Dauphin-Cumberland-Perry County PA Archives Biographies.....MILLER, Stephen 1816 - 1887
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  File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
  Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 18, 2006, 11:25 pm
  
  Author: Arthur P. Rose (1908)
  
    STEPHEN MILLER (1816-1887). Among the distinguished men who have made Nobles
  county their home at one time or another since its settlement none was more
  highly honored than Stephen Miller, Minnesota's war governor, who made his home
  at Worthington from 1878 until his death in 1881.
  
    Governor Miller was born in Cumberland (now Perry) county, Pennsylvania, in
  1816. He acquired a common school education and served an apprenticeship to the
  milling business, after which he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and for many
  years conducted a forwarding and commission house in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
  In 1839 he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Funk, of Dauphin county, Pa.,
  and to them were born three sons and one daughter, the latter dying in infancy.
  The sons were Wesley F., who was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; Stephen C.
  and Robert D.
  
    In 1849 Mr. Miller was elected prothonotary of Dauphin county in his native
  state and held the office until 1855, when he resigned to accept the position of
  flour inspector of the city of Philadelphia, to which he was appointed by
  Governor James Pollock. During a part of the period of his incumbency of this
  office and beforeóincluding the exciting state canvass of 1854óhe edited and
  published the Pennsylvania Telegraph, a leading organ of the whig party.
  
    At the expiration of his term as flour inspector, in the spring of 1858, Mr.
  Miller came to Minnesota and located at St. Cloud, where he established a
  grocery and commission business, which he conducted until the commencement of
  the civil war, in April, 1861. During these years he took quite a prominent part
  in Minnesota politics. He was a delegate to the republican national convention
  at Chicago in 1860 and headed the electoral ticket in the fall of that year,
  when he and his associates were successful by nearly 10,000 majority. During
  that campaign he and C. C. Andrews, then a Douglas candidate for elector, later
  a brigadier general, held some fifty joint discussions in the principal cities
  and towns of the state.
  
    In March, 1861, Mr. Miller was commissioned receiver of the land office at St.
  Cloud, and in May of the same year was offered the position of captain in the
  United States army, both of which appointments he declined. At the commencement
  of the civil war he and his son, Wesley F. Miller, enrolled themselves as
  private soldiers in the First Minnesota regiment. On April 29, 1861, he was
  mustered into the service as lieutenant colonel of the First Minnesota. He was
  commissioned colonel of the Seventh regiment of Minnesota volunteers Sept. 26,
  1862, and was made brigadier general of volunteers by the president Oct. 26,
  1863. He took part in many of the important battles of the civil war and played
  an important part in the Sioux war, serving under General Sibley. He was in
  charge of the forces at Mankato on Dec. 26, 1862, which executed the
  thirty-eight Indians.
  
    Brigadier General Miller was elected governor of Minnesota on the republican
  ticket in November, 1863, and on Jan. 12, of the following year, resigned his
  command to accept the office. He served until Jan. 8, 1866, being in the
  executive chair during the closing days of the civil war. In many ways he showed
  his patriotic impulses and his zeal for the salvation of the country.
  
    After the expiration of his term as governor, President Grant, like President
  Lincoln, tendered him positions in the civil service, but he declined them all.
  >From June, 1871, to September, 1878, Governor Miller resided at Windom, being
  employed as field agent of the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad company. He served
  one term in the Minnesota house of representatives (1873), having been elected
  to represent six counties in southwestern Minnesota. He was presidential elector
  at large in 1876 and was the messenger to bear the electoral vote to Washington.
  
    Governor Miller, while still in the employ of the railroad company, came to
  Worthington to reside in September, 1878, and made his home there until his
  death, which occurred on Thursday night, Aug. 18, 1881. His remains are buried
  in the Worthington cemetery.
  
  
  Additional Comments:
  Extracted from:
  
  AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY
  MINNESOTA
  BY
  ARTHUR P. ROSE
  
  NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY 
  WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA 
  PUBLISHERS
  1908
  
  
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