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Biographies
Source:
A Biographical History
of
Preble County, Ohio.
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Compendium of National Biography
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Illustrated
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Chicago
The Lewis Publishing Company
1900
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< CLICK HERE TO
RETURN TO LIST OF BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES >
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JOHN MILLS.
New Paris has no more honored or highly esteemed citizen than
the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. He is a
native of Preble county, born in Monroe township, Jan. 27, 1824.
His paternal grandfather, Joseph Mills, a farmer
by occupation, was born in Ireland, and on his emigration to
America in 1810 at once located in Clinton county, Ohio, where
he spent the remainder of his life. Among his descendants
were thirty-five school teachers, some of whom have been
distinguished educators and principals of colleges. Two of
his descendants have been members of the Ohio legislature.
John Mills, our subject’s father, was
also a native of Ireland, and was seventeen years of age when he
came to America in 1810. During his early residence in
Clinton county, Ohio, he worked at anything he could find to do.
He was married in Warren county, to Miss Elizabeth
Compton, a native of South Carolina, and a daughter of
Amos Compton, who, being a member of the Society of Friends
and opposed to the institution of slavery, came north in 1805,
during the childhood of Mrs. Mills, and settled in
Greene county, Ohio. He was probably of Irish and English
descent. In 1820 John Mills came to Preble county
and took up a quarter-section of land in Monroe township, forty
acres of which he cleared and erected thereon a log house,
making his home there until the spring of 1829. He then
moved to what is known as the Mills farm, two and
three-quarters miles south and east of New Paris, Ohio, and he
cleared forty acres of that tract. He died there in 1835.
In politics he was a Whig, and he held office in Monroe township
before receiving his naturalization papers. His wife died
at the age of fifty-six years.
To this worthy couple were born eight children who grew
to manhood or womanhood, of whom our subject is the third child
and third son. Only four are now living. His
brothers, William C. and Joseph, both deceased,
were prominent men of this county, the former having served
several years as a justice of the peace, and as county
commissioner two terms. Amos is a resident of
Illinois, and Henry F. makes his home in Greene county,
Ohio. Joseph, deceased, served in the same company
as our subject during the civil war. George is a
resident of Warren county, Ohio. Elizabeth,
deceased, was the wife of William Graves, and
Rebecca, deceased, was the wife of Elijah Hill.
John Mills was reared on the home farm,
and was married Aug. 24, 1848, to Sarah Brodrick, who was
born in Darke county, Ohio, Dec. 8, 1828, and is the second in
order of birth in a family of five girls. Her parents,
John D. and Mary (Wilson) Brodrick, were natives of Ohio and
Kentucky, respectively. To our subject and his wife were
born five children, namely: Mary E. is the wife of
John Davis, of Green’s Fork, Indiana, and they have
two daughters— Leona A. and Blanch. George W.,
a resident of Williamsville, Illinois, married Ola
Wooften, and they have three children — Roy, Walter
and Vera. Wilson P. married first Rosella
McWhinny, by whom he had three daughters—Olive L., Jessie
M. and Clara B., and for his second wife married
Ida Davidson, by whom he had one daughter, Irene.
Charles F. married first Telia Daily and secondly
Hannah M. Painter. Ella J. is the wife of
Samuel Wilson, a farmer and stock-raiser of Warren county,
Ohio.
On the 2d of May, 1864, during the civil war, Mr.
Mills enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and
Fifty-sixth Ohio National Guards, and was promoted as corporal,
being mustered out as such after four months’ service, in
September, 1864. He made his home on the Mills
farm until 1883, when he retired from active life and moved
to New Paris, which has since been his home with the exception
of two years spent on a farm three-quarters of a mile south of
that town. The greater part of his life has been devoted
to agricultural pursuits, but he also taught as many as seven
terms of school when a young man, both in Darke and Preble
counties. Eighteen dollars a month was the highest wages
he ever received, and while teaching in a log schoolhouse in
district No. 6, Jefferson township, Preble county, he received
only thirteen dollars a month. It was while teaching in
Darke county that he became acquainted with the young lady who
became his wife. He owned the first two horse corn-planter
ever brought to Jefferson township, and his father had the first
metal moldboard plow ever used within its borders.
Mr. Mills cast his first presidential
vote for Taylor in 1848; voted for Scott in 1852;
for Fremont in 1856; and Lincoln in 1860 and 1864.
He is still a stanch supporter of the Republican party, has
served as school director for about twenty-seven years, and has
also filled the office of justice of the peace. Both he
and his wife are active and prominent members of the Christian
church of New Paris, he having united with the same in 1849,
wife in 1846. For thirty years he has filled the office of
elder.
Source: A Biographical History of Preble
County, Ohio - Illustrated - Published 1900 - Page 310 |
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ROGER CHARLES MILLS,
a noted United States senator and famous as the father of the “Mills
tariff bill, ’’was born in Todd county, Kentucky, Mar. 30, 1832.
He received a liberal education in the common schools, and
removed to Palestine, Texas, in 1849. He took up the study
of
law, and supported himself by serving as an assistant in the
post-office, and in the offices of the court clerks. In
1850 he was elected engrossing clerk of the Texas house of
representatives, and in 1852 was admitted to the bar, while
still a minor, by special act of the legislature. He then
settled at Corsicana, Texas, and began the active practice of
his profession. He was elected to the state legislature in
1859, and in 1872 he was elected to congress from the state at
large, as a Democrat. After his first election he was
continuously returned to congress until he resigned to accept
the position of United States senator, to which he was elected
Mar. 23, 1892, to succeed Hon. Horace Chilton. He
took his seat in the senate Mar. 30, 1892; was afterward
re-elected and ranked among the most useful and prominent
members of that body. In 1876 he opposed the creation of
the electoral commission, and in 1887 canvassed the state of
Texas against the adoption of a prohibition amendment to its
constitution, which was defeated. He introduced into the
house of representatives the bill that was known as the “Mills
Bill,” reducing duties on imports, and extending the free
list. The bill passed the house on July 21, 1888, and made
the name of “Mills” famous throughout the entire country.
Source: A Biographical History of
Preble County, Ohio - Illustrated - Published 1900 - Page 211 |
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