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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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HARRY S. MILLER, a trucker and florist of East Pennsboro township, Cumberland Co., Pa., was born in July, 1864, in Middlesex township, and came to East Pennsboro when a boy of fifteen years. He is a son of David Miller, a grandson of David Miller, and a great-grandson of David Miller, the latter of whom was born in Lampeter township, Lancaster Co., Pa., where he operated a farm of 130 acres and lived to a great age. His grave is to be found at the Longenecker church in that township. He married twice, his second wife being a Denlinger, who is buried by the side of her husband, they had children as follows, Jacob, born in Lancaster county, came to Cumberland, where he farmed in Silver Spring township and died on his own property, being buried in the old Strickler graveyard in Middlesex township. The second child of David Miller, above mentioned, was David, the grandfather of our subject. The other five were: Isaac, born in Lancaster county, died there aged twenty years and was buried there. Mrs. Christian Myers died in Lancaster county. Mrs. (Bear) Buckwalter died and was buried in Lancaster county. Mrs. Catherine Heckman died and was buried in that county, as was Mrs. Susan Peoples.

Grandfather David Miller was born in Lampeter township, Lancaster county, where he received a district school education, and he married Mary Eshelman, daughter of Jacob Eshelman, of the lower end of Lancaster county. He bought the old homestead in Lampeter township, made additions to the house and built a fine barn, and also built a factory at New Providence. In 1836 he came to Cumberland county and located in North Middleton township, about two miles south of Middlesex, where he bought a tract of 460 acres in two farms. Here he built a barn and improved the property, and here passed his last days, dying at the age of seventy-three years; he was interred in the old Strickler graveyard. His widow survived to the age of ninety years, and was buried in Middlesex. They had children as follows: Fannie married William Hastings and died in Cumberland county and was buried beside her parents; John married Lucetta Culver, died in 1866, at Cumberland, Md., and is buried at Carlisle; Samuel, who married Isabella Evans, died at Bluffton, Mo., aged eighty years, and was buried there; Eliza died at the age of five years; David, father of H. S. Miller, is mentioned below; Abner married Elizabeth Stoner, now deceased, and lives at Waynesboro; Amos who married Catherine Stauffer, lives near Columbus, Ohio, and is a trucker and fruit grower. The father of this family was a faithful member of the Reformed Mennonite Church.

David Miller, father of H. S., was born Sept. 18, 1825, in Lampeter township, came to Cumberland county with his father when eleven years of age and attended the schools of North Middleton township. He started in the nursery business on his father’s farm while still a young man, seeming to have a natural bent in that direction. In 1860 he embarked in the business extensively, planting two hundred thousand young fruit trees of all kinds suitable to the climate, and followed the business for about twenty-five years. His operations were carried on on ninety acres which he had bought of the old homestead farm. Later he sold to H. S. Rupp, and then spent two years at Middlesex, engaged in the manufacture of straw board and in burning lime. In 1875 he moved to South Middleton township, near Boiling Springs, where he followed general farming for three years and then moved for a year to Carlisle.

In 1879 Mr. Miller came to East Pennsboro township and embarked in the trucking and florist business near Camp Hill where he remained for twenty-four years. He still survives, and is much interested in the building of a fine home on the turnpike road between Lemoyne and Camp Hill.

In 1856 Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Elizabeth Stauffer, a daughter of Jacob and Eliza (Ryder) Stauffer, formerly of Franklin, Pa., but later of Chambersburg. Her parents both died in 1879, and so near together that they were buried at the same time and in the same grave, a circumstance of such unusual occurrence that it deserves to be noted with the family history. Their children were: Elsie married M. K. Hoffert, who is employed with the Scranton Commercial School, at present a resident of Harrisburg; Annie E. is residing at home; Harry S. is mentioned below; Walter married Stella Swords, and is the proprietor of a brass foundry on Chestnut street, in Lancaster City, and is engaged in the gold and silver plating business; Jessie married T. J. Opperman, who is a florist residing on the turnpike near Camp Hill.

Harry S. Miller, one of the best known young business men of this section, was educated in the East Pennsboro schools, where he was a bright, ambitious student. He doubtless inherited from his father his taste for florist and nursery work, and all his life has been interested in gardening and trucking. In 1892 he bought a tract of timber land of fifty-eight acres along the edge of the mountain, which he has transformed into a place of wonderful beauty. His home and other buildings, including greenhouses with some thirty thousand feet of glass, overlook the valley, the beautiful winding Susquehanna and the city of Harrisburg lying below. Mr. Miller could scarcely have selected a more charming location, and has made it so attractive that nothing seems left to add. He owns also two other fine houses in the township and is one of its most substantial citizens.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company. 

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