of Peter Hoffman and Elizabeth [Hoffman] Hoffman, born in Halifax Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 6 December 1835.
Note: Portraits above are of James Miller and Sarah [Hoffman] Miller.
Their children were:
Milton A. Miller, born 30 June 1859, in Jackson Township, train dispatcher at Olean, New York, on the Western New York and Pennsylvania for ten years, married Susan Hoke Leopold, and has one child, Ruth Miller;
Ellen Victoria Miller, born 11 April 1863, died 17 September 1863;
Agnes Amanda Miller, born in Jackson Township, 24 July 1865, wife of L. U. Bolton, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has three boys – Leroy Bolton; Winfred Bolton; and Stanley Bolton.
Elmira Salina Miller, born in Elizabethville, 19 August 1868, at home; and
Harvey Monroe Miller, born in Elizabethville, 27 September 1871.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Miller went to housekeeping in Jackson Township. During the summer he farmed as a tenant farmer, and in the winter for several terms taught school in Jackson Township. During the year of the Susquehanna Floods, 1865, Mr. Miller repaired fences on Haldeman’s Island, and worked on the repair train of the Summit Branch Railroad, teaching school again in the winter. In April, 1865, he located in Elizabethville, and followed carpentry and farming as a hired hand until fall, when he received a certificate to teach in the town school. He taught for that term. In the following summer he acted as clerk for F. Weaver in a general store. He taught for a half term afterwards in Elizabethville. On 29 March 1869, Mr. Miller was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Lykens Valley Mutual Insurance Company, and has continually held both positions since that date. in 1870 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and held that office until July 1885, when he was made Postmaster of Elizabethville under President Cleveland. He built the post office building and held the office until 1889. He as re-elected Justice of the Peace and Commissioner for the term beginning 1 May 1891, and ending 1 May 1896. Mr. Miller is a Democrat, but has never sought political preferment. He was reared in the Reformed church.
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The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
See also:
The photo of James Miller is really his father Daniel Miller and his wife.
James Miller was thinner and had a goatee type beard. If you google James Miller of Elizabethville, you will see what I mean. I am the great grandson of James Miller.