Miller - Leroy
Source: History of Montgomery County, Indiana. Indianapolis: AW Bowen, 1913 p 793
All credit is due a man who succeeds in this untoward world of ours in spite of obstacles and by persistency and energy gains a competence and a position of honor as a man and citizen. The record of Leroy L. MILLER, widely known to the publishing world of western Indiana where he has for decades been regarded as an exceptionally adroit printer, is that of such a man for he came to Montgomery County in the days when she was beginning her rapid growth following the pioneer period and here worked out his way to definite success. He quickly adapted himself to changing conditions and has labored so consecutively and effectively that in due course of time he became proprietor of a thriving business in Crawfordsville.
Mr. Miller was born November 7, 1860 at Cambridge city, Wayne County, Indiana. He is a son of Abraham and Sophia POTTS Miller. The mother was born Oct 1834 in Chillicothe, Ohio and when a young girl moved with her parents to Logansport, Indiana where she grew to womanhood, received her education and there she and Abraham Miller were married in the year 1848. The mother of the subject died July 12, 1883 in Crawfordsville.
Seven children were born to Abraham Miller and wife: Mary died in Logansport; Charles A. died in Indianapolis; Nora; Leroy L (subject); Isaac Newton living in South Bend; Otis in the grocery business at Frankfort; William R, born Feb 3, 1879 is in the office with his brother, Leroy L. The father, Abraham Miller, was a contractor and builder by occupation and became well known in this section of the state. Fraternally, he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Knights of Pythias, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a charter member of the Knights of Pythias here. During the Civil war he enlisted in an Indiana regiment in 1864 and served very faithfully. In view of the prominence of Abraham Miller in this locality and of the good he did as an Odd Fellows and the splendid example he set as a citizen, the biographer deems it entirely appropriate to here reproduce the memorial address delivered by JR Etter before Bethesda Encampment NO. 15, Independent order of Odd Fellows at Mt. Zion Church, Crawfordsville, June 24, 1906. He said, "By the courtesy of Bethesda Encampment No. 15, I have been requested to prepare a few brief remarks on the life worKnights of Pythiasatriarch and Brother Abraham Miller, deceased. I accepted the charge, feeling sensibly my inability to render to his memory even a tithe of the excellencies which his noble, self-sacrificing life deserves. I feel that honor should have been assigned to older and wiser heads than mine to some of the old and true patriarchs who had so long labored side by side with him in the cause of humanity, practicing friendship, love and truth...faith, hope and charity. Patriarch Miller was born in Germantown, Hamilton County, Ohio April 21, 1905 (sic - should be 1821) being at the time of his death a few day over 84 years old. Though old in years, in his happy and joyous nature, he was ever a boy when with the young, feeling that it was his duty to mingle with them on their own level, to joke and have fun with them, to cheer them on to better and nobler lives, to make them feel that they need no fear of him on account of his gray hairs, but that he was their friend and counselor at all times. By virtue of this one trait in his character, he was enabled to do much good among the rising generation. He was never too busy to give a smile or kind word to a child, to a youth or to one of mature years -- no one spoke to him that they did not get a kind and courteous answer. His parents moved from Ohio to Cambridge City, Indiana in 1826. he worked on his fathers farm until he was 19 and then went to Logansport, Indiana being gone two years before his parent knew where he was. When they had located him they sent GW Miller on horseback all that distance to learn of his condition - to know what he was doing. Mr. Miller arrived there Sept 6, 1848, just two days before Patriarch Miller was married to Sophia Potts, with whom he lived a little over 35 years. To them 5 sons and 2 daughters were born. All the sons became Odd Fellows. Can a stronger proof be offered of his devotion to the Order than that he led five sons into its fold? He lived in Crawfordsville 40 years -- long enough that all might be able to measure his good or bad qualities. He was a positive man; when he saw wrong he did not hesitate to condemn it in the most positive terms and when he saw good, he was ready to praise it -- thus he was a man whom everyone knew where to find. He was not a friend to your face and an enemy to your back; he did not hide his light under a bushel to please the public; but he did what he thought was best for the individual and community, regardless of what might be said about him. Oh, how much better would the world be, if all men could be so easily found -- could be relied on to stand by their convictions. When he formed a friendship, or