From "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and 
Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902.

Typed by Carol Taylor Lanza.

Pages 774 & 775

J. A. MILLER, ex-mayor of Wheeling, is prominently identified with the 
business and financial affairs of the city.  He was born near 
Martinsburg, Virginia, December 9, 1844, and is a son of John F. 
Miller. 

John F. Miller was born in Pennsylvania in 1812, his father being a 
Pennsylvania German who was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.  
John F. Miller removed to Virginia and there married Rosanna 
Ellenberger, a daughter of J. A. Ellenberger of that state.  He 
followed the vocation of a teacher until his death in 1852.  The mother 
removed to Wheeling in 1863 and resided here until her death in 1874.  
They were parents of three children:  J. A., subject of this sketch; 
John M., of Springfield, Ohio; and Anna Bell, who died July 1, 1880.

J. A. Miller attended school at Martinsburg, and at the age of fifteen 
years began clerking there. He later came to Wheeling and obtained a 
clerkship in a retail grocery, then went on the road as traveling 
salesman for the wholesale house of James L. Hawley.  In 1868, he 
embarked in business for himself, handling groceries and confectionery 
goods.  He continued in this line until 1883, when he retired to go 
into the wholesale boot and shoe business with Mr. G. E. Boyd, the firm 
of Boyd, Miller & Company succeeding the firm of Boyd & Company and 
continuing until the retirement of Mr. Miller in 1885.  The latter has 
taken an active interest in municipal affairs and since 1878 has been a 
member of the board of education.  In 1883-1884, he served as mayor of 
Wheeling and gave the city a first-class business administration; 
during the great flood of 1884, the mayor rendered conspicuous service.  
He was chief marshal of the great Democratic demonstrations in the 
Tilden campaign, and each succeeding presidential campaign until 1896.  
He organized the Wheeling Democratic Club, and has served as president 
since it's inception.  He was grand marshal of the Columbian parade and 
celebration in 1892, there being over six thousand people in the line 
of march.  He was appointed a regent of the State Reform School in 1895 
by Governor McCorkle, and was president of the board of directors of 
the West Virginia Penitentiary from 1890 to 1894, during the 
administration of Governor Fleming. He is  president of the Masonic 
Temple Association and has been largely instrumental in it's success.  
He is prominently interested in various enterprises, being president of 
the West Virginia Printing Company, and cashier and director of the 
Bank of the Ohio Valley, and is extensively interested in real estate.  
He was one of the purchasers of the Moundsville, Benwood & Wheeling 
Electric Railroad in 1897 from the receiver of the United States Court, 
and was president of the reorganized company until it became a part of 
the Wheeling Traction Company in 1900.  He was one of the promoters and 
president of the Wellsburg & Wheeling Electric Railway Company.

February 25, 1900, Mr. Miller married Ida M. Deiters, a native of 
Wheeling, by whom one child, Anna Isabel, was born December 1, 1900.  
Fraternally, Mr. Miller is a member of Wheeling Lodge, No. 5, A. F. & 
A. M.; Cyrene Commandery, No. 7, K. T. ; Consistory of West Virginia, 
No. 1, A. & A. S. Rite; and Mecca Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of New 
York; he was grand commander of West Virginia Knights Templar in 1888-
1889.  He is a member of Wheeling Lodge, No. 9, I. O. O. F.; he was 
grand master of the Grand Lodge and grand patriarch of the State Grand 
Encampment, I. O. O. F., of West Virginia in 1877.  He was aide-de-camp 
with the rank of colonel of Gov. J. B. Jackson's staff from 1881 to 
1885.