Henry R. Miller
Henry R. Miller was born in Montgomery County, Ohio. in the year 1825. He was one of ten children. His father, Conklin Miller, emigrated from New Jersey to Montgomery County in the year 1800. He was one of the first settlers in the town of Dayton, and drove the first shingles on a roof in the town. Henry R.’s father died when he was only five years of age; his mother died some two years later. He then went to live with Samuel Maxwell, who was his guardian, and came with him to Shelby County in 1835. He lived with Mr. Maxwell till he was seventeen years of age, when he was apprenticed to Daniel Kyler, of Dayton, for four years, to learn the blacksmitliing trade, for which he received thirty-six dollars per year, or about ten cents per day. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he returned to Shelby County. He brought with him a set of tools, but had not a dollar of money. He borrowed two dollars to bring him to Sidney. He started his first shop near where Manning & Line’s mill now stands. He commenced without money enough to buy a rod of nail iron. He used to go to Sidney to buy iron, when he carried it all home in his pocket, having no credit, and would not ask the merchant to trust him. This is the way he made his commencement in life. In the year 1849 he married Miss Catharine Beezley. By this union they had three children, viz., Samuel, born Aug. 25, 1850; John, born Nov. 16, 1853; Mary E., born Nov. 12, 1860. Mr. Miller followed smithing until about 1862. His first purchase of a home was a lot of two acres; afterward bought eighty acres in section 28, Perry Township. Some time after this he bought the old Marrs homestead, where Wm. Marrs had settled in 1816. The old cabin built by Marrs in 1816, previous to his settlement, is still standing; also the frame barn, said to be the first one built in the county, is still standing: the lumber with which it is sided was sawed at Musselman’s mill, on Mosquito Creek, over sixty years ago. The wife of Mr. Miller died Nov. 1862.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883