Bio: Miller, Herman (No dates given)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Miller, Mante, Armstrong

----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, by Louis Marchetti, 1913.

Miller, Herman (No dates given)

Herman Miller must be classed among the pioneers of Marathon County. He was born in Pomerania, Prussia; received a high school education, and emigrated to the United States in 1856, coming to Marathon county in the fall of the same year, where he served as clerk in the little country store of Charles Mante, opened a short time before, which was situated about one mile west from the Armstrong farm, in the present town of Main. This store has already been mentioned as being opened when the first farmer settlers came to the county and that after a few years it had to close for want of business.

Herman Miller then came to Wausau, where he worked as occasion offered, either as a clerk or in a mill. He made shingles, bought them and sold them down on the Mississippi. When the town of Wausau was established with the village included, he was elected the first town clerk of the town, the polling place at that time being "Poor's House," on the west side of the river. He was elected register of deeds in 1865, and reelected in 1867 and 1869; was chairman of the county board in 1876 and held many other minor offices, such as member of the village board, supervisor, which last place he held for more than ten years in succession. He also kept a general store, and dealt in lumber during the years from 1867 to 1880. He was appointed assistant supervisor of the census for the eighth congressional district of Wisconsin in 1900. In the decade from 1890 to 1900 he erected the spacious Delmonico Hotel and conducted it for a few years, but the times were not propitious and he sold it at a great sacrifice. He has since been elected three times in succession for assessor for the city of Wausau and twice for member of assembly. Herman Miller was an enterprising, hard working man; personally honest, he met with many misfortunes in business, but he was honored for his grit and perseverance, with which he overcame adversities which would have discouraged almost any other man. Like most pioneers, it was not his good fortune to acquire wealth, but he did his share in upbuilding the country.