Edward Gee Miller was born September 3, 1840, at Cornish, Maine, where for eleven years he attended the village school and did small tasks in his father's tannery. In 1851 he removed with his family to Deerfield, Wisconsin, and for some years worked on his father's farm nine months of each year and attended school three months. He was ambitious for an education and in 1858 entered the University of Wisconsin, where, with the exception of two terms of school teaching, he remained until 1861, when he enlisted in the three months' service under Lincoln's first call for volunteers. Mustered out August 21, 1861, he resumed his work at the University. Later he re-enlisted, organized Company "G", 20th Wisconsin Infantry, was elected Captain, and August 18, 1862, with his regiment was mustered into the service for three years. He was discharged from service August 8, 1865. On June 17, 1867, he married Miss Mary Jane Klinefelter of Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, and soon after moved to Lincoln Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa, where he engaged in farming. Recognizing his ability and patriotism, the Republican Party elected him in 1873 to the office of Senator in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa General Assemblies. Always interested in education, he drew up and advocated the passage of a bill that established the State Normal School (later the Iowa State Teachers College and currently the University of Northern Iowa) at Cedar Falls, Iowa.
In after years, there was no work of his life to which he looked back with greater satisfaction or spoke of with more feeling. In 1877 Captain Miller moved with his family to Waterloo, Iowa, and entered the government employ as railway postal clerk, remaining in this employment until his death on Memorial Day 1906. He served as Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic for Iowa in 1884-1885. He was also a member of the Loyal Legion (an organization of commissioned Army officers), a strong temperance advocate, a Mason, a faithful member of the First Congregational Church of Waterloo, Iowa, and a devoted husband and father.
Mary F. Hammer (Mrs. Frank) 4091 Norris Road Fremont., California September 10, 1960 Mrs. Hammer was a daughter of Edward Gee Miller. She was born Mary Frances Miller on October 3, 1870, in Lincoln Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa. The biographical sketch above is a slightly edited version of a photocopy of Mrs. Hammer's text. The University Archives acquired this text from a great-great-grandson of Edward Miller, John Hansen. University Archivist Gerald L. Peterson did the editing on January 22, 2010.