lawyer, judge, b. near Carlisle, Pa. He graduated from Washington College (Washington, Pa.) in 1819, studied law, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1822. In 1838 he moved to Milwaukee, and from 1838 to 1848 served as associate justice of the Wisconsin territorial supreme court. In 1848 he was appointed judge of the U.S. district court for Wisconsin, serving until 1870, and from 1870 to 1873 was judge of the U.S. district court for eastern Wisconsin. During the difficult pre-Civil War era, Miller upheld the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and federal jurisdiction in the Sherman Booth (q.v.) and John Rycraft cases (1854-1855). He also laid down important legal precedents concerning foreclosure of railroad properties and the organization of new companies in cases involving the La Crosse and Milwaukee R.R., the Milwaukee and St. Paul R.R., and other railroad companies. He died in Milwaukee shortly after retiring from the bench. J. R. Berryman, ed., Bench and Bar of Wis. (2 vols., Chicago, 1898); Mag. West. Hist., 6 (1887), pp. 85-91; Milwaukee Sentinel, Oct. I, 1874; WPA field notes.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]