Frederick Miller

2025-10-04T05:11:12Z

2A00:23C4:B134:5101:9EAA:E469:8E1D:F884: Removed typo and unnecesary detail

{{Short description|Brewery owner in Wisconsin (1824–1888)}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Frederick Müller
| image = Frederick miller.jpg
| caption =Miller in an undated photograph
| birth_name = Friedrich Johannes Müller
| birth_date = {{birth date|1824|11|24}}
| birth_place = [[Riedlingen]], [[Kingdom of Württemberg]], [[German Confederation]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1888|05|11|1824|11|24}}
| death_place = [[Milwaukee]], Wisconsin, U.S.
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* Josephine Müller
* Lisette Gross Miller
}}
| children = 4 sons, 2 daughters
| known_for = [[Miller Brewing Company]]
|}}
'''Frederick John Miller''' (November 24, 1824 – May 11, 1888) was a German-American [[brewery]] owner in [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]. He founded the [[Miller Brewing Company]] at the Plank Road Brewery, purchased in 1855.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1452&keyword=miller|title=Term: Miller, Frederick 1824 - 1888|work=wisconinhistory.org|access-date=2008-11-10|archive-date=2011-06-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611110349/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1452&keyword=miller|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=apitmbs>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3ysqAAAAIBAJ&pg=6836%2C7655968 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |title=Timeline: Another page in the Miller Brewing story |date=May 30, 2002 |page=14A }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=hwyg>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_wEaAAAAIBAJ&pg=2308%2C4552371 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Company founded in 1855 by hard working young German |agency=(Miller High Life Journal - advertisement) |date=July 19, 1949 |page=1 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=gtttmt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aLwaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5678%2C7185070 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |last=Daykin |first=Tom |title=Good times, tough times, Miller time |date=April 10, 2005 |page=1D }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He learned the brewing business in Germany at [[Sigmaringen]].

He was born ''Friedrich Johannes Miller''<ref name="bap_dupe">Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, Katholische Kirchenbücher: Zweitschriften, Riedlingen, F 901 Bd 1217/ Baptim book from 18 March 1818 - 6 October 1840, [http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=2-181199-69 picture 69], #66</ref><ref>Diözesanarchiv Rottenburg, Familienregister Riedlingen 1808, microfilm 1051174, page 283 (image 548 at FamilySearch</ref> in [[Riedlingen]] in the [[Kingdom of Württemberg]]. Some German records, like the one about the baptism of his first son Joseph Eduard, also state the name as Müller.<ref name="firstson">''[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QB37-DJW2 Joseph Eduard Müller, „Deutschland, Baden, Erzbistum Freiburg, katholische Kirchenbücher, 1678-1930“ • FamilySearch]'', familysearch.org</ref> Since the end of the 20th century, some publications state Miller's name as "Frederick Edward John Miller" from which they derive the birth name "Friedrich Eduard Johann(es) Müller".<ref>Yenne, Bill: [https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetonort0000yenn/page/72/mode/2up?q=%22Frederick+Edward+John+Miller%22 The field guide to North America's breweries and microbreweries], 1994, p. 72</ref>

Miller married Josephine Müller in [[Friedrichshafen]], Württemberg, on June 7, 1853.<ref>Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, Katholische Kirchenbücher: Zweitschriften, Sigmaringen, F 901 Bd 494, Marriage register from 10 February 1831 - 9 December 1875, [http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=2-180267-64 picture 64], #5</ref> Their first child, Joseph Edward Miller, was born the next year.<ref name="firstson"/> In 1854, the family emigrated to the [[United States]], spending the first year in [[New York (state)|New York]]. They moved to Wisconsin in 1855, arriving through [[New Orleans]].<ref name=mgchiff>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WPMZAAAAIBAJ&pg=5637%2C4009372 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Miller's grandfather came here as immigrant in 1854 |date=December 18, 1954 |page=4 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Josephine died in April 1860 and Miller married Lisette Gross and had five children who survived infancy: Ernst, Emil, Frederick II, Clara, and Elise. Clara married Carl A. Miller (no relation), also a German immigrant.<ref name=mgchiff/>

Frederick Miller once owned a tract of land in the [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan]] that is now [[Craig Lake State Park]].

Miller died of [[cancer]] in 1888 at age 63, and was buried in the [[Calvary Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin|Calvary Cemetery]] in Milwaukee. Following his death, the company was run by his surviving three sons and son-in-law Carl.<ref name=mgchiff/>

Miller's younger daughter Elise was the mother of [[Harry G. John]] (1919–1992), president of the company from 1946 to 1947 and founder of the [[De Rance Corporation]], once the world's largest [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] charity.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1992-12-21 |title=Harry John; Founded Charity That Gave Away Millions |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-21-mn-1717-story.html |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

Older daughter Clara's son [[Fred Miller (American football, born 1906)|Frederick C. Miller]] (1906–1954) was an [[All-America]]n [[college football]] player at [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish football|Notre Dame]] under [[Knute Rockne]] and became president of the company after John in 1947.<ref name=clffig>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_wEaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6448%2C4557859 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Miller Brewing Co. president is a colorful figure |agency=(Miller High Life Journal - advertisement) |date=July 19, 1949 |page=2 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He and his 20-year-old son Fred, Jr., were killed in a plane crash in Milwaukee in 1954.<ref name=msplcr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6XBQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6469%2C2719263 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |title=Fred Miller, son die in fiery plane crash |date=December 18, 1954 |page=1 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The nine-passenger twin-engine company aircraft was a converted [[Lockheed Ventura]]. It was bound for [[Winnipeg]] for a December hunting trip at [[Portage la Prairie]];<ref name=fcmskiac>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WPMZAAAAIBAJ&pg=6502%2C3982953 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Fred C. Miller, son killed in air crash |date=December 18, 1954 |page=1 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> the crash also killed the two company pilots, brothers Joseph and Paul Laird.<ref name=pbsbs>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WvMZAAAAIBAJ&pg=7269%2C5183310 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Pilots buried side by side |date=December 20, 1954 |page=2 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Eberhard Anheuser]]
* [[Jacob Best]]
* [[Valentin Blatz]]
* [[Adolphus Busch]]
* [[Adolph Coors]]
* [[Gottlieb Heileman]]
* [[Frederick Pabst]]
* [[Joseph Schlitz]]
* [[August Uihlein]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==
* John, Tim. ''The Miller Beer Barons: The Frederick J. Miller Family and Its Brewery''. Oregon, Wis: Badger Books, 2005.

==External links==
*{{Find a Grave|8585085}}
*[http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/tp,58150 Fred Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, U.S.A.] Illustrated booklet with portrait

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Frederick}}
[[Category:1824 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Riedlingen]]
[[Category:Emigrants from Württemberg to the United States]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Milwaukee]]
[[Category:American brewers]]
[[Category:American company founders]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Milwaukee)]]

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Frederick Miller