MILLER-Joseph - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

Joseph MILLER, brewer, Covington, one of the self-made and enterprising business men of Covington, is a native of Wurtemburg Germany. In 1854 when twenty-one years of age he immigrated to the United States, He spent a short time in Connecticut, and then came to west and stopped in Montezuma, Parke county Indiana, for about six months. In 1855 he came to Covington where he has since lived. He began in Covington by working in a hotel for about four years. He then returned to Germany and brought his father and mother to this country, some of his brothers and sisters coming also, so that there were six of them in all. He came direct to Covington and for the next four years he was engaged in the cooper’s trade, then in the saloon business for about two years, then in 1865 in the manufacture of beer. He had however spent but two years in the latter when his brewery burned, he losing everything and being left with an unpaid debt of $3000. Still determined to succeed he began again in a small way and by economy and careful management he gradually recovered paid off the debt and is now running an establishment with a capacity of 20,000 barrels of beer per annum. In addition to building up brewing establishment he has in company with his brother, erected a fine business block, and the present year (1880) will have completed one of the finest residence buildings in the city. In 1860 Mr. Miller was married to Miss Emma Schnider who is a native of Prussia, though a resident of Vermilion county Indiana at the time of their marriage. They have a family of six smart industrious children, three sons and three daughters.