Miller, Horace

Born: 1798-09-20 Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Died: 1864-08-05 Rockford, Illinois

Flourished: Winnebago County, Illinois

Horace Miller was a farmer and Illinois state representative from Winnebago County. As a young child, Horace moved with his family from his native Massachusetts to New York. In June 1817, he married Hannah Clark, with whom he would have six children. Horace and Hannah Miller moved to Livingston County, New York, where they lived until 1839, when the family moved to Winnebago County, Illinois, settling on a large tract of land near the mouth of the Kishwaukee River. In addition to farming, Miller raised livestock and added to his land holdings, eventually owning 1,250 acres of land. In 1850, he owned real property valued at $1,754. From January 1851 to June 1852, he represented Winnebago County in the Illinois House of Representatives. In 1860, Miller owned real property valued at $9,100 and had a personal estate of $1,730. He remained on his farm until 1861, when he retired and moved to Rockford. Miller supported the Whig Party and, after the Whig Party collapsed, the Republican Party.

Portrait and Biographical Record of Winnebago and Boone Counties, Illinois (Chicago: Biographical, 1892), 594-95; Charles A. Church, History of Rockford and Winnebago County Illinois (Rockford, IL: W. P. Lamb, 1900), 130; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 217, 218; "Application of Edward Gore King," U.S. Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 (Louisville: Kentucky National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution), vol. 282; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), New Milford, Winnebago County, IL, 353; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), New Milford, Winnebago County, IL, 462; Gravestone, Cedar Bluff Cemetery, Rockford, IL.