Bio: Miller, John W. (1849 - 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Miller, Textor, Will, Young, Althen, Manson, St. Austin, Nicols, Smith, Lemke, Juedes, Walslegel, Marsh

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

Miller, John W. (9 October 1849 - 19??)

JOHN W. MILLER, register of deeds in the U. S. Land office at Wausau, during a long and useful life has been entrusted with many private and public responsibilities and in the performance of the duties attaching to these he has become widely known and has secured public as well as private esteem. He was born October 9, 1849, in Lang-Goens Girouit of Giessen, Hessen Darmstadt, Germany. His parents were John and Maria (Textor) Miller. On the paternal side his grandparents were Conrad and Catherine Miller, and on the maternal side were Casper and Maria (Will) Textor.  

In his native village John W. Miller attended school and was confirmed on Pentecost Day, 1863, thereby becoming a member of the Lutheran Church. On September 15, 1865, he left his old home and with a party of acquaintances set sail two days later for the United States taking passage on the sailing vessel, Karlshafen, at Bremen. The passage proved tempestuous but their ship was staunch and the passengers were safely landed at the port of New York, November 27, 1865. To his beloved parents he had said "auf wierdensehen" when they parted but he never saw them again. For three weeks after reaching New York Mr. Miller remained with an acquaintance, Peter Young, after which he started to join an uncle and aunt then living at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but it required a week's traveling to get there, only to find that they, in the meanwhile, had moved to Wausau. He sought employment then at Milwaukee and worked at first for a locksmith who provided him with board and lodging and paid him fifty cents in cash a week. After a stay of nine months in Milwaukee he came to Wausau, arriving in September, 1866 and found a warm welcome awaiting him from his relatives, Mr. and Mrs. John Althen.

Mr. Miller found plenty of work to do in and around Wausau but he found also it required strong and robust men to work in the woods driving logs and running lumber on the river. He considered himself fortunate in securing employment in the cook shanty of R. P. Manson, Peter St. Austin and Edward Nicols, and his remuneration was his board and twenty-three dollars a month. He still recalls those days with pleasure. By 1869 he had acquired some knowledge of English and later attended an institute and succeeded in passing the examination and was accepted as a teacher in the Jim Kemp District and followed teaching for ten terms. In the meanwhile as years went on, he made many friends and at their solicitation in 1877, he become a candidate for city assessor and was elected, and in the following year was elected city clerk, to which office he was successively returned for seven years. In 1884 he was elected a member of the board of Education and continued to creditably fill this office for six years. In 1881 he had been appointed lumber inspector by Governor Smith and in 1886 was elected county clerk on the Republican ticket, with a large majority. In February, 1891, Mr. Miller enjoyed his first vacation in twenty years when he visited the Pacific coast. On his return to Wausau he was engaged by the Wausau Law & Land Association, and worked for them in their abstract department for ten years and contemporaries and held the office of mayor of the city.  In 1900 he was made supervisor of the Federal Census. In March, 1901, he received the appointment of register of deeds in the U. S. Land Office, an honor richly deserved.  

In 1872 Mr. Miller married Anna M. Lemke, who died January 27, 1911, the mother of seven children, six of whom survive: Martha, who lives at home ; Richard, who is a farmer in Marathon county, married Miss Emma Juedes; Laura C. who is the wife of Adam Walslegel of Wausau ; Paul, who is a farmer in this county ; Lucy, who is the wife of Roy C. Marsh, of Wausau; Ada, who is a stenographer, is engaged in this professional work at the Northern Hospital at Oshkosh : and George, who died in infancy. Mr. Miller has long been fraternally identified with the Odd Fellows and the E. F. U.