Biographical Sketches Medina County, Ohio

Hiram B. Miller (Hinckley Township) Farmer

One of the best known men in Hinckley Township is Hiram B. Miller. He was born April 3, 1807, in Ontario Co., NY. While a youth, his parents moved to Henrietta, Monroe Co., where they purchased a hotel property and a farm. Hiram was married in 1829 to Miss Maria Deming, daughter of David and Sara (Lewis) Deming, who were residents and old settlers of Monroe Co., N. Y. At the time of his marriage, Hiram had nothing to begin life with except good health, energy and a determination to succeed. In 1831 with his wife, he went to Canandaigua, N. Y., where his grandfather resided, and for two years he worked one of his farms. At the end of that time, he returned to Henrietta, having saved about $800. He again worked on his father's farm, but in 1833 the entire Miller family sold their land in New York, and came to Medina County, Ohio locating in Hinckley Township, on the western township line. Together they bought 650 acres with Hiram buying about 100 acres. His parents died on the old homestead after living to see the unbroken forests blossom into fertile fields.

Hiram remained on the land he purchased on coming to the county. His wife died March 10, 1876. They had seven children Cordelia M., Arethusa H., Sherman L., Henrietta, Betsey A., Frank D. , Harvey T. During the Civil War, Frank D. was in the 150th O. N. G., serving 100 days and Harvey T., was in Barber Sharpshooters and served through the war.

Mr. Miller was one of the foremost men in the township upon educational matters, and he also was an efficient worker in the temperance cause. A member of Meridian Sun Lodge, No. 266, A., F. & M., of Richfield. Prior to the war he gained an extended reputation from his prominent connection with the Underground Railroad. When the fugitive slave law was past in 1850, Hiram believed that Divine approval would sanction its violation and avoidance, and he made it a part of his religious duty to assist the frightened and fleeing slaves to Canada. Some residents in his neighborhood were hostile to his movements of humanity, and often sought to discover slaves in his care, in hopes of getting the promised reward, but no runaway who sought his protection was ever captured.

In company with Joe Mason, a gifted colored man, Mr. Miller began lecturing in school houses and barns in Medina and adjoining counties. He was announced to lecture at his home schoolhouse, but a neighbor was determined that he should not do it. In an altercation at the house, the neighbor seized Mr. Miller by the throat, threw him with great force on the floor, cutting an ugly wound on his head, from which the blood flowed in streams down his neck. Money was offered to repair the injury, but Mr. Miller nobly refused, saying that money was not what was wanted, that the sin of slavery and the irreparable wrong done to poor slaves was what he wished everyone to seriously consider. Mr. Miller for his noble efforts, deserves to be classed with such men as "Old John Brown, Owen Lovejoy, and others who fought for years again the degrading and cruel influences of slavery.

A memorial plaque honoring his anti slavery efforts is located just north of the corner of Laurel and West 130th Street on the Hinckley side and reads as follows:
HISTORIC UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STATION
This dwelling was an underground railroad station operated by Hiram B. Miller for many years. Here he hid hundred of runaway slaves. He shipped them to Canada in drygoods boxes where they would be free. This caused persecution and the nickname of "Nigger Miller."
Erected by Hiram B. Miller association and Nathan Perry Chapter DAR Lorain, Ohio.