The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 802

SAMUEL H. MILLER.

Samuel H. Miller, who for more than two decades has been identified with the
ranching interests of Yakima county, took up his abode in the Sunnyside district
in 1898, purchasing eighty acres a mile east of the town. That his has been a
busy, active and useful life since then is indicated in the excellent and well
kept appearance of his place, which is now one of the highly developed ranch
properties of that region.

Mr. Miller came to the northwest from Iowa but is a native of Somerset county,
Pennsylvania, where be was born May 15, 1838. He is a son of Jonas A. and Sally
(Horner) Miller, who were also natives of Somerset county. The paternal
grandfather, Abraham Miller, was likewise born in that district and both he and
his son, Jonas A., devoted their lives to farming. Jonas A. Miller, on leaving
the Keystone state, removed westward to Blackhawk county, Iowa, in 1872 and
there made his home until his death.

Samuel H. Miller is indebted to the public schools for the educational
opportunities which he enjoyed and after his own course was completed he taught
school for several terms. In 1860 he removed from Pennsylvania to Illinois,
where he continued teaching for two years, and in December, 1862, he became a
resident of Iowa, where he taught school for two terms in Blackhawk county. In
1863, in connection with a cousin, he began the manufacture of sorghum and
devoted his attention to that undertaking in connection with general farming for
several years.

On the 1st of September, 1863, Samuel H. Miller was married to Eliza Beechley, a
native of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Daniel and Eliza
(Meyers) Beechley, who were pioneers of the Keystone state. Mr. and Mrs. Miller
became the parents of a son, Edwin Stanton, who is a resident of Omaha,
Nebraska, where he is engaged in the milling of corn products. The wife and
mother passed away October 26, 1865, and on the 9th of January, 1870, Mr. Miller
was again married, his second union being with Susan Saylor, who was born in
Somerset county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth (Miller)
Saylor, who were pioneers of Pennsylvania. Before his second marriage Mr.
Miller had purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Iowa, which he
greatly improved and developed. building thereon a pleasant residence in 1869.
For a long period he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits in Iowa but
in 1898 left his farm there and carne to the northwest, making his way to
Sunnyside. Here he purchased eighty acres of land a mile cast of the town, and
although the tract was then all covered with sagebrush, he at once began the
work of improvement and development, built thereon a good home and brought the
farm under a high state of cultivation. He now raises hay and corn and formerly
he was extensively engaged in the dairy business but has retired from that line
of activity. He, however, keeps good graded Holstein cattle. In addition to his
other crops he raises sugar beets and as a general farmer is meeting with
substantial success.

In 1906 Mr. Miller was called upon to mourn the loss of his second wife, who
passed away on the 10th of August of that year. Their children were: Wilbert,
who died at the age of four years; Grace, the wife of N. F. Blough, who is
engaged in clerking in a store at Sunnyside and by whom she has three sons and
three daughters, the family making their home with her father; Ira, residing at
Ashford, Washington; Howard, living at Great Falls, Montana; Catherine is the
wife of Charles Amondson, a hardware merchant residing at Sunnyside, and they
have three children: Lizzie Maude, who was born in 1882 and died in 1900; and
J. Quinter, who is engaged in ranching near his father's place and has a wife
but no children.

Mr. Miller is a minister of the Church of the Brethren. He and D. B. Eby were
the first two Brethren pastors at Sunnyside. He preached regularly for several
years and still occupies the pulpit at intervals. In politics he maintains an
independent course, ting for men and measures rather than party. While in Iowa
he was active on the school board, also served as township assessor and for
twelve years was president of the Blackhawk Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which
developed an extensive business. He has been a successful pioneer rancher of the
northwest and a valued citizen who has contributed in substantial measure to the
material, intellectual, social and moral progress of the community in which he
makes his home.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.