San
Joaquin County
Biographies
NEWLEN J. MILLER
Among the real builders of a
community are those who erect substantial and permanent buildings and one who
has won for himself a prominent place in the city of Lodi is Newlen J. Miller, who has operated in many parts of the
United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
He was born in Christian County, Missouri, on August 15, 1873, a son of
a farmer, and his life was spent on the home farm until he was twenty-one years
of age. His schooling was somewhat
meager, but when the opportunity came to learn mining engineering under his
uncle, George W. Miller, the famous mining engineer of Denver, Colorado, he
grasped the opportunity and joined his uncle in Cripple Creek, Colorado, where
he remained for two years. His uncle is
one of the best known and foremost mining engineers of the country; in 1910 he
wrote and published a book on the subject of mining and our subject drew the
plans for the maps illustrating the work.
Mr. Miller later became the mining
engineer for the Amdson Zinc Manufacturing Company of
Joplin, Missouri; he also erected mills at the mines and made a thorough study
of zinc mining and became an expert on the subject. He then removed to Denver, Colorado, and
engaged in brick contracting and erected many of the finest business blocks in
the city; he also built several buildings in Colorado Springs; he then removed
to San Francisco in 1904 and took up the plasterer’s trade and at the time of
the great earthquake and fine in 1906 was most active in the rebuilding of the
city, constructing many business blocks and fine residences around the
Bay. The following year, 1907, we find
him in Reno, Nevada, where he remained for a time working at his trade; then to
Fresno, California, for a time; he then engaged in magnesite mining at Ingomar
during the years of 1916 and 1917, after which, for a short time, he engaged in
placer mining at Mokelumne Hill in Placer County. During the month of January, 1919, he settled
in Lodi where he has followed contracting in brick and plastering; among the
outstanding contracts being the brick block for Mr. Guggolz,
the tile residence for Dan W. Bird, the V. Kyle residence at Thornton, Dr.
Bollinger’s residence at Lodi, the Ed Spiekerman residence, the Strange
residence on his ranch, the German Baptist Church, an addition to the Lafayette
school building; he also plastered a $250,000 school building in San Jose and a
number of churches, the Sanguinetti Hotel, the Woman’s Club Building, the Ferdun residence and many others in Lodi.
The marriage of Mr. Miller united
him with Miss Mertice Thrasher, a native of
Massachusetts, a direct descendant on her father’s side of Gov. Bradford of
Massachusetts, while on the mother’s side she is descended from Lady Huntington
of England. She is a graduate of Smith
College at Northampton, Massachusetts, and for ten years after her graduation
taught in the high schools of Massachusetts.
They are the parents of two children, Carol and Reinette. Fraternally Mr. Miller is a member of the
Knights of Pythias and the D. O. K. K.
His skilled workmanship has brought him a fine patronage, and he is a
loyal supporter of every measure that is constructive.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1204. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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