Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Miller, Alexander 1817 - 1897
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 25, 2006, 2:33 pm

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

Alexander Miller, deceased, was born at Galloway, New York, April 8, 1817, and 
died in Morris, Illinois, March 2, 1897. The Miller family of which he was a 
representative had for many generations been residents of the Empire state.

When a young man Alexander Miller went to New York city and for a few years 
was a broker on Wall street. From New York he went to Buffalo, where, in 
company with E. K. Bruce and others, he built a ship and operated several lake 
vessels, and at one time he and his partners owned all the boats on the Erie 
canal. Financial failure followed, and he came west in 1859, joining his son, 
Harry L., who had located in Morris, Illinois, several years before and had 
bought and was running mills on the canal. And we may state in passing that 
these mills were subsequently sold to Nels Morris, who, with others, converted 
them into a distillery. Alexander Miller had traded for lands in the west, to 
which he subsequently added until he became the owner of one thousand five 
hundred acres of farming land. In the meantime he and his son, Harry L., 
bought the old plow factory of Goodrich & Company, which they operated for a 
period of twenty-five years, at the end of that time suspending business. 
During the rest of his life the senior Mr. Miller devoted his time and 
attention to looking after his landed estate. His was an active, useful life. 
He was a stanch Republican and an enterprising, public-spirited man, 
interested in all that pertained to the general welfare of his community, and 
he had the respect of all who knew him. In New York, at the age of twenty-four 
years, he married Cynthia Lovette, of Schenectady, New York, whose life was 
happily blended with his for a number of years, until her death in October, 
1887. They were the parents of the following named children: Harry L., who has 
already been referred to in this sketch and who died in Chicago in 1897; Mary 
M., of Buffalo, New York; Harriet S., deceased; William: M., of Chicago; 
Fannie L., deceased; Frank C., of Minooka, Illinois; and Chauncey A.
Chauncey A. Miller was born in Buffalo, New York, April 22, 1858, and was 
educated in the public schools of Morris and the Northwestern College at 
Naperville, Illinois, being a student in the last named institution for three 
years. Then for two years he was with Field & Leiter, of Chicago, following 
which he spent eight years as a traveling representative for the Challenge 
Corn Planter Company, of Grand Haven, Michigan. At the end of this time he 
engaged in the agricultural-implement business with his brother, Harry L. 
Miller, at Morris, where Chauncey A. has always maintained his home. After the 
brothers had been in partnership a few years Harry L. sold his interest to 
Chauncey A. and the latter has since conducted the business alone, dealing in 
farm machinery, vehicles and bicycles, and having a large trade that extends 
over a wide territory surrounding Morris.

Chauncey A. Miller was married in 1881 to Miss Alice H. Whitney, daughter of 
Professor John C. Whitney, and they have two sons—Whitney C. and Raymond N.
Mr. Miller is a member of the board of education of Morris and has served 
three years as the town clerk. He is a Republican and a member of the K. of P. 
and M. W. of A.

Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p622-623

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