STEPHEN MILLER,
The fourth governor of Minnesota, Stephen Miller, was
born in Perry, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, January
17, 1816, the son of David and Rosanna Miller, and the
grandson of Melchor Miller, who came to America from
Germany about 1785. His education was secured in the
common schools of Cumberland County, which were not of a
high order in that early day, but he added largely to
this rather slender stock of information by extensive
reading and research at a later day. He was ambitious
and possessed of energy and determination that enabled
him to make a success of everything he undertook. In
1834, at the age of eighteen, he was in the forwarding
and commission business in Harrisburg, in which he
prospered for years. At this period of his life he was
married to Miss Margaret Funk, of Dauphin County, who
was a helpmeet in every true sense, and encouraged him
in his ambition to make a mark in the world.
In politics as a young man he was a Whig, which
party made him probate officer of Dauphin County in
1849, and kept him in that office until 1855. Besides
attending to his public duties during these years, he
edited the Telegraph, an influential Whig newspaper,
published at Harrisburg. In 1855 Governor Pollock
appointed him flour inspector at Philadelphia, a
position he held until 1858, when failing health caused
him to go into the new West.
He came to Minnesota, locating in St. Cloud, one
of whose leading merchants he soon became. In two years
he was made delegate at large to the national Republican
convention which nominated Lincoln for the presidency,
and the same year his name headed the electoral ticket
in Minnesota. At the commencement of the war Mr. Miller
enlisted as a private. Before he had seen any service,
however.
Governor Ramsey appointed him as lieutenant
colonel of the First Infantry, and he served with that
regiment in the Army of the Potomac until September,
1862, when he was made a colonel and placed in command
of the Seventh regiment. His first campaign as commander
of this regiment was against the Sioux Indians in this
state, where he distinguished himself for gallantly and
ability. It was under his direction that the
thirty-eight Indians who had been convicted of murder,
were hanged at Mankato at the close of the Indian
outbreak. Subsequently he was promoted to the rank of
brigadier general, but saw no service in that capacity,
being elected governor of the state in the fall of
1863.
As governor he contributed in every way possible
to the comfort of Minnesota troops in the field, and
favored the plan of the government to bring the war to a
speedy and successful close. After retiring from the
office of governor he was out of politics until 1873,
when he was sent to the legislature to represent the six
southwestern counties of the state. In 1876 he was again
on the Republican electoral ticket, and was the
messenger who carried the official result to Washington.
He was employed by the Sioux City & St. Paul
railroad land company during the last years of his life,
and resided first at Windom and later at Worthington, in
which latter place he died in 1881. The funeral was
attended by a large company of people from St. Paul, and
he was buried with Masonic honors. Of four
children, one, a daughter, died in infancy. The eldest son
fell at Gettysburg, fighting for his country. The second
son was a captain and commissary in the army, but has
for some years been lost sight of by the people of this
state. The youngest son is an employee of the government
in the printing office in
Washington.
