Clay Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-Richard C. Miller
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
RICHARD C. MILLER,� attorney and counselor-at-law, is one of the best known andmost highly respected citizens of Clay County. He located in the thriving town of Clifton in 1887, having been admitted to the bar of this State in April of that year. He has since devoted himself to practice in the courts of Washington and Clay counties. He graduated from the law department of the Iowa State Universityon June 19, 1883. He was sworn in by Chief Justice Day, of the Supreme Court of Iowa,and at once began legal practice. The following year he located in Hale, Carroll Co., Mo., being admitted to the bar of that State. There he remained until coming to this State at the date abovementioned.
Mr. Miller was born in Ritchie County, W. Va., Dec. 11, 1858. He is a son of John W. and Ruth (Robinson) Miller, and is the sixth child and fifthson in a family of eleven children.� When a youth of seventeen years, his father left his Virginia home for a residence near Moulton, Iowa. Our subject was thrown upon his own exertions for a higher education, and by hard labor worked his way through school. In 1880, be went to Butler County, Neb., where he taught three terms of school. He subsequently returned to Iowa, where he was engaged in teaching until September, 1882. He then entered the State University, which he leftthe following year with the degree of L. L. B. Since that time he has been engaged in the practice of his legal profession.
In Appanoose County, Iowa, on Nov. 20, 1884, the rites of wedlock were celebrated between our subject and Miss Mary A. Earnest. Her birth occurred there in May, 1860, and there she was rearedand educated. She is a daughter of Jacob L. and Elizabeth (Murdy) Earnest. Mrs. Earnest died in Appanoose County, Iowa, in 1886, being then past fifty years of age. She had been a member of the Methodist Church during the greater part of her life. Mr. Earnest is now living in Washington, Washington County, to which he removed in August, 1887. He has been a farmer, but is now retired from active pursuits. He held the office of County Commissioner in Iowa. He has been a sound Republican since the organization of that party, and is a communicant of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Miller is a lady of culture and refinement. After she grew to womanhood and prior to her marriage, she taught school in Iowa. Her unionwith Mr. Miller has been blessed by the birth of two children: Portia E. and Blaine.
John W. Miller, the father of our subject, wasborn in Marion County. W. Va. He learned thetrade of a blacksmith at Morgantown, that State, and was engaged in that occupation until after theclose of the war. His health having given wayhe quit his trade and turned his attention to farming. During the war he favored the cause of the Union and belonged to the Home Guards in his native State. In 1875, he removed to Appanoose County, Iowa, where he yet resides, being now sixty-three years old. In his boyhood he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and when still young was licensed to preach. He has since been engaged in the local ministry and sincecoming to Iowa has had charge of a circuit or two. He has now retired from all work, having suffered from the removal of a canter. He was married in Harrison County, W. Va., to Miss Ruth Robinson. She was born, reared, and educated near Clarksburgh, that county. She belonged to an old and highly respected Southern family. She died in Ritchie County, W. Va., in 1873, aged forty-three years. From girlhood she had been a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. John Miller was a second time married, in his native State, to Mrs. Mary Alexander, nee Cox. She is the mother of six children by her former marriage, and is yet living. Of the eleven children born to John Miller and his first wife, five are now living. Those who died passed away in West Virginia.
Mr. R. C. Miller is a member of Subordinate Lodge No. 181, I. O. O. F., and has filled most ofthe chairs. He is a stanch Republican. He is an able counselor and logical in the presentation of a case before the courts. Both he and his wife are of a social nature.