Miller, John L.

Born: 1813-06-02 Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Died: 1889-04-17 Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Flourished: Berkshire County, Massachusetts

John L. Miller was a clerk, salesman, physician, professor, and army surgeon. Known also as J. Leland Miller, he was born in Adams, Massachusetts. Miller received his early education in public schools in his native town. He also received instruction from tutors and at private academies in Adams and Williamstown. At the age of seventeen, he moved to New York City, where he found work as a clerk. Upon the outbreak of cholera in the city, Miller moved to West Troy, New York, where he worked as a salesman before buying the business from his employer. With a year, his stock burned, and Miller turned to medicine. He studied medicine for a year in West Troy before spending two years in study at the Berkshire Medical College. Graduating in 1837, Miller ventured to New Orleans, finding employment as a surgeon for a group of topographical engineers conducting a survey of the mouth of the Mississippi River. He moved next to Pensacola, Florida, before sailing back to New York City. From 1838 to 1843, he practiced medicine in Providence, Rhode Island. During this time, Miller had his first stint as an army surgeon, serving with a brigade of Rhode Island troops mustered to suppress the Dorr Rebellion. In 1844, he moved to Illinois to become professor of anatomy and physiology at the Illinois College Medical School. Upon commencement of the Mexican War, Miller resigned his professorship to volunteer for military service, serving as surgeon for the Second Illinois Foot Volunteers. After the war, he spent two years in Pittsfield, Massachusetts recovering his health, which was impaired during the war. He returned to Illinois in 1849 and married Susan F. Rockwell on November 15, 1849. In 1850, Miller was practicing medicine and living with his wife in Woodford County, Illinois. John and Susan lived together until October 1852, when Susan left the family home. John retained Abraham Lincoln and sued Susan for divorce on the grounds of desertion. The Woodford County Circuit Court granted him a divorce in September 1855. Miller returned to Pittsfield in 1855, purchasing a farm and practicing medicine. In 1862, he married Julia Atkins. During the Civil War, Miller served as surgeon of the Sixth Battalion, Sixth Brigade of the Massachusetts Militia. After the war, he resided in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts (New York: J. B. Beers, 1885), 2:562-64; Isaac H. Elliott, Record of the Services of Illinois Soldiers in the Black Hawk War, 1831-32, and in the Mexican War, 1846-8 (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, 1882), 244; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Woodford County, IL, 444; Bill of Divorce, Document ID: 4456; Decree, Document ID: 56854, Miller v. Miller, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009),http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137129; Gravestone, Maple Street Cemetery, Adams, MA.