PETER MILLER

MILLER, KELLOGG, MYER, GALESPIE, JACKSON, TAYLOR

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 3/14/2020 at 15:42:00

PETER MILLER, - Peter Miller was born on the 9th day of March, 1808, IN Alleghany County, State of Maryland, and was the third child of ten children, whose parents were Daniel Miller and Sarah Myer. His father was a native of Leesburg, Va., and his mother a native of New Jersey. They were agriculturists by occupation, and were people of intelligence and piety. They gave their children as good an education as the common schools of that day afforded. In 1815, they moved to Ohio and settled in Wayne County. In 1828, Mr. Miller left the parentage in Wayne County, Ohio, and went to Huron County. Ohio. In 1831, he was united in marriage to Pamelia Kellogg, a native of Massachusetts, whose parents were then prominent as agriculturists in Huron County, Ohio. In 1836, Mr. Miller came to Iowa, and on the 22nd day of September, landed in Fort Madison, after a lengthy trip of observation and travel of over a year. He soon started the first blacksmith shop that was ever started in Fort Madison. The trade of blacksmith he had followed arduously and successfully from the age of seventeen, and having stocked well his shop with implements, he sold it a few weeks after starting it, and immediately began merchandising of a general nature. He sold goods from that time more or less for a period of thirty years. In 1868, he went into the lumber business, which he has followed successfully up to the date of our writing this sketch. Although his attention has been in the main engrossed with the cares of an active and energetic business life, it may be in taste to observe that his public spirit and the desire to advance the interests of the general populace, has permitted him to hold various offices of public responsibility. He was elected as the first County Treasurer of Lee County, in 1838, which he held for one year. He was then elected County Commissioner, which office’s duties were faithfully discharged for a period of two years. In 1839, he was appointed Postmaster under Martin Van Buren, and discharged its arduous duties to the satisfaction of the public for a period of about three years, when the demands of his large mercantile experiments made it a necessity to resign. His resignation was made shortly after the inaugural of President Harrison. Mr. Miller was President of the Board of Trustees of Fort Madison about the year 1841. In 1846, he was elected sheriff, which office he held for a period of three years. He was elected Mayor of Fort Madison in 1869. In glancing over the facts that this brief biographical sketch indicate, it is not difficult to perceive the intense demand that such a life must have made on the energies and powers of a human being. The early pioneers were, however, it may be in taste to remark, far ahead of the present generation in strength of will and general force of mind. Mr. Miller is the father of seven children, three of whom are living. In 1851, he was married to his second wife, Isabel Galespie, who was a native of Pennsylvania, and who died in 1867, at Fort Madison. Mr. Miller’s first wife died in 1848, in Fort Madison. In politics, Mr. Miller is a strong Republican. And earnestly believes that the principles of that party, if rightly understood and practiced, are best adapted to advance the interests of the whole country. While he is at present identified with the Republican party, it may seem proper to observe that his first vote was cast for Gen. Jackson. He was initiated into his present sphere of political thought and practice by voting for Gen. Taylor. This may be explained by remarking that Mr. Miller regards the work accomplished by the Republican administrations since the inaugural of Lincoln as only a continuance of the plan of conduct initiated by the great Whig party. In religion, he has always preferred to stand on the platform that reflects the rationalistic idea of the nineteenth century and embodied principally in the truth of doing unto or fellow beings as we would have them do unto us. His religious impulses and opinions have never been circumscribed by the doctrines of priestcraft or theologians. He started in life poor, and his property to-day is an evidence of the industry, integrity and perseverance of a life-time. He is a man who has had a great deal of experience of a varied and instructive nature, and his conversation and social style indicate shrewdness, and a mind of far more than ordinary force. His constitution, in spite of the exposure and demands of a life-time of great activity, indicates to-day good health, with buoyancy of spirits and frame.

Source:
Illustrated Historical ATLAS of Lee County, IOWA
A. T. Andreas
Chicago, ILL.
1874

Transcription by Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer