Henry H. Miller, M. D. Although the well directed labor of Dr. Henry H. Miller belongs to the past rather than present of Rossville, innumerable evidences abound of his sojourn in the community, and particularly of his diligence in proteeting and preserving the health and sanitation of his adopted place. For forty-four years he was a prominent resident of Rossville, and during that time won his way into the confidence and respect of the people not alone as a medical adviser and kind friend, but as a contributor to all that made for their welfare and a supporter of the things that combined to advance religion, education and high citizenship.
Doctor Miller was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, May 4, 1850, the sixth son of Rev. John and Sarah (Shaffer) Miller, natives of New York and Switzerland, respectively. Rev. John Miller was a Methodist minister and circuit rider, moving from one small congregation to another and administering the gospel over a wide stretch of territory, in addition to which he carried on farming. He gave his children better educational advantages than were usual in those days. Henry H. was sent to college to complete his training for the profession which he had decided upon as his life work. He first attended the common schools of Alliance, Ohio, and after teaching school for several years, entered Mount Union College, after leaving which he went to the University of Pennsylvania. There he worked his way partly through college and secured his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. His older brothers had, in the meantime, come to Kansas, and immediately after his graduation the young physician came to this place, arriving June 25, 1872. From that time until his death, May 1, 1916, he continued in the practice of his profession. When he first arrived at Rossville, the population consisted of not more than 100 souls, and during the early days of his practice he rode on horseback all over the surrounding country, no hour being too late or any weather too severe for him to hasten to the bedside of some suffering human. He became honored and respected throughout the county, and his friendships extended over a wide area. A man of honesty and of upright living, he readily won the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and was entrusted with many offices of importance in the community, being clerk of the township school board for eighteen years, councilman for one term, and mayor of Rossville for one year. Politically, he was a republican. Doctor Miller assisted in every laudable enterprise launched in his community, was identified with the building of various churches and school buildings at Rossville, and at the same time gave his children good educational advantages. He was a Presbyterian and acted as elder in the church, in the work of which he took an active part. Fraternally, he was a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Shriner and a Knight Templar, was master of the Rossville lodge for thirteen years, and belonged to the first class to take the Consistory degrees at Topeka. He was the last living charter member of the Rossville lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. For years he was president of the Annuity Union. Doctor Miller was one of the organizers of the Peoples State Bank and Rossville State Bank. He accumulated farm lands and town property, and was the owner, with his son, of eighty acres in Shawnee County.
About four years after his arrival at Rossville, April 13, 1876, Doctor Miller was married to Miss Ella M. Wyatt, of this place, and they had three children: Emma, who is now Mrs. J. S. Majors, of Topeka; Earl D., who is engaged in mercantile pursuits at Menoken, Kansas; and Dr. Henry B., of Rossville. Mrs. Miller, who was a Baptist and active in the work of her church, died September 30, 1894. On September 9, 1898, Doctor Miller was married to Miss Gertrude Partello, of Rossville, who survives him and lives at that place.
Dr. Henry B. Miller, son of Dr. Henry H. Miller, and one of the leading physicians of this part of Shawnee County, was born at Rossville, January 1, 1881. His early education was secured in the public schools, following which he took an academic course of two years at Bethany Academy, Lindsborg, Kansas, and enrolled as a student at Baker College, Baldwin. There he remained for 1½ years, when family reverses caused him to give up, for the time being, his college career, and subsequently he studied shorthand and secured a position with the Santa Fe Railroad, at Topeka. Thus he was enabled to work his way through Baker College, from which he duly received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Next, he taught school for one year at Overbrook, and following this secured an appointment to the position of assistant instructor in the chemical laboratory at Kansas University. He held this post one year and then did two years of post-graduate work, and in 1906 received his master’s degree. At that time he went to the University of Pennsylvania. In 1908 he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. To still further prepare himself, Doctor Miller then took a year of interne work at the University Hospital, at the Methodist Hospital and the Municipal Hospital, and September 1, 1909, returned to Rossville, where he became associated in practice with his father. Doctor Miller now has the largest practice in this part of the county, and is recognized as one of the most thorough, learned and skillful practitioners of the community.
Doctor Miller belongs to the various organizations of his profession, and is well known in fraternal circles, belonging to the Masons, the Knights Templar, the Red Men, and the Kappa Sigma and the Alpha Mu Phi Omega of the University of Pennsylvania. In his senior year at that institution he was elected an honorary member of the exclusive Sigma Xi fraternity. He is a staunch republican, but has not desired public office. Doctor Miller has always been a generous contributor to schools and churches as well as to all enterprises worthy of support for the betterment of his community and its people.