My Genealogy Hound

Dr. Thomas C. Miller, of Dayton, Sebastian Co., Ark., was born in Jennings County, Ind., October 23, 1846, and is a son of Jonathan M. and Helen M. (Thomas) Miller, who were born in Indiana in 1823, and New York in 1828, respectively. They were married in Indiana, August 29, 1844, and were early settlers of that State. In 1856 they removed to Clinton County, Mo., in 1862 went to Effingham County, Ill., and in 1868 went to Caldwell County, Mo. In 1880 they became residents of Dayton. The father died here November 15, 1887, a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the mother died March 1, 1885. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Robert Miller, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and a native of North Carolina. He was an early pioneer of Jennings County, Ind., during the days when, for safety, they attended church carrying a gun on the shoulder. He reared a large family, and died near Paris, Ind., about 1855. The maternal grandfather, Dewitt C. Thomas, was born in New York, settled in Indiana in an early day, and afterward removed to Illinois. Late in life he returned to Indiana, where he died. Dr. Miller is the eldest of a family of seven sons and one daughter. He attended common schools in Indiana, Missouri and Illinois before the age of seventeen, when he joined Company E, Sixty-second Illinois Veteran Infantry. He entered the army February 24, 1864, and served until discharged, March 23, 1866. He served as hospital steward in Arkansas after October, 1865, having joined the army at Little Rock, Ark. He fought in no regular engagements, but participated in many skirmishes. December 3, 1865, he was married at Fort Smith to Eunice, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Bader, natives of Germany, where they were reared and married. Mr. Bader served in the United States army after coming to America, and died at Fort Smith in 1848. Mrs. Miller is a native of New York, and has borne ten children, five of whom are living. After the war Mr. Miller went to Illinois, and at once began to study medicine at Mason, with Dr. M. McCarty. A year later he moved to Caldwell County, Mo., and then began to practice at Proctorville. In 1869 he located near Dayton, in which town he built the first house, the following year. He soon started a drug store in connection with his medical work, and about 1871 succeeded in having the Hodges Prairie Post-office removed to his place of business. He then named it the Dayton Post-office, and served as postmaster two years. Some years later he also engaged in the general mercantile business. He is one of the leading spirits in all enterprises for the advancement of the country in this neighborhood, and himself and wife are zealous and active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He owns a farm of sixty-one acres near Dayton, and is a well-to-do man, although he began life in humble circumstances. He is a strong Republican, and in 1868 cast his first presidential vote for Grant. He belongs to the G. A. R., Pea Ridge Post No. 45, and is a member of the I. O. O. f. Encampment at Huntington. He is a Mason, having joined Reid Lodge No. 163, in Scott County, in 1872.