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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of Oliver E. MILLER 

Transcribed exactly according to the original complete text by Anne Marie Willis. 

[Surnames: DARST, ELLIS, HELLER, LITTLE, MILLER, OUDERKIRK, VARNOLD, WOODY] 

[starting on page 996] 

    
MILLER, Oliver E.--The most satisfying compensations of rural experience have rewarded the good judgment and untiring industry of Oliver E. Miller, the owner of 308 acres of improved land in Sections 7 and 18, Cass Township, Fulton County, and a man who has wielded an influence for progress and noble citizenship in this part of the State for half a century lacking two years. Mr. Miller was born on a farm in Knox County, Ohio, March 31, 1834, a son of Hiram and Susanna (Ouderkirk) Miller, Illinois pioneers of 1835. 
    
Hiram Miller was born in 1801 on a sterile farm in Vermont and in childhood moved with his parents to New York, where he was united in marriage to Susanna Ouderkirk, both being then residents of Oswego County, N.Y. In 1833 Hiram Miller and family removed to Knox County, Ohio, where the son, Oliver, was born. In 1835 they came to Knox County, Ill., which remained the family home for twenty years. The elder Miller then moved to Cass Township, Fulton County, a little later taking up his residence in Davis County, Iowa, and later still making his home in Oregon and Washington Territory for about four years. He then re- [page 997] turned to Iowa, where his death occurred in 1871. 
    
When the family moved to Cass Township in 1858 Oliver E. Miller began farming on his own account, having on April 7th of the same year married Mary A. Varnold, a native of Cass Township, born January 1, 1840. Of this union there have been born five daughters and four sons. The daughters are: Mrs. Sarah E. Heller, Mrs. Ezilda Woody, Mrs. Cinderella Ellis, Mrs. Lydia Darst, Mrs. Permelia Little, and the sons: Levi L., Benjamin F., John A. and Grover C. After twenty-five years on a rented farm Mr. Miller in 1882 bought 100 acres of land in Section 8, Cass Township, which still is his home, and he also owns forty acres in Section 7 and 160 acres in Section 18. Practically all of the improvements are due to his energy and initiative, and general farming and stock-raising have been carried on under the most favorable circumstances. While acquiring a comfortable competence, Mr. Miller has led a by no means self-centered life, but has taken a keen interest in education, politics, local government and the social life of the community. For several years he was a member of the School Board, and as Road Master has materially aided in promoting the present superior highway system in Cass Township. He represents the reliable and substantial element of the community, and in the autumn of his life is cheered by the good will and affection of many friends and the consciousness of having performed, to the best of his ability, his obligations as farmer, husband, father and citizen.