Biography of Forest Miller, pages 782.783.  History of 
DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., 
Indianapolis, 1914.



It was remarked by a celebrated moralist and biographer 
that “there has scarcely passed a life of which a judicious 
and faithful narrative would not have been useful.” 
Believing in the truth of this opinion, expressed by one of 
the greatest and best of men, the writer of this review 
takes pleasure in presenting a few facts  in the career of 
a gentleman who, by industry, perseverance, temperance and 
integrity, has worked himself from an humble station to a 
successful place in life and won an honorable position 
among the well known and highly esteemed men of the 
locality in which he resides.  Forest Miller is a native of 
Steuben county, Indiana, where he was born on September 20, 
1875, and is a son of William Henry and Sarah (Martin) 
Miller. William H. Miller was born in Stark county, Ohio, 
and came to DeKalb county, Indiana, when nineteen years of 
age. In 1874 he married Sarah, the daughter of Albert 
Martin, and his death occurred February 5, 1906, on the 
homestead farm.  Mr. Martin, who was a millwright by trade, 
lived in Steuben county, Indiana, although a native of 
Ohio, owning a farm in the above county, and also one in 
DeKalb county.  Mr. Martin was a soldier in the Civil war 
and died in Kentucky after two years’ service. His widow 
went to Kentucky and brought his body home and he was 
buried at Hamilton, Indiana.  Mrs. Sarah Miller, his mother 
who also was a native of Ohio is now deceased.  They were 
the parents of nine children, viz: Forest,, the subject of 
this sketch; Don Carlos, William, George A., Lew, Mrs. 
Florence Sutherland, and three who died in infancy. Don 
Carlos lives on a farm in Smithfield township and also 
operates a threshing machine. William is married and lives 
in San Francisco, California. George, who also is married 
lives in South Dakota, where he runs a grain elevator. Lew 
lives at Vancouver, Canada, and is a gas fitter by 
occupation. Florence became the wife of Elmer Sutherland, 
and lives in Smithfield township, where her husband is 
following the farming pursuit. Forest Miller received his 
education in the township schools and early in life began 
assisting in the work on the home farm. At the age of 
twenty-one years he received an inheritance of thirteen 
hundred dollars, and thereafter was  employed at various 
labor until twenty-six years of age, when he bought eighty 
acres of land in Smithfield township. After farming this 
land for three years he sold it an bought a half interest 
in a farm of one hundred and sixty acres known as the James 
Clark farm, across from the Clark school. This land he 
operated a year, and then sold his interest in it to his 
wife’s uncle, O. J. Camp. Then he rented this farm for nine 
years, making many improvements and spending about five 
hundred and fifty dollars on it. In 1907, after the 
settlement of the father’s estate, Mr. Miller bought the 
interest of the two brothers in forty-five acres of land in 
the southern part of the old homestead across for the 
Christian church in Smithfield township, and in April, 
1913, he bought one hundred and sixty acres from the O. J. 
Camp estate, comprising the farm he originally rented. Mrs. 
Miller received forty acres from her father’s estate in 
1908, and subsequently she bought forty acres more from her 
sister, Mrs. Maude Duncan, this land being now rented to 
Gobert Gaetz. In all his affairs Mr. Miller has been 
characterized by sound judgment and untiring energy, so 
that he has succeeded in achieving a genuine success where 
many others would have gained but mediocre results. He gave 
his personal attention to every detail in his farm work, 
and maintained his place at the place of highest 
agricultural excellence. He raises all the crops common to 
this locality, and also gives some attention to the 
handling of live stock, in which he has been very 
successful.  On December 25, 1901, Forest Miller was 
married to Eva Camp, the daughter of Aaron and Amanda 
(Husselman) Camp, and to them has been born one child, 
Lloyd Wilson, and Mr. and Mrs. Miller, out of the kindness 
of their hearts, have adopted a daughter who is now known 
as Ethel (Hope) Miller. Politically, Mr. Miller is a 
Democrat, progressive in his ideas and is numbered among 
the men of advanced thought in that locality. Fraternally, 
he is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge of Ashley, 
and is held in the highest esteem by his fraternal 
brethren. He is one of those solid men of brain and 
substance so essential to the material growth and 
prosperity of a community and whose influence is willingly  
extended in behalf of every deserving enterprise that has 
for its object the advancement of the moral welfare of the 
locality. His success in life has been the legitimate 
result of consecutive effort, directed and controlled by 
good judgment and correct principles.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com