H. Cortez Miller assumed the office of county auditor of Williams County in 1919, and this responsible executive preferment indicates the high regard in which he is held in his native county, where he has long been a progressive and representative farmer and where he continued his active association with agricultural and livestock industry until his election to his present office. His fine farm, of 160 acres, is modern in its improvements and facilities and is eligibly situated in Brady and Jefferson townships. He has been a leader in the promotion of farm enterprise and interests in the county and served three years as secretary of the Farmers’ Institute of Williams County.
Mr. Miller was born in Brady Township, this county, August 29, 1878, and is a son of William C. and Margaret L. (Rowles) Miller, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Williams County, Ohio, where she still maintains her home. William C. Miller was but nine months old when his parents came to this county, where he was reared and educated and where his entire’ active career was marked by close and successful association with the basic industry of agriculture, save for a period of two years which he passed, as a young man, in the state of California, where he gained his quota of experience in the search for gold — at the time when the gold excitement was still at its height in that commonwealth. Upon his return to Williams County he engaged in farming in Brady Township, and later he acquired farm property also in Jefferson Township. He continued as a successful exponent of farm enterprise in this county until his death and was one of the honored and influential citizens of his community. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and both he and his wife held membership in the Universalist Church at Stryker. They became the parents of six children and besides H. Cortez, of this sketch, three others of the children are living: Edwin U., a resident of Bryan; Carrie, the wife of Julius Vernier, of Chicago, Illinois; and John, a resident of West Unity, Williams County.
The present efficient and popular auditor of Williams County passed the period of his childhood and youth on the home farm, in connection with the activities of which he gained fortifying experience that was later to prove of inestimable value to him in his independent operation as an agriculturist and stock grower. In the public schools he continued his studies until he had profited by the advantages of the high school at West Unity, and thereafter he took a course in the Tri-State Business College, in the City of Toledo, besides having attended the Ohio State Normal School at Fayette. Thereafter he taught three terms of district school, and after this effective service he gave his undivided time and attention to farm enterprise until he was elected to the county office of which he is now the incumbent. He was for a number of years secretary of the Northwestern Ohio Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was for several years a member of the republican county committee of his native county, and this in itself indicates that he has been influential in the local councils and campaign activities of his party. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Brady Township — Fountain Chapel — their removal to the county seat having been incidental to his election to his present office; and he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic fraternity, Mrs. Miller being an active member of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star.
The year 1902 recorded the marriage of Mr. Miller to Miss Jennie Hamet, who has served as a teacher in the public schools of Brady and Jefferson townships, Williams County, and they have one daughter, Florence Lyndall, who is a student in the Bryan High School at this time.
Source: Bowersox, Charles A. ed. A standard history of Williams County, Ohio: an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development , 2 vols. Publisher Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co. 1920.