Henry Miller

H MILLER, proprietor of the "Valley Home Hotel," Concord, was born January 11, 1822, at Springtown, Metal Township, this county, one mile north of Fannettsburg. His father, Frederick Miller, a cooper by trade, moved to Franklin County in 1819, and located in Metal Township. He married Mary Goyer, whose father, John Goyer, served as a drum-major in the Revolution. Frederick Miller served in the war of 1812. His father, Martin, served in the Revolution, was wounded in the knee, drew a pension up to the time of his death, and lived to be a centenarian. The Goyer family came from Germany, and were sold to pay their passage, being eight months on the ocean. There were three in the family: John, his wife Margaret, and their son John, all of whom served in the Revolution, the father as a soldier, his wife as a washerwoman for the officers, and their son, John, Jr., who was but twelve years of age, as drummer boy, and later as drum-major. John, Sr., was shot, and his wife Margaret, picking up his musket, fought through the engagement. She afterward drew a pension for actual service, and died at the age of one hundred and three years. Subject's grandfather, Martin Miller, his maternal grandfather, John Goyer, and his father, Frederick (the latter in the war of 1812), all drew pensions. Frederick died in his eighty-seventh year from hemorrhage. He had five sons and six daughters, all of whom lived to be married. Martin Miller had at the time of his death over 400 descendants direct from himself, in all five generations. John Goyer died in Path Valley, aged ninety-seven. John and Martin Goyer were buried with the honors of war. Henry Miller, our subject, the seventh in a family of eleven children, remained at home until he was past twenty-one years of age. He was brought up as a cooper, but afterward worked on the farm, commencing first to work by the month and then by the day or job, and labored hard and constantly. In 1845 he married Isabella Plunkard, by whom he had seven children, as follows: Elizabeth, Mary, David, William, Jane, Lucy and Belle. This wife died of consumption, and Mr. Miller next married Mary North, a native of Germany, and a daughter of John North, a miller. By this union ten children were born: Lena, John, Henry, Elmer, William, Edgar, Laura, Samuel, Lillie and Sadie. For ten years Mr. Miller farmed for Dr. J. S. Flickinger; five years on William Harris' farm; came to Concord in 1871, bought the McElhenny property, and has since been engaged in the hotel business (temperance), and has also carried on farming. He was a member of the United Brethren Church for thirteen years, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church thirty years, of which latter he is an official member. In politics he is a Republican.

[Text from "History of Franklin county, Pennsylvania," 1887, p. 750-751]

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