Robert E. Miller, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Robert E. Miller
ROBERT E. MILLER, M. D., was born May 26, 1846, in Norwalk, Ohio. He is the eldest of four children born to Robert and Harriet (Wilkinson) Miller, the former of Connecticut and the latter of Pennsylvania. Dr. Miller's grandfather was a soldier in the ware of 1812. The elder Miller soon went from Norwalk to go to Illinois, but stopped in Hobart, Lake Co., Ind., working at his trade of blacksmith. He entered near there 240 acres of land, and moved onto it, living there and clearing until 1852, when, as one of the victims of the "gold fever," he went to California. He left his family on the farm, the mother taking care of it, and struggling to educate her family - she having been a teacher. After a stay of six years in California and one year in British Colombia, along the Frazer River, he came home, and died March 21, 1882, at the age of seventy-seven years. The mother is still living on the old homestead. Dr. Miller had but few advantages of education before of age, but he possessed a love for reading. Five months before he was twenty-one, his father reluctantly consented to his entreaties to attend school, without any help from him. He went, and by cutting wood, boarding himself, working odd hours, etc., succeeded in paying his way. He then came home and worked for his father, doing this a part of the season, and acting as agent another part, for about two years; then alternated teaching and farming the two following years. He then began the study of medicine in the fall of 1871, with Dr. Morrical, of Chesterton, for three years, when ne entered the Rush Medical College of Chicago, taking one term of lectures. He then practiced over four years in Hobart, his old home, when he sold his practice, and, returning to Chicago, graduated. He remained in the city taking postgraduate studies, experimenting and studying city practice, for about eighteen months. In 1881, he returned to Chesterton, his preceptor having moved away, and began building up a practice, and has succeeded remarkably for a young physician. He is a member of both F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F. fraternities, of Hobart, Ind. He has held all the different offices in the Odd Fellows Lodge, including Grand Representative. He is a moderate Republican; a very conscientious man, of studious habits and one of our best citizens. In June, 1876, Fr. Miller laid out the village plat of Crisman, at the junction of M. C. and B & O. R. R.'s. It comprises thirty-six acres.
Source: Goodspeed, Weston A., and Charles Blanchard. 1882. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, Illustrated. Chicago, Illinois: F. A. Battey & Company. 771 p.
Page(s) in Source: 305-306
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook