Washington County ArArchives Biographies.....Miller, Ira O. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 23, 2009, 12:55 am

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

IRA O. MILLER.
    Ira O. Miller, manager of the Red Spoke Company of Fayetteville, was born
October 18, 1878, near Howe, Indiana, a son of Thomas A. and Mary (Kauffmann)
Miller, who were natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. The former was
a son of Abraham Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, who spent his last days in
Michigan. The maternal grandfather, John Kauffmann, was born at Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, and was there living at the time of the memorable flood, when a
great portion of the city was swept away and many lives were lost. For two days
and nights he was without food. He had passed the ninety-ninth milestone on
life's journey when called to his final rest.

    The marriage of Thomas A. Miller and Mary Kauffmann was celebrated in Ohio
and soon after the close of the Civil war they removed from the Buckeye state to
Indiana, where the father followed the occupation of farming. His wife died in
that state and Mr. Miller now makes his home in Sturgis, Michigan. He has always
given his political support to the democratic party, while his religious faith
is that of the Methodist Episcopal church. To him and his wife were born eight
children, four of whom are living: Samuel E., a dentist, engaged in active
practice in Toledo, Illinois; David C. a jeweler, located at Fort Wayne,
Indiana; Ira O.: and Lizzie, the wife of Harry Nearhood, a mason contractor of
Grand Rapids, Michigan.

    Ira O. Miller obtained his education in the high school at Howe, Indiana,
and in the Howe Military School, while later he pursued a commercial course in
the Elkhart (Ind.) Business College. He was first employed by the Union Pacific
Railroad Company in connection with the construction department, his duties
taking him from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Oregon. He was on the Pacific coast for
only five months when he became ill of typhoid fever and afterward suffered from
an attack of smallpox. With the recovery of his health he returned to the east
and was employed by the Studebaker Manufacturing Company at South Bend, Indiana,
there spending four years. On the expiration of that period he became connected
with the International Harvester Company and has represented that corporation
for five years. In 1910 he came to Fayetteville and took charge of the interests
of the Red Star Spoke Company, which has a large plant in this city and makes
shipments of spokes throughout the United States and also to Holland, France,
Cuba and Mexico The firm manufactures spokes for automobiles, wagons, buggies
and other vehicles. During the period of the World war the entire plant was
turned over for the production of war material.

    On Christmas day of 1915 Mr. Miller was married to Miss Helen Hoover, who
was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and who is a great-granddaughter, in the
maternal line, of Elias N Conway, at one time governor of this state. The
Conways are of a very prominent family in the east, and representatives of the
name served in the Revolutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. Miller hive become parents of
one child, William Conway Miller, now four years of age. Mr. Miller belongs to
the Episcopal church, while his wife has membership in the Methodist Episcopal
church. He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and his political
allegiance is given to the republican party, while at all times he is thoroughly
informed concerning the vital issues and questions of the day. He devotes his
entire attention to the spoke business and does not seek to figure prominently
in any public connections. Since starting out in life on his own account at an
early age he has been dependent entirely upon his own resources. His father was
always interested in a sawmill and Ira 0. Miller early became identified with
the timber and lumber industry. He was connected with the wood department when
with the Union Pacific and also with the International Harvester Company and the
Studebaker Corporation. Eventually he became identified with the interests which
he now represents. There is little connected with the lumber industry in its
various phases with which he is not familiar and his broad understanding of the
trade enables him most carefully to direct the interests which are now under his
control. Forceful and resourceful, he has become a dynamic force in the
commercial circles of Arkansas.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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