Quincy Miller

Quincy Miller

Quincy Miller, one of the most popular and best known engineers who have sailed the lakes, was born March 22, 1845, on a farm near Mayfield, Ohio, and it was at that place that he spent the earlier years of his life and acquired his education. He is a son of Joel and Polly (Van Gorder) Miller, his grandparents being Melanethon and Hannah, and his great-grandparents Samuel and Mary (Conklin) Miller, both of good old families and living to great age, Samuel dying when eighty-one years old, and his wife when ninety. Their family consisted of thirteen children, all of good vitality, their ages ranging from forty-six to ninety-one. In the grandparents' family were ten children, and in the parents' there were six, Quincy being the eldest son.

On October 17, 1861, Quincy Miller, the subject of this article, enlisted in Company C, Sixty-seventh O. V. I., reenlisting at Hilton Head, S. C., on December 31, 1863. Before the close of the war he had borne an honorable part in the battles at Blooming Gap, Va.; at Winchester, where he was captured, and after being held prisoner was recaptured by the First Michigan Cavalry at Lauray, a short time after having been paroled. A few days later he was engaged in the affair at Strasburg, Va.; and on the 30th of May, at Front Royal; at Harrison's Landing, July 11, 1862; at Malvern Hill, August 5; at Franklin, October 3; at Zuni, December 11 and 12; at the siege of Fort Wagner; and while at Charleston was under fire from July 10 to September 16, when on July 18 the regiment lost half of its number. On May 6 and 7, 1864, he was in the engagement at Chester Station, and after two days fighting at Swift Creek, Va., followed by the Drury's Bluff battle, lasting from the 12th to the 16th of May, he went into the battle at Wier Bottom Church, and Bermuda Hundred, from the 16th to the 30th of June, and at Deep Bottom Run in August, a running fight, lasting four days. On the 13th of October, 1864, he went into the engagement at Darbytown Road, and on the 27th was severely wounded in the head and left unconscious on the field. Recovering, he took part in the battles which led to the fall of Petersburg, April 2, 1865, and the surrender of General Lee, at Appomattox, April 8. He was honorably discharged from the service September 1, 1865, with one of the clearest records.

Upon his return from service of his country, Mr. Miller entered the employ of Pankhurst, Wallace & Sawtell to learn the machinist's trade, remaining with that firm three years. In 1869 he received his marine engineer's license, and was appointed first assistant on the steamer Northern Light, this being followed by service of like capacity on the City of Concord, Annie Dobbins, and Lowell, a period covering five years. He then became chief engineer of the steamer J. H. Devereux, Empire, Wocoken, Lawrence, Cormorant, Egyptian and Cumberland, and attained to the position of superintending engineer of the Winslow line of steamers, holding that responsible position eight years.

In 1887, at the time the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company was founded, Mr. Miller was called to take the superintendency of the boiler department of that concern, a position he filled to the entire satisfaction of all, he being also a stockholder up to the time of this writing.

Fraternally he is a member of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, No. 2, of Cleveland, which he has represented in national convention in New York, Philadelphia and Detroit; he is also a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His only son, L. A. Miller, is a lieutenant in the United States Light Artillery, was in the battle of Manila, and is now stationed at San Francisco, having been gunner of the starboard battery of the cruiser Boston, and by good action was raised three numbers. His daughter, Mate C., is the wife of H. A. Norton, a gentleman connected with the Cleveland Window Glass Company.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.