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Description |
A 4"x6" glass plate negative, bust portrait photograph of Matt Miller, David City, Nebraska, wearing a dark suit with white polka dot waistcoat, watch chain and medallion hanging from the vest buttonhole, white shirt and white bow tie. |
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Historical Notes |
Matt Miller was born in Glasgow, Scotland, February 9, 1850. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1852 with his parents and 3 siblings to Portage City, Wisconsin. His father was a shoemaker and opened a retail shoe store after they arrived in Wisconsin. Both of his parents died in 1858, leaving 8-year old Matt, his twin sister and two younger siblings as orphans. The children then moved to Caledonia, Wisconsin, where they lived with Alexander McDonald, an appointed guardian who managed their father's estate. In 1864, shortly before his 14th birthday, Matt and a friend ran away from home and enlisted in service of the Union Army. He was mustered in on his birthday, February 9, 1864, in Company F, 48th Wisconsin Volunteers. He was the youngest soldier in the regiment and is supposed to have been the youngest soldier in the entire army. His regiment spent most of the war in Missouri and Kansas. In September, 1865, his regiment marched from Kansas to Ft. Aubrey, Colorado, to help protect citizens from Indian attacks. He was discharged from military service in the spring of 1866 and returned to Portage City, Wisconsin, where he worked on a farm and attended school. He graduated from high school in 1867 and, in 1868, graduated from a commercial college. He taught school and studied law in Columbia County, Wisconsin, for several years. Matt's guardian had purchased 160 acres of land in Burt County, Nebraska, with money from the estate, and, in 1870, Matt came to Nebraska to look over the land. Matt made plans to settle in Nebraska and teach school. Matt married Sarah Whipes in 1873. Matt and Sarah moved to Schuyler in 1879 and the following year, Matt was admitted to the bar. Matt had a law practice in David City for 42 years. In 1885 he was elected to the state legislature by the Democratic Party and was re-elected in 1887. He was appointed district judge in 1890 and was also county judge at one time. He was president of the local school board for twenty years and was one of the commissioners of the state of Nebraska at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904. Matt and his wife had one daughter, Maggie (Mrs. E. W. Crane) and an adopted son, William. His first wife, Sarah, died in 1902, and Matt married Sarah Vandoozer on September 6, 1905. He died in 1923 and is buried in the David City Cemetery. |
