Frederick Miller

{{Short description|Brewery owner in Wisconsin (1824–1888)}}

{{other uses}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Frederick Miller

| image = Frederick miller.jpg

| caption =Miller in an undated photograph

| birth_name = Friedrich Johannes Miller

| 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.{{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}}{{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 }}{{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 }}{{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 }} He learned the brewing business in Germany at Sigmaringen.

He was born Friedrich Johannes MillerStaatsarchiv 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], #66Diözesanarchiv Rottenburg, Familienregister Riedlingen 1808, microfilm 1051174, page 283 (image 548 at FamilySearch 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.[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QB37-DJW2 Joseph Eduard Müller, „Deutschland, Baden, Erzbistum Freiburg, katholische Kirchenbücher, 1678-1930“ • FamilySearch], familysearch.org 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".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

Miller married Josephine Müller in Friedrichshafen, Württemberg, on June 7, 1853.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 Their first child, Joseph Edward Miller, was born the next year. In 1854, the family emigrated to the United States, spending the first year in New York. They moved to Wisconsin in 1855, arriving through New Orleans.{{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 }}

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.

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 in Milwaukee. Following his death, the company was run by his surviving three sons and son-in-law Carl.

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 charity.{{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}}

Older daughter Clara's son Frederick C. Miller (1906–1954) was an All-American college football player at Notre Dame under Knute Rockne and became president of the company after John in 1947.{{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 }} He and his 20-year-old son Fred, Jr., were killed in a plane crash in Milwaukee in 1954.{{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 }} 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;{{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 }} the crash also killed the two company pilots, brothers Joseph and Paul Laird.{{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 }}