My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in the book,  Portrait and biographical record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, Pennsylvania published in 1894 by Chapman 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.

* * * *

FRANK C. MILLER is engaged in the hardware business at Easton, and is manager of the Thomas T. Miller Hardware Company (limited), of which his father was formerly proprietor. This concern does a strictly wholesale business of large proportions, and keeps three salesmen continually on the road. The offices and store-rooms are at Nos. 30 and 32 North Fourth Street, and occupy a space 60x220 feet in size. The front of this substantially built structure is of stone, and the remainder of brick and iron. A large and well selected stock of light and heavy hardware is constantly kept on hand, and the trade of the firm extends to eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The Miller family is of Irish origin, as our subject’s grandfather was a native of the Emerald Isle. For a number of years prior to his death he lived near Finnesville, Monroe County, Pa. In politics he was connected with the Democratic party. His wife was before her marriage Catherine La Barr. She came from a long-lived family, and one of her brothers, George, attained the remarkable age of one hundred and fourteen years. Mrs. Miller, who was born in France, removed to Portland, this county, with her parents and was there married. To herself and husband there were born twelve children: Menassa, Depew (deceased), James, Thomas T., Mrs. Katie J. Young, Timothy (deceased), Matthias (of Kansas), Theodore, Mrs. Rachel Featherman, Mrs. Sallie Ann Azer, Eleanor (Mrs. Edinger) and Charles. The mother of this family died when in her eighty-seventh year.

Thomas T., father of Frank C. Miller, was born on the old homestead near Finnesville, Monroe County. In early life he engaged in clerking in that village, and afterwards drifted into the dry-goods, and finally into the hardware, business. In 1849 he opened a retail store in Easton, which he continued until 1874, after which time he conducted a wholesale business. He was President of the Northampton County National Bank at the time of his death, a place he had filled four years, and was also prominently identified with many of the industries of Easton. A man of upright principle and worthy qualities, he was moreover a good example of a self-made man, as he acquired his fortune through the exercise of industry, frugality and strict attention to business. At a crisis in the history of the bank of which he later became President, he was instrumental in its salvation, and also placed the institution upon a substantial basis. In politics he was a Democrat, and at one time was a candidate for Associate Judge of Northampton County. In the work of the Young Men’s Christian Association he was very much interested, and during his entire life it was his aim to fulfill his duty in every respect to his fellows. His death, which was much lamented by friends and citizens, occurred January 14, 1890, at the age of sixty-five years.

Thomas T. Miller chose for his life companion and helpmate Miss Emma Maxwell, to whom he was married in 1847. To himself and wife, the latter of whom is still living, were born eight children, as follows: Annie E., who became the wife of Andrew Hart, now deceased; Emily, wife of A. R Dunn, who is engaged in the wholesale tobacco business in this place; Edwin, deceased; Frank C., our subject; Thomas T., Jr., deceased; Rufus W., a leader in the Reformed Church organization; Florence S., who is at home; and Georgia E., deceased. The youngest son, Rufus W., is a graduate of Lafayette College, and completed a theological course at Franklin and Marshall College and in the Reformed Theological College at New York City, after which he pursued his studies in Germany. At present he is General Secretary of the Reformed Church of the United States, and is located at Reading, Bucks County, this state. He is also the founder of the Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip.

Frank C. Miller was born November 30, 1856, at Easton, and received a good public-school education in this city. When sixteen years of age he determined to learn the jeweler’s trade, and after doing so followed that occupation for seventeen years at Belvidere, N. J. In 1890, upon his father’s death, he sold out his jewelry establishment. He and his brother, Rev. Rufus Miller, were the executors of the estate, but the brunt of the business fell upon the elder’s shoulders.

The concern which Mr. Miller now manages is one of the largest of the kind in this part of the state, and the wares find ready sale. In addition to his other business interests he has bought and improved a tract of twelve hundred acres in Monroe County, which is a delightful summer resort called Naomi Pines. It stands on the summit of Pocono Mountain, about two thousand feet above the sea level, and near the hotel, which is well equipped for the convenience of guests, is a magnificent grove consisting of one hundred acres of many varieties of pine and hemlock trees. This resort has a water frontage on a beautiful mountain stream, which affords boating and fishing for several miles, and in addition to this there is a fine, cold, pure spring, which supplies the house with an abundant supply of water. The estate is located on the Wilkes Barre & Eastern Railroad, and the postoffice near by is named Naomi Pines.

* * * *

This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the book, Portrait and biographical record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, Pennsylvania published in 1894 by Chapman Publishing Company. 

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

View a historic 1911 map of Northampton County, Pennsylvania

View family biographies for other states and counties

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.