Santa Clara County
Biographies
DANIEL MILLER
DANIEL MILLER. A well-known resident of San Jose, and one who in the past had done
his share toward the upbuilding of the wilderness country and the general
advancement of civilization, Daniel Miller is now living in retirement from the
active cares in which he so long participated. The
son of a pioneer of both the middle and the extreme western states,
Mr. Miller inherited and was early trained in those qualities which
distinguished the first settlers, and both himself and
father contributed no little to the pioneer cause. The elder man,
Jacob H. Miller, was a native of Dayton,
Ohio, where he engaged in the brewery business
and was also a cabinetmaker, removing to Indiana
in comparatively early manhood. Until March, 1849, he engaged as a farmer in
that section, when he crossed the plains with horse teams and like the many
thousands attracted to the west at that time sought employment as a miner. He
met with a success which justified his remaining for two years, when he
returned east in December, 1851. In 1863 he once more came to California
and located in the Calaveras valley, where he engaged as a farmer, eventually
removing to a location four miles east of Milpitas,
Santa Clara county, where his death occurred at the age of fifty-four
years. He married Sarah Waybright, whose birth is
supposed to have occurred in Indiana or Pennsylvania, her
parents being residents of the latter state. She died in Indiana.
Born in Goshen, Elkhart county, Ind., August 18, 1836, Daniel Miller was the
eldest of a family of one son and four daughters born to his parents. He
received a rather limited education in the common schools of his native state,
after which he engaged in farming with his father. In 1859 he sought the
manifest advantages of the western section of the country by coming to California via the Isthmus of Panama, and upon his
arrival here located near San Jose, Santa Clara county, and engaged in farming in the Calaveras valley. In
the beginning he was only able financially to rent land, but through the
exercise of the thrift and industry inculcated in the lives of the inhabitants
of the Mississippi
valley he was soon able to purchase one hundred acres. Upon this he remained
until 1872, when he went to Ashland,
Ore., and bought a farm, where he
raised fruit and hay. Three years later he returned to Santa
Clara county, Cal.,
and engaged in farming upon his property for a like number of years, going
again to his Oregon
farm, where he remained for ten years. In 1888 he went to Lower California,
east of Eusinata, where his wife died in October, and
in the same year he came to San Jose
and located in the Willows district. Later he removed to Minnesota avenue,
where he now resides. He bought a place of eight acres near Perry station,
which is set out in French prunes.
In Ashland, Ore., Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Frances
Jane Marsh, a native of Nova Scotia, and who
died in Lower California. They were the
parents of five children, three sons and two daughters, Hiram L.,
Frank W., Hattie J., Sanford W., and Frances J.; of whom
Frank W. is a resident of San Jose;
Hattie J. is also a resident of this city; Dr. Sanford W. is a
dentist in San Francisco; and Frances Jeanette is the wife of
Clarence T. Bell, and keeps house for her father. In his political
convictions Mr. Miller adheres to the principles advocated in the platform
of the Republican party, and at one time served in the
interests of his party as school director.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 12 November 2015.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page
871. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marie
Hassard.
Santa Clara Biography
Golden Nugget Library