Major John M. Millikin
Major John M. Millikin, the oldest professional man in Hamilton and once treasure of the State of Ohio was born in Greensboro, Greene County, Pennsylvania the 14th day of October 1804. He is the son of Dr. Daniel Millikin and Joan Minor. When he was three years of age his father removed to the West and settles I Hamilton, being the first physician who permanently took up his abode here. John M. Millikin received instruction from Dr. Aleander Proudfit, who taught a school here about the time of the second war with Great Britain, and from others, and in 1824 went to Washington College, in Washington, Pennsylvania, spending a year there, and returning home last of May 1825. In that year he began the study of law with Jesse Corwin, in this city, and on the 5th of September 1827, at Columbus, he was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and immediately opened an office. Colonel Campbell , who is next junior to him at the bar, did not enter practice till 1835, nor Thomas Millikin, the next in age, till 1840.
In 1834 the law firm of Millikin & Bebb was begun by the formation of a partnership between himself and William Bebb, afterwards governor, and this connection lasted till 1840, when Millikin retired from practice. In 1829 he was appointed brigade major and inspector of militia, an office he retained till 1833. January 1, 1841, he was appointed an aid-de-camp by Governor Thomas Corwin, and in 1846 he was a member of the State Board of Equalization. In 1856 he was elected a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and was twice re-elected. He served as president of the board one year. In 1860 he was appointed a trustee of Miami University. In this capacity he served two terms of nine years each, and has been reappointed for the third term. In 1873 he was named Secretary of the Interior as one of a commission to proceed to the Indian Territory for the purpose of making a treaty with the Creek Nation for relinquishment of a part of their territory to the Seminoles. In October, 1875 he was elected treasurer of the State of Ohio, and on the 10th of January, 1876, entered upon the discharge of the duties of his office. The Republicans renominated him for the same position in 1877, but at the October election the Democrats were in the ascendancy, and he was, therefore, defeated. He retired from office on the 14th of January, 1878. He has always been a Whig and a Republican in politics. He cast his first ballot in 1826, and has voted at all State elections since. His first vote for President was cast in 1828 for John Quincy Adams. Major Millikin has always been an important man in local affairs. He has been president of the County Agriculture Society, president of he Greenwood Cemetery Association, president of the Farmer's Club, and other societies. He has an excellent knowledge of local history, and skill in narrating it. He is highly esteemed by his fellow-citizens, and has frequently been named by them as a suitable man for governor. He resides east of Hamilton on a farm which is cultivated according to the true principles of agriculture.
He was married on the 6th day of September,1831, to Mary Geenlee Hough, daughter of an esteemed early citizen of Hamilton, and has had by her four children, who will attain full age: Minor, Joseph, Dan, and Mary.
From A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County Ohio, With Illustrations and Sketches of its Representative Men and Pioneers, Western Biographical Publishing Company, Cincinnati Ohio, 1882.