entered into an alliance with anyone, he was never known to betray it, but he stood on the full measure of his promise. What a happy, contented life he must have lived! Is it not worthy our emulation? In trying to find out when Patriarch Miller was initiated into Odd Fellowship, and when he joined the encampment, I wrote to the secretary of Wayne Lodge NO 17, Cambridge City also to the scribe of Hormah Encampment No 11 at that place. Both of these informed me that their records had been burned up in 1876 and that they had no way of telling when he joined either the Subordinate Lodge or the Encampment there, but they added that old members said that he was a member of the Subordinate Lodge and Encampment before the records were burned. The secretary of Wayne Lodge added, "But, from all to whom I have talked, I learned that he was a good and true Odd Fellow." Can I say more than this -- that he was a good and true Odd Fellow? Can you think of a higher tribute to any man, than that he was a good and true Odd Fellow? If a man lives up to the teachings of Odd Fellowship, he must be one of God's noblest sons. After much investigation, I have ascertained from reliable authority that Patriarch Miller joined Wayne Lodge No. 17 in 1855, and that he affiliated with Hormah Encampment NO 11 1857. Patriarch Miller was admitted to Bethesda Encampment No 15 at Crawfordsville on Dec 15, 1868 and was mustered into Canton Fidelity No 50 Sept 8, 1901. He was a member of Martha Washington Rebekah Lodge No. 13. He was a Past Grand and Past Chief Patriarch, having received all the honors that a Subordinate Lodge and Encampment could confer on him. He placed his foot On he first round of the ladder of Odd Fellowship in Wayne Lodge No 17 where man was represented as in darkness and in chains; he gazed there on the emblem of the last resting place of man and was restored to light and liberty. He was taught to faithfully regard the mysteries of the Order as sacred-- he learned the lessons of the Past Grand. Then he journeyed on, and the love of Jonathan and David was exhibited, and he learned the lesson which he never forgot. he traveled down the road to Jerico - oh, how many of us travel that road and how many are beaten and robbed On he way! He saw the Israelite wounded and bleeding on the highway; he saw the Priest and Levite pass by on the other side; he saw the Good Samaritan pour balm into his wounds, take him to the inn and pay for his care. he learned that the true priest was not of the temple, and the true Levite not of the altar. As a good Samaritan he went about doing good. No Odd Fellow was ever sick within his reach that he did not visit almost daily. The principles of truth, as taught in our Order, were ever regarded by him in all his dealings with his fellow men. Truth with him was an imperial virtue. When he had learned the lessons of friendship, love and truth, as taught in the Subordinate Branch of the Order, he longed to know more and entered the Encampment, serving his time as a herdsman, visiting Abraham's tent, partaking of the symbol of hospitality. He passed to the Golden Rule, where he was instructed in the principles of toleration and had impressed on his mind the beautiful less, "Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you." He was exalted to the Royal Purple Degree, traveling across the wilderness of Paran, meeting and overcoming the difficulties on the way, and learning that the evil reports so often circulated against men are not always true. Thus faith, hope and charity were added to his store of knowledge e-- the greatest of which charity, which was his guiding star throughout his life. He was mustered into Canton Fidelity No 50, Sept 8, 1901 and was an honored Chevalier at the time of his death. Thus he had advanced, step by step, through all the graduations of Odd Fellowship until he was fully attained a knowledge of its intrinsic excellencies of its adaptation for the promotion of good will among men and of its fitness as a minister in the trials and adversities which are inseparable from human life and that it thus presented a broad platform upon which mankind could unite in offices of human benefaction. On the evening of Jan 29, 1902, it being the 41st anniversary of Crawfordsville Lodge, no 223, brother Abraham Mille was present with a Veteran Jewl, which emblematical of 25 years of more of continuous membership in the Order. During all these t25 years an more, he had been in good standing, had paid his tithe to assist his brothers in all the adversities that fall to human life. This is the best evidence we have that he learned well the lessons of friendship, love and truth -- three cardinal virtues that go to make up the sum of human life, that bind up the wounds of distress, soothe the weary heart and make life Worth the living. No more constant friend could anyone have than he was. His love for his fellow man should be to us a guiding star for our actions along the journey of life. He was one of the most regular attendants at lodge in all the branches. If he was not there, the first