Biography of William A. Miller - Mercer Co. WV The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 543 WILLIAM A. MILLER, manager of the Princeton Milling Company at Princeton, Mercer County, ia one of the promi- nent figures in the industrial and commercial life of this section of the state, and is a citizen of utmost loyalty and progressiveness. He was born in Craig County, Virginia, January 20, 1865, and is a son of George C. and Melvina (Caldwell) Miller, the former of whom died in 1903, aged sixty-eight years, and the latter of whom passed away in 1897, at the age of fifty-eight years. Though George C. Miller was long identified with farm industry, he also gave many years of effective service as a teacher in the public schools, and not a few of the leading citizens of the pres- ent day in Tazewell County, Virginia, and Wayne County, West Virginia, were numbered among his pupils. In 1871 Mr. Miller came to Mercer County, West Virginia, and set- tled on a farm on Greasy Ridge, both he and his wife hav- ing passed the remainder of their lives in this county and both having been devoted members of the Baptist Church, in which Mr. Miller held various official positions. In poli- ties he was a staunch democrat, and at the time of the Civil war he gave two years of service as a soldier of the Con- federacy. Of the eight children only two are now living - John W., a farmer near Spanishburg, Mercer County, and William A., of this review. William A. Miller was a lad of six years at the time when the family home was established in Mercer County, and he gained his youthful education in the public schools of the various localities in which the family resided while his father was engaged in teaching. At the age of twenty- one years he opened a small general store at Ingleside, Mer- cer County, and there he developed a prosperous enterprise. After continuing this business eleven years he sold the same and took the position of mill foreman for the firm of Sud- dith & Bailey at Welch, McDowell County, where he re- mained thus engaged for six years. He then became asso- ciated with Bloom Swim in the purchase of a saw mill at Oney Gap, Mercer County, and they operated the mill three years. Mr. Miller thereafter held for three years the posi- tion of bookkeeper for the wholesale establishment of the Mercer Grocery Company at Princeton. The next three years found him in effective service as manager of the Princeton Milling Company, a position which he reassumed after an interval of two years' administration as city treasurer. Mr. Miller is an able and substantial business man and is a citizen who has a secure place in popular con- fidence and esteem. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, he is affiliated with the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the York Rite of Masonry, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1892 Mr. Miller wedded Miss Dean Stinson, daughter of Loraine Stinson, of Mercer County, and she passed to eternal rest in 1904. She is survived by two sons and three daughters. Bernard B. is engaged in farming on the old homestead of his maternal grandfather on Greasy Ridge, this county, and in this enterprise his younger brother, Guy, is associated. In 1907 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Miller with Mrs. Mamie (Oney) Straley, daughter of E. M. Oney, of Mercer County, and the one child of this second marriage is a son, William A., Jr. Submitted by Valerie Crook **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ****************************************************************