GEORGE WARREN MILLER

George Warren Miller, a well known citizen of Manchester having extensive business interests, was born near Elgin, Illinois, October 13, 1853, a son of Leonard and Delilah (Turner) Miller. His parents removed from Schoharie county, New York, to the vicinity of Elgin, Illinois, in 1852 and there purchased land upon which they resided until 1854, when they came to Delaware county, Iowa, buying a quarter section near Eads' Grove, in Delaware township. Soon afterward they took up two hundred and forty acres of prairie land about a mile and a half distant, and the latter tract has remained in the possession of the family up to the present time, being now the property of George W. Miller of this review. The father was killed on his farm by the accidental discharge of his gun in June, 1855. He was married in Schoharie county, New York, to Delilah Turner and had but one child, George W. The mother afterward became the wife of S. M. Hoyt, one of the leading citizens of his section of county, by whom she had two children: Jessie D., who died at the age of five years; and W. D. of Manchester.  Mrs. Deliah Hoyt was called to her final rest in 1893.

George W. Miller spent his boyhood on the home farm and received his early education in a district school. Subsequently he attended Lenox College of Hopkinton for one year and during the next three years pursued the civil engi­neering course in the Iowa University, being graduated from that institution in June, 1878. He did not follow his profession after returning home but took up farming on the tract of prairie land in Delaware township previously mentioned. There he resided until 1887, when he removed to Manchester and engaged in the buggy and implement business, being associated with R. G. Kennedy under the firm name of Kennedy & Miller. Later Mr. Miller pur­chased the business and continued alone until 1896, when W. D. Hoyt was ad­mitted as a partner under the style of Miller & Hoyt, which was maintained until 1898, when Mr. Miller bought out Mr. Hoyt, but at the end of two years sold to Mr. Hoyt and retired from active business. He is president and director of the Iowa & Montana Land Company, of which he was one of the organizers and which is a syndicate owning a large tract of land in the Musselshell valley of Montana. He is likewise the owner of farm lands in Iowa and South Dakota.

On the 31st of December, 1878, Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Ella M. Hollister, a native of Delaware township, and a daughter of William H. and Margaret (Wilcox) Hollister, the former born in Warsaw, Wyoming county, New York, March 23, 1830, and the latter in Mayville, Chautauqua county, New York, July 27, 1832. Mr. Hollister removed to Chautauqua county,. New York, in 1840 and was married there in 1849. After residing in Portland, Chautauqua county, for three years he removed to Boone county, Illinois, and from there came to Delaware county, Iowa, in 1855, settling in Delaware town­ship. He continued to conduct his farm until 1900, when he retired and took up his abode in Manchester, which remained his home until he passed away on the 3d of July, 1903. Mrs. Hollister was called to her final rest in December, 1910. They were the parents of eight children, as follows: William H., John J., and Mrs. George W. Miller, all of whom are residents of Manchester; George F., who makes his home in Waterloo, Iowa; Alson A., living in Wessington, South Dakota; Professor Horace A., of the University of Illinois, of Champaign; Jennie, who died in early life; and Grace M., who gave her hand in marriage to L. A. Clute, of Greeley, Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been born four children, namely: Viadella M., the wife of Arthur H. Middleton, a planter residing in Canton, Mississippi, by whom she has five children, Pauline, Ruth, Dorothy, Maude Helen and Esther; Maude E., who is the wife of Frank Johnston, of Chicago; Mabel I.; and Roy G., who died at the age of twenty-one years.

Mr. Miller gives Ins political allegiance to the republican party but has never sought nor desired the honors and emoluments of office. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Grange and the Woodmen. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist church, to which his wife and children also belong and in which he has served for a number of years as steward and also as a member of the board of trustees. His life has been one of well directed activity and intelligent effort, resulting in the attain­ment of a gratifying measure of success, and wherever he is known he is highly esteemed and respected by reason of his genuine personal worth and excellent qualities of character.

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