Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/410

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MILLS


MILLS


state house, Sacramento. He built the Mills building in Broad street, New York ; a system of hotels for respectable men of limited income, where meals and lodging are furnished at nom- inal prices to several thousand men daily ; several model apartment houses for the use of refined families of small means, and a training school for male nurses, costing $100,000, which he presented to the city. He became a director in many New York corporations, and prominent in the philan- thropic work of the metropolis. He was one of the first trustees of the Lick estate and of Lick obser- vatory in California ; was elected a trustee of the Metropolian Museum of Art, of the Museum of Natural History, and of the American Geograph- ical society ; president of the New York Botanical Gardens ; chairman of the executive committee of the Fordham Home for Incurables, trustee of the Tribune Fresh Air Fund and a member of the leading social and political clubs of New York. He was married, Sept. 5, 1854, to Jane Temple- ton, daughter of James Cunningham of New York. She died in April, 1888. Their son Ogden engaged in banking, and their daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Whitelaw Reid.

MILLS, Elijah Hunt, senator, was born in Chesterfield, Mass.. Dec. 1, 1776 ,* son of the Rev. Benjamin and Mary (Hunt) Mills, and grandson of Capt. Jonathan and Thankful (Strong) Hunt. His father, the first minister of Chesterfield, hav- ing settled there in 1764, was several times a rep- resentative in the Provincial legislature and in tiie general court, and was dismissed from the ministry at his own request on account of feeble health in 1774. Elijah was adopted by his uncle, Elijah Htint, at the death of his father in 1785 ; was graduated at Williams college in 1797 ; was admitted to the bar and established a large prac- tice at Northampton, Mass. He was married to Harriette, daughter of Joseph Blake of Boston, Mass. He established a successful law school in Northampton, with Samuel Howe and John Hooker Ashmun. He was a state senator in 1811, district-attorney for the county of Hamp- shire for several years, and was a Federal repre- sentative in the 14th and 15th congresses, 1815-19. He was appointed U.S. senator, Dec. 1, 1820, as successor to Prentiss Mellen, resigned, and was elected for a full term in 1821, serving, 1820-27. He received the degree LL.D. from Williams in 1824. He died in Northampton, Mass., May 5, 1829.

MILLS, Herbert Elmer, educator, was born in Salem, N.H., Aug. 8, 1861 ; son of Edward and Esther (Butter worth) Mills, and grandson of Ben- jamin and Sarah (Wrigley) Butterworth. He attended the public schools of Woburn, Mass., and was graduated from the University of Rochester, A.B.. 1883, A.M., 1887. He was a teacher in tlie Marion Collegiate institute, Nejv


York, 1883-84, and the public schools of Palmyra, N.Y., 1884-86; a fellow at Cornell university. 1886-88, and instructor in ancient history, 1889- 90, and became professor of economics at Vassar coUege in 1890. He was married, July 30, 1890, to Mary Louise Sansbury. He was elected a member of the American Economic association in 1887, and was president of the board of mana- gers of the House of Refuge for Women at Hud- son, N.Y. The degree of Ph.D. was conferred on him by Cornell in 1890. He is the author of : Early Years of the French Revolution in San Do- viingo (1891).

MILLS, Job Smith, bishop of the United Brethren in Christ, was born near Plymouth, Ohio, Feb. 28, 1848 ; son of Lewis and Ann (Smith) Mills, and grandson of Gideon Mills. He attended Bartlett academy, Plymouth, and was prepared for the ministry under private tutors. He was pastor of Otterbein university, 1874-80 and 1885- 87, and was at Western college, Toledo, Ohio, as professor of English literature and rhetoric, 1887- 90, professor of philosophy and president, 1890- 92, and professor of philosophy, 1892-93. He was graduated from Illinois Wesleyan university, Ph.B. 1892, Ph.D. 1894. He was elected bishop of the United Brethren in Christ in 1893. He was twice married, first in 1870, to Sarah Ann Metzger of Chesterfield, Ohio, and secondly, in 1876, to Mary Keister of Scottdale, Pa. In 1896 he trav- elled in Western Africa, and in 1897 visited the universities of Berlin, Leipzig, Halle, Jena, Oxford and Cambridge. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Otterbein university in 1884 ; that of D.D. by Westfield college and Lebanon Valley college in 1890, and that of LL.D. by Lane university in 1897. He was made a correspond- ing member of the Iowa Academy of Science and a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He is the author of : Missioji Work in West Africa (1898); Manual of Family Worship (1900); Essence of Christianity (1894); Outline of Sociology (1895); Some Difficulties in Cosmic Evolution (1896).

MILLS, Joseph John, educator, was born near Indianapolis, Ind., July 21, 1847; son of Abner and Hannah (Furnas) Mills, and grandson of Enoch and Mary (Scott) Mills, and of Robert and Hannah (Wilson) Furnas of North Carolina, who were among the pioneer settlers of Warren county, Ohio. He entered the University of Michigan, 1865, but left before graduation to en- gage in teaching. He was principal of the public high school at Wabash, Ind., 1869-71; superin- tendent of the Wabash public schools, 1871-73, and assistant superintendent of the public schools of Indianapolis, Ind., 1873-74. He was elected president of Earlham college, Richmond, Ind., in 1884, and was appointed a member of the Indiana