San Francisco County
Biographies
CHRISTIAN O.
G. MILLER
Since 1883, Christian O. G. Miller has been identified prominently with public utility corporation affairs in San Francisco, and he now holds the conspicuous position of president of the Pacific Lighting Corporation, and is also an official or a director in numerous other organizations of similar nature.
Christian Otto Gerberding Miller, son of the late Albert and Mary Annie (Kendall) Miller, was born in San Francisco, October 1, 1865. Albert Miller was born February 12, 1828, in Hanover, Germany, and came to the United States in 1848. He first settled in New York city for a short period, and then went to New Orleans, Louisiana, and still later to Richmond, Virginia. In 1851, he came to California by the Isthmus of Panama route, and settled in San Francisco, where he was first in the employ of the Bulletin. After an interval, he severed his connection with this newspaper and became a member of the firm of Jansen, Bond & Company, a wholesale dry-goods concern. He remained in this capacity until 1864, in which year he retired to private life. He was one of the incorporators of the Savings Union of San Francisco, now the American Trust Company, of which Christian O. G. Miller is a director. The family name has thus been on the roll of directors since June, 1862, Albert Miller having remained a director until the time of his death, April 16, 1900, when he was seventy-two years of age. His wife, Mary Annie (Kendall) Miller, was born September 21, 1836, in New York city, of native English parents. She received her education in England, and in 1852 came to California with her mother, her father, Joseph Kendall, having preceded them in October, 1849, in the sailing vessel Canton. He was a successful merchant during his life. Seven children were born to the union of Albert Miller and his wife, five sons and two daughters, of whom three sons and two daughters survive, as follows: Charlotte K., who is the widow of Major John Bell Mhoon, who died in December, 1911; Henry M. A., of San Francisco; Harry E., of Oakland, California; M. Annie; and the subject of this biography.
Christian O. G. Miller attended the grammar and high schools of San Francisco and Oakland and then pursued his higher studies with the class of 1885 in the University of California. On December 1, 1883, he assumed the duties of cashier for the United Gas Improvement Company; then when the Pacific Gas Improvement Company was formed, he was made treasurer in 1886. In the same year, in association with W. B. Cline, he incorporated the Pacific Lighting Company, of which he became treasurer, while since 1898 he has occupied the presidency of the company. From 1900 to 1903 he was president of the Pacific Gas Improvement Company of San Francisco, and from 1917 to 1924 was president of the board of the San Francisco-Oakland Railroad Terminals. Mr. Miller is vice president of the American Trust Company and a director in the Kennedy Mining & Milling Company, the Los Angeles Gas & Electric Company, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the Occidental Insurance Company, the Southern Counties Gas Company, the Southern California Gas Company and various other corporations. He is a member of the American Gas Institute; the Pacific Coast Gas Association, of which he was president in 1908; and the American Gas Association, of which he was vice president in 1924. He has demonstrated a practical and administrative ability throughout his career in the business field, and his guiding hand has been the successful feature of a number of enterprises of magnitude.
On the 2d of May, 1889, Mr. Miller married Einnim Havemeyer Tucker, who passed away March 28, 1896. Two years later, on the 21st of April, 1898, Mr. Miller was again married, his second union being with Janet McAlpine Watt of Oakland, California. He has four children, as follows: Marion, who is the wife of Bernard W. Ford, of Burlingame, California; Mrs. Leslie (Miller) Moore, who has a son, Robert McAlpine Moore; Robert Watt, vice president of the Pacific Lighting Corporation, who married Elizabeth Folger and has four children - Robert, Paul Albert, Richard Kendall and Marian Madeline; and Albert Kendall, who married Yvone Yocum. The Miller residence in San Francisco is situated at 3001 Pacific avenue.
Mr. Miller has always taken a warm interest in educational matters and has been a trustee of Stanford University since the year 1923. During the World war period, 1917-18, he contributed patriotically to the cause by serving as agent of the War Trade Board in San Francisco. He is affiliated with the First Congregational Church of San Francisco, in which organization he is a trustee. He belongs to the Pacific Union Club; the Bohemian Club; the Burlingame Country Club; the San Francisco Golf and Country Club; the McCloud River Club; the Valley Club of Montecito (Santa Barbara); the California Club of Los Angeles; the Travelers Club of Paris, France; and the San Mateo Polo Club. The above club associations indicate as well his favorite diversions. By his friends and his contemporary workers, Mr. Miller is held in sincere respect and high regard. He has administered his affairs of life, both business and social, in a manner reflecting great credit on his character and his ideals, and in view of these facts he may well be considered in the front rank of San Francisco citizens.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 395-398.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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