Miller, Henry C.

Henry C. Miller was born at Upton, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on September 10, 1841, to Levi B. Miller and moved to Monroe, Greene County, Wisconsin, in 1855. A Civil War veteran, he enlisted in September 1861 in the Fifth Wisconsin Light Artillery, McKnights Battery, serving under General Pope and General Rosecrans until receiving an honorable discharge on August 11, 1862. After working in his father’s mercantile and shoe manufacturing business in Monroe, he attended Oberlin College, learned book-binding, and eventually ran his own establishment in Battle Creek, Michigan, until selling out in 1890 to buy fifty acres in Burrough Valley, Fresno County.

In Battle Creek, Miller married Martha A. Baker of Plattsburg, New York, with whom he had five children named William H., George, Edith, Jesse O., and Letha. His son, Jesse Orlo Miller, served in the United States Navy Hospital Corps during the Spanish-American War before returning to farm a 320-acre homestead and manage his father’s Burrough Valley property. Henry C. Miller maintained membership in the Seventh Day Adventist Church while supporting Independent political views.