question was, "Is he sick" To visit the sick and relieve distress was his great aim in life. Even in his old days the Weather was never too bad for him to visit a sick brother almost every day. His constant looking after the sick so well known that, when there was any doubt as to a sick brothers condition, every member instinctively would say, "Brother Abraham Miller will know.' He was always busy; he was industrious; he never loafed when there was anything to do; and let me say, in passing that an industrious man has no time to gossip about his neighbors or to meddle with their business. I have not the talent of a Raphael, or might have painted a picture more pleasing to the eye -- I have not the oratory of a Demosthenes, or I might have done him more justice in words. B But I have said enough and said it truthfully, that those who knew him can fill in between the lines, and thus finish the story of his grand and useful life devoted to amelioration of his fellow men. Although a peace-loving man, he never forgot the injunction that "you can not become an Odd Fellow in spirit and in truth, unless you are grateful to your Creator, faithful to your country, and fraternal to your fellow man." In the late war, he gave his service for the cause of the union, enlisting in Co. H, 147th Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry and was honorable discharged at the end of that bloody conflict. As Odd Fellows, we are taught, "To be faithful to the country in which we live." How well he learned the lesson recited above, was proven by his offering his life for his country. The life and labors of Patriarch Miller should be a talisman to point out to us the way we should go. He has crossed over the great sea that divides the now from the future. Our feeble eulogies can not make him better or worse e-- now. But what lessons can we, as Odd Fellows, learn from his life! One is that we should recognize the good qualities of a brother while he lives -- should give him praise for what he does; this will make him know his efforts are appreciated by us. Another is that we should emulate his example and do unto others as we would that others should do unto us. If his life work taught us only this one thing, he did not live in vain. When the spark of life fled from him and he was but inanimate clay, we cast flowers on his bier. Oh, how much more happy would he have been if we had scattered flowers along his pathway while he lived -- flowers of gratitude and appreciation for what he was doing. How much more would all of us do for humanity if only our brothers would show that they realized our worth. But how silent they are, till the clods of the valley cover us from the sight of human eyes. let us, as Odd Fellows, adopt a new tablet on which shall be written, the good that each members does -- while he lives. " Leroy L. Miller, the immediate subject of this sketch, was 7 when his parents brought him to Crawfordsville in 1867. Here he grew to manhood, received a common school education, and here he has spent most of his life ever since. He began in the he printing business in 1875, remaining there engaged until 1883; mastering the ins and outs of the same and getting a good start in life. He then entered the same field of endeavor for himself fin 1884, but soon he went ot Peru, Indiana, where with a partner, he started the Peru Daily Journal, but returned to Crawfordsville in the spring of 1885 and then purchased the business he formerly owned. In 1888 his business was christened the New Indiana Printing Company. It is a private business, Mr. Miller being the sole manager and his energy and good judgment has resulted in building up a very large and rapidly growing business. his plant is well equipped with all modern presses, styles of type and other necessary apparatus found in an up-to-date printing house, insuring prompt and high grade work, and only skilled help is employed. Besides his large printing establishment he owns a comfortable house in Crawfordsville. Mr. Miller was married on April 30, 1885 to Harriet A. BINFORD. She was born Feb 17, 1863 in Montgomery County, a daughter of Caleb and Emily Jane ALLEN Binford. The father was born April 22, 1834 and mother Oct 30, 1835. The death of Caleb Binford occurred Jan 11, 1879 and his wife following him to the gave a few months later, dying August 18, 1879. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller, namely: Binford R, born Feb 20, 1887 received his education in the he public schools and Wabash College and he is now associated with his father in the management of the Indiana Printing Company; Agnes Emily, born Oct 17, 1890 is a graduate of the high school; Hugh H born March 12, 1893, is a graduate of the high school and student tin Wabash College at this writing. Politically, Mr. Miller is a Republican and fraternally belongs to the Masonic Order, Montgomery Lodge No. 50, also the Council Chapter Commandery and is a Shriner; he is also a member of the Tribe of Ben Hur and Modern Woodmen. He holds membership with the Center Presbyterian Church, Crawfordsville