Joseph C. Miller Biography


	This biography appears on pages 956-957 in "History of South Dakota" 
	by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, OCRed and edited 
	by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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JOSEPH C. MILLER, the pioneer lumber dealer of the attractive 
city of Watertown, was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, 
on the 22d of July, 1847, being a son of Frederick and Catherine 
(Near) Miller, the former of whom was born in Germany and the 
latter in the state of Pennsylvania, his father having been a 
clergyman of the Lutheran church and a man of exalted character 
and marked ability. He died in I88r and his devoted wife passed 
into eternal rest in 1845. The subject received his early education 
in the common schools of Wisconsin, whither his father 
had removed in 1849, and he then supplemented this discipline by 
a course of study in a business college in the city of Milwaukee, 
where he was graduated in 1865. Thereafter he was 
employed as clerk in connection with the great lumber industry 
in that state until 1867, when he removed to Minnesota, where he 
continued to be identified with the lumber business until 1878, 
when he came to Watertown, Dakota territory, where he opened the 
first lumber yard in the village, which then had a population of 
about twenty inhabitants. He has shown distinctive energy and 
enterprise, and the scope of his business has increased with the 
growth and development of the city and county, and has now 
reached large proportions, his yards being well equipped with 
all kinds of lumber and building material, while his trade 
extends throughout a wide radius of country tributary to the 
city of Watertown, which is now a thriving town of five thousand 
population.

Mr. Miller has ever been found staunchly arrayed in support of 
the principles and policies of the Republican party, in whose 
work he has taken an active part. He was elected to represent 
his district in the state senate in 1893, and made an excellent 
record in the general assembly, serving for the regular term of 
two years and to the satisfaction of his constituents and the 
public in general. He is at the present time a member of the 
board of education of Watertown. He and his wife are prominent 
and zealous members of the Lutheran church, and he is at the 
present time a member of its board of trustees, in which 
capacity he has served for six years.

On the 3d of September, 1873, at Winona, Minnesota, Mr. Miller 
was united in marriage to Miss Lena Kissling, who was born in 
that state, being a daughter of Jacob Kissling. Mr. and Mrs. 
Miller have six children, namely: Lottie, Walter, Joseph, Lena, 
Ella and Flora.