CONRAD MILLER,
who was born in Germany, is one of the leading business men of
Bangor, Northampton County, Pa., and few enterprises which have
been started of late years in this region have not looked to him
for support and been uniformly given aid and encouragement.
Mr. Miller was born in
one of the Hessian provinces of Germany, October 20, 1838, his
parents being John and Mary (Ashburn) Miller. The father came
to the United States in 1852, and settled in Baltimore, Md.,
where he engaged in the mercantile business. In former years
and in his native land he had followed farming, and at all times
attended strictly to his business affairs. He died in
Blairstown, N. J., and was buried in Baltimore. In politics he
was a Democrat, and fraternally a member of the Odd Fellows
society. A Lutheran in religious belief, he was kind and
devoted to his family and a man of upright life. Of his eight
children, six of the number are living and residents of this
county. Mary is the wife of John Hebner, of Baltimore;
Henrietta is Mrs. Henry Hoffman, of Ackermanville, Pa.; John C.
married Nellie Johnson, of Portland; Kate is the wife of John
Applebye, of Bangor; Charles N. married Annie Brown, of
Nazareth; and Elizabeth lives with her brother Conrad.
Our subject was educated in
Germany, receiving instruction from private tutors to some
extent. When he first came to the United States he worked for a
brewer for $2 per month and board. For six years he was engaged
in the mercantile business at Baltimore, and then for five years
was in the Government employ as Quartermaster in Washington
during the Civil War. About 1872 he began his railroad contract
work, being for two years clerk and walking boss of the
Metropolitan branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He next
took a contract on the Baltimore Short Line in Ohio, and
afterward built twenty miles of the South Mountain Road, near
Harrisburg, continuing his work on that line to Blairstown, N.
J.
In 1876 Mr. Miller constructed
the Blairstown Railroad to Delaware Station for J. I. Blair. In
the spring of 1878 he built the Belvidere Water Works, and the
same year constructed the Bangor & Portland Railway, a distance
of eight miles, being then elected its President and Manager.
About this time he became interested in opening slate quarries
at Bangor and Chapman Quarries. In 1880 he continued the
construction of the Bangor & Portland Railroad from this point
to Pen Argyl, and the following year the road was completed from
the last-named station to Nazareth. In 1882 five miles of the
Martin’s Creek branch were built, and in 1884 he constructed the
Wind Gap branch, a distance of two and a-half miles. With J. I.
Blair he invested to a large extent in slate quarries, and is
now President of the Bangor Union Quarry, a Director in the
North Bangor Company, President and Treasurer of the United
States Slate Quarry of Pen Argyl, President and Treasurer of the
Albion Slate Company of the same locality, Vice-President of the
American Bangor Slate Company, President of the Wind Gap Slate
Company, and Receiver for Jackson Bros.’ Slate Quarry, the Pen
Argyl Valley Slate Quarry, the Excelsior Slate Quarry and the
Diamond Slate Quarry. He is a stockholder in the First National
Bank, is President of the Kansas City, Osceola & Southern
Railroad in Missouri, and President of the Chicago, Iowa &
Dakota Railroad, running from Chicago to Alden, Iowa.
August 31, 1869, Mr. Miller
married Anna M., daughter of Andrew Werling, of Muncy, Pa. They
have had a son and two daughters: John A., born September 1,
1872, and now a student at Lafayette College; Sarah Virginia,
born March 25, 1884, and now at Blair Hall School; and Margaret
Anna, whose birth occurred June 27, 1886. In politics Mr.
Miller is a Republican, and socially he is a member of Warren
Lodge No. 51, of Baltimore, Md. He is a Presbyterian, and a
member of Blairstown Church of that denomination. He expects to
move his family to his new residence in Nazareth, Pa., in March,
1895.
Submitted by Shirley Reese Siltala