CAPT. JOHN A. MILLER.   Is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, where he was born June 26th, 1826.  He is the eldest child of Samuel L. and Susan (Kirby) Miller.  His mother died in Baltimore when he was a child of five years of age.  His father subsequently married Miss Mary, daughter of Henry and frances Belk, a native of Leeds, England.  He was born in Baltimore in 1802, emigrated to Alton in 1834, where he was among the first to engage in the manufacture of lime.  This employment was succeeded by that of brick-maker, which, in turn, gave way to farming, near Omph-Ghent, in which avocation he passed the evening of a well-spent life.  Mr. Miller was one of the pioneers of Odd fellowship in the West, and aided in establishing the first lodge of that order west of the Alleghenies.  He was a charter member of the Lodge at Alton, and was regarded with the highest esteem and veneration by his brethren of the Mystic Tie wherever he was known.  He was an earnest, active member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in which he became an elder.  His life was characterized by devotion to principle, earnestness of purpose and exemplary action.  He died in August, 1880.
     the subject of this sketch was married on the 17th of March, 1853, to Miss Mary, daughter of Daniel and Jane Hagerman, natives of Pennsylvania, who moved to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where Mrs. Miller was born Nov. 10th, 1822.
Source:  History of Madison County, Illinois, Illustrated, Published By: W. R. Brink & Co., Edwardsville, ILL - 1882 - Page 424