ABRAHAM B. MILLER.

ABRAHAM B. MILLER, one of the veterans of the Civil war, and an upright, honorable citizen of Everett township, Woodson County, was born in Holmes County, Ohio, on the 21st. of December, 1839, a son of Benjamin and Susana (Yoder) Miller, both natives of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When a young man the father removed to Ohio, where he engaged in farming. He was accidentally killed in 1840, by a falling tree, but his wife still survives him and is living in Indiana at the very advanced age of eighty-eight years.

Of the three surviving children born to his parents Abraham Miller is the second in order of birth. He resided in the Buckeye state until fourteen years of age and then accompanied his mother on her removal to Howard County, Indiana, where he remained until the country became involved in Civil war over the slavery question and the attempted secession of the southern states. Prompted by a spirit of patriotism, he enlisted at the president's call for three hundred thousand men, joining company B, Eleventh Indiana cavalry, with which command he participated in some of the most hotly contested engagements of the war, including the battles of Nashville and Tuscumbia, Tennessee, the latter occurring on Christmas day of 1864. He enlisted as a private but was soon afterward promoted to the rank of first sergeant of his company.

After receiving an honorable discharge from the service Mr. Miller returned to his home in Indiana, and on the 4th. of November, 1865, was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Raray, a native of Franklin County, Ohio, born November 22, 1844. Her parents. Daniel and Melvina (Searfos) Raray, removed to Indiana in 1844, and her father is still living at the age of eighty-five years but his wife passed away in 1875, at the age of forty-two. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Mrs. Miller is the second, and five of the family are yet living.

After his marriage Mr. Miller began his domestic life upon a rented farm which he operated until 1868, when he came to Woodson County, securing a farm on Cherry creek. He called his homestead Miller's Grove and established a postoffice there to which he gave the same name. For six years he served as the postmaster. For seven years he resided upon the farm, but on account of the grasshoppers he sold the property and returned to Indiana, where he continued through the twelve succeeding years, when on account of his health he went to Arkansas, spending six years in that state. On the expiration of that period he returned to Woodson County in 1892, purchasing eighty acres of rich land, comprising one of the most attractive of the smaller farms of Everett township, its location being two miles northwest of Vernon.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Miller has been blessed with eight children, namely: William O., who is living in Parsons, Kansas; Tudie, who became the wife of James Ledbetter, and died in 1896; Abraham L., who is the railroad agent at Lyndon, Kansas; Fred, who is in the railroad employ at Parsons; Daniel B., located in Hailey, Idaho; Carl, who is located in Hailey, Idaho; Jesse and Chester, twins, at home, and Grace, the only daughter, a beautiful young lady who is living with her parents. The family have a wide acquaintance in the community and the hospitality of the best homes is extended to them. In political affiliations Mr. Miller is a Republican.

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