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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company; Elwood Roberts, Editor.  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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WILLIAM G. MILLER, M. D., one of the most successful of the younger physicians of Norristown, Pennsylvania, is a native of Whitpain township, where he was born August 24, 1874. He is a son of William G. (deceased) and Caroline (Roberts) Miller.

The paternal grandfather of Dr. Miller was John Miller, who was born, resided all his life and died at Pennsburg. He was a builder and contractor as well as farmer, and was of German descent, his ancestors coming to Pennsylvania with the great tide of German immigration more than a hundred and fifty years ago. He opened the first English school in his community, which was conducted in his carpenter shop amid rather uncongenial surroundings, as may be imagined. He employed and paid the teacher. He held a number of local offices at various times, and was a prominent man in his neighborhood. He was a Democrat in politics, like the majority of his neighbors in that day, and was highly esteemed by all. His wife was Henrietta Faber, daughter of the Rev. John Theobold Faber, a Lutheran clergyman, as was also his father, both of whom were preachers in the old Goshenhoppen church. Both died of apoplexy while preaching funeral sermons in the same church. A large family of children were born to John and Henrietta (Faber) Miller.

The maternal grandfather of Dr. Miller was Charles Roberts, who was descended from Welsh ancestors who settled at Gwynedd and became the founders of numerous families, whose members for many generations have belonged to the Society of Friends. He married Keziah Comly, also of an old family of Friends. In early life he was a teacher, but later engaged in farming on a tract of land in Whitpain township, which is still owned by the family.

William G. Miller, father of Dr. Miller, was a native of the upper end of Montgomery county, born in the vicinity of Pennsburg, where he spent his earlier years. In early life he studied theology with a view of entering the ministry, but abandoned that idea. He entered upon the vocation of teaching in which he was successful, continuing it for a number of years. After his marriage he resided for a time in the lower end of the county, engaged either in farming or teaching. During the last thirty years of his life he was engaged in a wholesale mercantile business in Philadelphia in which he was a partner with his brothers. In religious belief he was a Lutheran, but his wife, who survives him, belongs to an old family of Friends, the ancestors on the Roberts side having settled at Gwynedd more than two hundred years ago. He married Caroline Roberts, and eight children were born to them, six sons and two daughters, as follows: Charles Roberts, of Philadelphia; John Faber, who resides at Chestnut Hill, and who is a successful lawyer of Norristown; Edwin L., of Philadelphia; L. Eugene and Ellwood F., of Penllyn; Dr. William G., of Norristown; Sarah, wife of William G. Taylor, of Swarthmore; and Joanna M., wife of Thomas H. Livezey, of Norristown. All the children, including Dr. William G., are members of the Society to which their progenitors on their mother’s side belonged. They have also in nearly every case married within the Society. William G. Miller (father) died in the city of Philadelphia, February 23, 1892, on his sixtieth birthday.

Dr. William G. Miller was reared on the farm purchased by his maternal grandfather, Charles Roberts, in Whitpain township. He attended the public schools of the neighborhood and Friends’ schools, including Friends’ Central School of Philadelphia. In the fall of 1892 he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, and after taking the regular four years’ course in medicine received his degree of Doctor of Medicine, in June, 1897. Shortly after his graduation he was elected resident physician of Charity Hospital of Norristown. After serving a year in that capacity he immediately entered upon private practice in Norristown, which he has followed continuously ever since. From 1898 to 1901 he served as coroner’s physician of the county under the Hon. Grant R. McGlathery, then coroner. In 1902 he was appointed physician to the Friends’ Home at Norristown, which position he still holds.

Dr. Miller holds membership in the following named medical organizations: Montgomery County Medical Society, Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, and the American Medical Association. He is also a member of Charity Lodge, No. 190, Free and Accepted Masons, Improved Order of Red Men, Foresters of America, and the Republican Invincibles. In politics he has always been a Republican, taking an active part in county conventions as delegate from his district, and he also represents the third ward of Norristown in the council of that borough.

On December 15, 1898, Dr. Miller married Anna C., daughter of T. Ellwood and Mary (Childs) Livezey, of Plymouth Meeting, the ceremony, according to the rites of Friends, being performed in the presence of a large company of relatives and friends in the two century old place of worship, Plymouth Meeting House. Their children are Mary Livezey, and Sarah Roberts Miller.

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This family biography is one of more than 1,000 biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company.  For the complete description, click here: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

View additional Montgomery County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Biographies

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