San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM PAYSON MILLER
During his lifetime numbered among
the leading businessmen and manufacturers of Central California, the career of
William Payson Miller records an instance of a rise from the bottom of the ladder
to a place of prestige and prosperity, due alone to his indomitable
perseverance and integrity. A native of
Maine, Mr. Miller was born at Windsor, October 8, 1825, his parents being
Thomas and Jane (Pratt) Miller, born at Little Cambridge and Vassalboro, Maine,
respectively. His maternal
great-grandfather, John Taber, was said to be the first banker of Portland,
Maine; Mrs. Jane (Pratt) Miller’s parents were Nathan and Mary (Taber) Pratt,
the former born at Little Cambridge, Massachusetts and the latter at
Vassalboro, Maine.
When William P. Miller was three
years old his parents removed to Vassalboro and later to Palmyra, then to
Augusta. William attended school only
during the winter terms, working out in summer on the neighboring farms, for
there were six children in the family to support and all that could had to lend a helping hand.
When he was sixteen years old he went to work for an uncle, Thomas
Partridge, learning to make wheels and the woodwork for farm wagons, and later
he engaged in business for himself at North Vassalboro, running his shop for
about two years. There, in 1847, he was
married to Miss Phoebe Roberts, who died September 17, 1849, leaving a son
Edward, who came to California when he was twenty-one and made his home in
Stockton for many years. The following
year Mr. Miller decided to come to California, and leaving New York on the old
ship Clarendon in the fall of 1850 he spent 196 days on the trip, reaching San
Francisco April 6, 1851. Unable to find
work in his trade of wheelwright, he finally secured a place as a carpenter on
a little church being erected, his wages to be paid when the job was
completed. Many were the hardships of
those days and for some time his only food was a loaf of bread and water, for
which he paid ten cents a pail. Through
a chance meeting with John R. Corey, a carriage maker for whom he had once
worked in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Mr. Miller later came to Stockton and
secured employment at the wagon shop of J. W. Smith of Channel Street, at seven
dollars a day. In the spring of 1852 he
established a woodworking shop of his own, and working in conjunction with two
blacksmiths from New Bedford, Massachusetts, named Skiff and Tucker, he began
turning out wagons, one of the first being a freight wagon which was sold in
San Francisco for $900. During the first
summer the shop had no doors or a floor; a few boards were laid overhead and
there he slept. However, this humble
beginning was the foundation of the splendid carriage building establishment which
he built up at Stockton, a model factory at that time, with a reputation for
superior workmanship second to none on the Pacific coast.
In June, 1855, he was married to
Miss Pamelia Tilton, a native of Easton, New York, who came to California in 1853. They adopted a daughter, Millie Louisa
Franklin, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Miller passed away August 17, 1891, and
on November 10, 1892, Mr. Miller was married to Mrs. N. Jane Neill, whose death
occurred November 20, 1894, Mr. Miller surviving her until May 8, 1897, his
passing away removing from the ranks of Stockton’s early settlers one of her
most honored and trusted citizens, whose life was one of the highest
integrity. A firm supporter of the
Republican Party from its earliest days, he was an abolitionist by principle
and took and active interest in all movements for the putting away of
slavery. He was a friend of temperance
and liberally donated funds for temperance work, never using either liquor or
tobacco in his entire life, and after the organization of the Prohibition Party
he became an active worker in its councils.
He was a member of Weber Engine Company No. 1 and took an active part as
an exempt fireman in later years. In
1854 he was a member of the city council.
He was a director of the Stockton Savings & Loan Bank for many
years.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
395. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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