Freestone County, Texas
Biographies




Biography of Amanuel Matthew "Manish" Miller
   (1 Aug 1838-13 Oct 1914, buried Fairfield Cemetery)

Book - Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, 
Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas.  Lewis Publishing Company, 
Chicago, 1893.  p. 421-422.

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    A. M. Miller, of Fairfield, Freestone county, is one of its old and 
substantial business men, and possessing every talent to ensure success. He was
born near Berlin, Germany, in 1838, and was educated in America. In 1851 he came
to the United States with his parents, on the sailing vessel Magnet, and landed
at Galveston, Texas. His father, John Miller, was a mechanic and was inspector of
the machinery of rolling mills in the old country. This had been very remunerative;
and he came to America he brought with him a good deal of money. His life as a
German citizen and soldier in the war of 1848, had not fully prepared him for
dealing with the land agents and speculators, who greeted him so warmly. He bought
property in Houston and Galveston, without proper investigation of title, and 
afterward lost it all by litigation. He resided in Walker county a few years,
and came from there to Freestone, in 1857. Mr. Miller married Miss Dora Herdgets,
a lady of some distinction in regard to birth, being of the blood of the prince
of Poland. She was a lady of culture and training, and the transmission of her
distinction to her grandchildren is quite perceptible. The children of this
marriage were: Jacob; Deanvaut, who died; subject; J. L., deceased; Carrie,
deceased; T. T. lives in Oakland, Oregon; Charles R. lives in Gonzales county,
Texas; and Mary, deceased.
  When the Civil war broke out our subject volunteered in Captain Wilson's company,
Colonel Nelson's regiment, and served in the Trans-Mississippi Department, on 
detail in the Ordnance Department, stationed at Little Rock and then at Arkadelphia,
and finally at Marshall. Since the war he has followed his trade in Fairfield. 
In the spring of 1886 he opened a small stock of hardware and farm implements,
and his surplus profits have been invested in the business, until now his will
average $4,000, with an annual business of $10,000. The firm name is now changed
to A. M. Miller & Sons, he having taken in his two sons with him.
  In 1863 Mr. Miller married Aminda, the daughter of Quincy Shockley, of Georgia,
and his children are: W.H.; Addie, who is the wife of R. M. Edwards; and J. D.,
who received his commercial education in Kentucky principally. Mr. Miller and 
his three children are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, while the 
wife and mother still clings to the church of her childhood, the Methodist Church,
South. This is a brief sketch of one of the representative families of Texas.

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