Shawnee County KS Archives Biographies.....Mills, Henry Hobart 1827 - 1901
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Author: James L. King (1905)

HENRY HOBART MILLS.

    For many years the late Henry Hobart Mills was a part of the commercial life
of Topeka, Kansas, one of the founders and the active head for many years of the
well-known dry goods house of H. H. Mills & Sons, now known as the Mills Dry
Goods Company. Mr. Mills was born at Geneseo, Livingston County, New York,
November 21, 1827, and after an unusually busy and successful life passed away
at his home, No. 1105 Polk street, Topeka, November 7, 1901.

    Mr. Mills passed his boyhood in Livingston County, New York. When he was 15
years old the family moved to Michigan and settled on a farm in VanBuren County,
in the vicinity of PawPaw, where the youth grew to manhood, assisting his father
in clearing and operating the pioneer farm. He cleared a farm out of the forest
for himself, disposed of it in 1857, and moved to the village of Howell,
Livingston County, Michigan, where he engaged in the mercantile business, which
he conducted for the following 28 years. In 1885 the business field presented by
the wonderful activity displayed at Topeka led him to cast in his lot with the
business-builders here. With his son, William W. Mills, as one of the partners,
the dry goods firm of Mills, McPherson & Company, was established, later
becoming H. H. Mills & Sons. Upon the reorganization of the business and the
change of title to that of The Mills Dry Goods Company, the officers were:
William W. Mills, president; Charles Emery, vice-president; W. H. Whitton,
secretary; and H. H. Mills, treasurer.

    Through all the varying fluctuations in the business and financial world,
this company kept on its way, under the firm control and wise management of its
officials, mainly directed by the experience of its founder, and to-day it
stands as a monument to the ability, energy and recognition of the sound
business principles of Henry Hobart Mills.

    Mr. Mills was married May 2, 1854, to Isabella McPherson, whom he survived.
Three of their children died in infancy, and Mr. Mills desired to be laid to
rest with them and his wife in the quiet cemetery at Howell, Michigan. The three
survivors of the family are: Mrs. George J. Crossman, of Cleveland, Ohio; and
Arthur M. and William W., who are now at the head of The Mills Dry Goods Company.

    The late Mr. Mills was a member of the Presbyterian Church for 50 years. In
all that goes to make up a good man, that builds character, that leaves a
lasting influence to benefit others, Mr. Mills was an exemplification.
Personally he was a man of gentle dignity, kind and generous, and those who
found in him an employer found also a benefactor.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS
AND
REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

EDITED AND COMPILED BY
JAMES L. KING
TOPEKA, KANSAS 

"History is Philosophy Teaching by Examples"

PUBLISHED BY
RICHMOND & ARNOLD,
GEORGE RICHMOND; C. R. ARNOLD.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,
1905.


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