CHARLES E. MILLER , Monongalia County

CHARLES E. MILLER.  Taking under consideration the various activities 
necessary to the upbuilding of a stable and prosperous community, perhaps none result 
in more permanency of benefit thanthe work done by the energetic and reliable 
realtor.   Largely through his efforts outside capital is brought
in and invested, values are established, business locations are made 
available, and great residential sections take the place of unsightly, unprofitable 
areas.   There are many flourishing cities in the country
that have arisen from a swamp or barren plain as the result of the almost 
inspired foresight of real estate dealer.

    Charles E. Miller, secretary and treasurer of the Morgantown Security & 
Development Company, is one of the progressive business men of this city.  
Mr. Miller was born at Spartansburg, Crawford County,Pennsylvania, March 20, 1866, 
a son of Edmond T. and Emma (Smith) Miller. 
 
His great-grandfather,Abner Miller, was born in the State of New York, where his 
people had settled after removing from Massachusetts.  In the late thirties his 
grandfather, Abner Miller (2), removed from New York to Crawford County, 
Pennsylvania. His son, Edmond T. Miller, born in 1832, 
practically passed his entire life at Spartansburg in Crawford County, where he died 
in 1917.  HE was a stonemason by trade.  He married Emma Smith,  who was born in 
Crawford County in 1839, a daughter of Humphrey Smith, and she died there in 1914.
    
Mr. Miller attended the public schools of his native city and then 
learned the art of telegraphic,following which he left home and entered the employ 
of the Oil Exchange at Oil City, Pennsylvania, as a telegraph operator, where his 
speed and accuracy were commended.  For several years he worked as a
telegraph operator and station agent for different railroads, in Pennsylvania 
and New York State, but in 1890 he accepted a position with the Standard Oil Company, 
and in this connection came to Morgantown,West Virginia.
    
In the meanwhile, as a wide-wake, observant man seeing many different 
sections of the country, Mr.Miller came to the conclusion that the real estate field 
offered great opportunities for business activity in Monongalia County.  In 1908, 
in partnership with Harry Sanders, he entered this field under the firm
name of Sanders & Miller, general insurance also being a feature of the 
business.  In 1909 the firm organized the Morgantown Security & Development 
Company, of which Mr. Miller is secretary and treasurer, and during the past 
twelve years this company has contributed greatly to the substantial
development of this city and environs.  One of the firm's earlier operations 
was the purchase of acreage on the south side, its division into building lots 
and their improvement before sale.  They have sub-divisions also on the west side 
of the river at Granville and other points, and their residential properties are
attractive with modern improvements.  Mr. Miller as a business man and good 
citizen is greatly interested in public improvements along the line of good highways.  
He is a director in the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce, and is vice president of the 
Union Building & Loan Association.
    
In 1891 Mr. Miller married Miss Matie Baker, of Oil City, Pennsylvania, 
and they have three children: Charles E., born March 28, 1892; LeRoy B., 
born February 19, 1899; and Virginia Baker, bornAugust 9, 1900.  Mr. 
Miller and his family are members of the Episcopal Church, in which he is a
vestryman.  He had never been unduly active in politics and has never desired 
a public office, but is quietly loyal to the party of his choice both in civic 
matters and farther afield.  He belongs to the Knightsof Pythias, and to the Rotary Club.