Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 398-400.

CHARLES M. MILLER.

Charles M. Miller was born on a farm in the vicinity of the village of Murray, Wells County, Indiana, on the 20th of May, 1851, being the sixth in order of birth of the ten children of Jacob and Mary A. (Sutton) Miller, the family comprising five sons and five daughters, of whom four of the sons and five of the daughters are living at the present time. Jacob Miller was born in Pennsylvania of stanch German ancestry, the name having been identified with the annals of the Keystone state from an early epoch in its history. He became one of the pioneers of Wells County, Indiana, whither he came as a young man in the year 1837. In his native state he had learned the trade of millwright, and to this he devoted his attention until after his marriage, when he took up his abode on a quarter section of land in Lancaster township, this county, effectually reclaiming the same and developing a valuable farm, upon which he continued to reside for many years, the old homestead being the birthplace of all his children. In his declining days Jacob Miller retired from the farm and passed the golden evening of his life in the home of his eldest daughter, where he received that deep filial solicitude which was so justly due him. Here he died at the age of eighty-two years. The mother of the subject was a woman of noble and gracious attributes. She was a daughter of Rev. Elijah Sutton, a pioneer clergyman of the Baptist church in this section of the Union, and who is said to have preached the first sermon ever delivered in Wells County. His descendants assembled each year in reunion on the old homestead farm, one and one-half miles north of Murray, this county, the twenty-fourth annual reunion having been held in the month of June, 1902.

Charles M. Miller, whose name initiates this review, received his preliminary educational training in the common schools of the village of Murray and continued to assist in the work of the old home farm until he had attained the age of about seventeen years. During the ensuing four years he devoted his attention, through the winter months, to teaching in the district schools of Lancaster township, while through the results of such effort he was in the interim enabled to defray his expenses while continuing his personal study in the graded schools of Bluffton. In the spring of 1873 he entered into a partnership association with James Sewell and opened a general store at Murray, the enterprise being conducted under the firm name of Miller & Sewell until the autumn following, when the junior member was succeeded by L. F. Shreve, and the business was continued successfully under the title of Miller & Shreve, until April, 1879, when Mr. Miller sold his interest to his partner and removed to Bluffton, where he accepted a clerkship in the dry goods establishment of H. C. Arnold, with whom he remained consecutively until January, 1883, when he effected in this city the purchase of the stock and business of Killerman Brothers and established himself in the grocery and queensware business, which he continued until his election to public office. Ever according a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party, Mr. Miller became an active and efficient worker in its ranks within a short time after taking up his residence in Bluffton, and his zeal in the cause, as well as his unmistakable eligibility, received recognition of definite and gratifying order when he was made the nominee of his party for the office of county auditor, to which he was elected by a satisfactory and flattering majority in November, 1886. After his election he disposed of his grocery business and in the interim of a year which elapsed before his induction into office he devoted his attention to buying grain for H. C. Arnold. In November, 1887, Mr. Miller entered upon the discharge of his duties as auditor, and served in this capacity for the ensuing four years. The important work of constructing the fine new court house was consummated during his regime. With the discovery of natural gas in Indiana Mr. Miller became financially and actively interested in the development of the gas fields, and thus was led to later identify himself with the concomitant industry of developing the oil wells of the state. He was one of the original members of the directorate of the Bluffton Light & Fuel Company and for two years was secretary of the company. In 1893 he had engaged in the drug business in Bluffton, but in 1896 he disposed of this enterprise to devote his entire attention to his oil interests, which had greatly increased in scope and importance. Since the year last mentioned he has operated extensively in the oil fields of the state, both individually and as an interested principal in various corporations, and his energy, discrimination and administrative ability have been the potent factors in insuring him a high degree of success in this important field of productive enterprise. He was actively concerned in the organization of the Midway Oil Company, his interests in which he subsequently sold at a good profit, and he is now actively identified with a number of fine properties and the exploiting of new prospects of distinctive promise.

On the 27th of September, 1877, Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie L. Burgan, daughter of George F. Burgan, now deceased, one of the first settlers of Bluffton and one of its most honored pioneers. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three children, namely: Guy B., who was born July 18, 1878, is a traveling salesman for a wholesale drug house in Kansas City, Missouri; Dwight C., born April 29, 1887, and Edith, born January 28, 1891, remain at the parental home, which is recognized as a center of gracious hospitality. Fraternally Mr. Miller is identified with the time-honored order of Freemasons, in which he takes a lively interest, being fully appreciative of the noble teachings and beneficent values of the fraternity.