Harry J. Miller has been one of the business factors in the Town of Olsburg for over a quarter of a century. He was formerly engaged in agricultural pursuits in that rich and fertile district of Pottawatomie County, but now gives all his time to the management of a garage and the real estate business in Olsburg.
His people were pioneers in two states, Tennessee and Illinois. His grandfather was born in Tennessee about twenty years after the close of the Revolutionary war and before the opening of the nineteenth century. In 1818 he took upon himself the responsibilities of pioneering in a new country and went to the frontier of Illinois, the same year that Illinois was admitted to the Union, locating in Morgan County, where he was identified with farming the rost of his active career. He died there in 1871. William Miller married Hannah Irwin, who also died in Morgan County.
Illinois is the native state of Harry J. Miller. He was born in Cass County February 16, 1861, a son of Francis Marion Miller. His father was born in Morgan County in 1832, grew up there, and was for many years a farmer in that and in Cass County. In the fall of 1873 he moved with his family to Iowa, was a farmer in that state and in 1881 located in Nemaha County, Kansas, where he continued farming, but for several years lived retired at Wheaton, where he died in 1908. He married Sarah Malone, who was born in Cass County, Illinois, and died at Wheaton, Kansas, in April, 1902. They were the parents of seven children: Hattie A., who died at Wheaton; Luells, a nurse living at Wheaton; William Everett, a Canadian farmer; Harry J.; Effie May, wife of Wade Temple, a farmer at Beattie, Kansas; Elizabeth Kate, wife of Eugene Plummer, a farmer south of Wheaton; and Erwin F., who is an employe at the Rock Island depot in Topeka.
Harry J. Miller was twelve years of age when his parents removed to Iowa and was about grown when they settled in Nemaha County, Kansas. His education was obtained in the rural schools in the different localities where he lived as a youth. Until the age of twenty he found ample opportunities for work on his father’s farm and he then went to farming for himself in Nemaha County. In 1801 he removed to Pottawatomie County and was engaged in farming until 1901 and still owned a small farm adjoining the Village of Olsburg. Since December, 1901, his home had been in that village. For several years he operated a livery stable but with the changing conditions brought about by the rapid introduction of automobiles he converted his livery into a garage and had the chief establishment of that kind in this locality. He also handles real estate and as a man of judgment and thorough experience had made a success in that line.
Besides his garage Mr. Miller owned a comfortable residence on Main Street. When a farmer in Sherman Township he served as democratic committeeman. He is past master of Fostoria Lodge No. 392, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
In 1887, in Marshall County, Kansas, he married Miss Maggie A. Moore, daughter of George and Sarah (Bowman) Moore. Mrs. Sarah Moore now lives with Mr. and Mrs. Miller. Her father, an early farmer in Marshall County, died there some years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have two children: Francis Marion is a registered druggist at Greenleaf, Kansas, and married Edna P. White. Fred M., the second son, besides assisting his father in business is serving as postmaster of Olsburg.