BIOGRAPHY - WILLIAM MILLER
Dr. William M. Miller, a physician and merchant of Cabery, who is meeting with success in both professional and commercial lines and is regarded as one of the foremost residents of the village, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1858. His father. Dr. G. M. Miller, was also a physician and a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. He prepared for his chosen calling as a student in Philadelphia Medical College, from which he was graduated, and during his residence in the east his time and energies were always devoted to the practice of medicine. After removing to the west he retired from active life and spent his remaining days on a farm. His death occurred at Ottawa, Illinois, when he had reached the age of sixty-four years. In early manhood he wedded Rebecca Chroyer, a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, who still survives and is now living in Ottawa. In their family were five daughters and four sons.
Dr. William M. Miller was a youth of twelve years when he accompanied his parents on their removal westward to Illinois, the family home being established at Ottawa. There he resided until lSS-4, when he came to Cabery, Ford county, where he has since lived. He completed his literary education in Ottawa high school and then, determining upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he supplemented his preliminary reading by a course of study in Rush Medical College at Chicago, from which he was graduated with the class of 1884. He located for practice in Cabery and in the same year established a drug store. Six years ago he removed to his present quarters and increased the scope of his business by adding a stock of general merchandise. In this enterprise he is associated with W. H. Clayton under the firm name of Miller & Clayton. They are conducting a growing and gratifying business, which is pleasantly housed in a building erected by Dr. Miller — a one-story brick structure, thirty-seven and a half by eighty feet. They carry a well selected line of drugs and general merchandise and a liberal patronage is accorded them. As a physician Dr. Miller is very successful and keeps in touch with the general trend of progress and improvement made by the medical fraternity through his reading and investigation.
In 1886 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. William Miller and Miss Alice Clayton, a daughter of William Clayton. Their children, four in number, are Hazel, Clayton, Genevieve and Charles, all born in Cabery. The family is one of prominence here, having ever occupied an enviable position in social circles. Dr. Miller is a stalwart Republican, and was at one time very active in political circles, serving for a number of years as a member of the school board; was also a member of the town board and for three or four years was its president. In that capacity he capably administered the municipal affairs of the village, and his devotion to the public good was manifest in his effective effort toward promoting public progress and improvement.
Extracted 16 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 461-462.
