Miller, Daniel D. (1864-1955)
Daniel D. "D. D." Miller, a Mennonite (Mennonite Church) bishop and leader, was born in Lagrange County, Indiana, on 10 December 1864, a son of Daniel P. and Anna (Hershberger) Miller. He prepared himself for teaching school, and followed the profession for twenty years. On 26 May 1889 he married Jeanette "Nettie" Hostetler. They had thirteen children, of whom eleven grew to maturity: Orie O., Ernest E., Truman T., Ida, Clara, Wilbur W., Kathryn, Bertha, Alice, Samuel S., and Mabel. All became schoolteachers for longer or shorter periods. Orie O. Miller (born 1892) became executive secretary of the Mennonite Central Committee, Ernest E. Miller (born 1893) president of Goshen College, and Samuel S. Miller (born 1908) a bishop in the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference (MC). As a young man D. D. Miller went west to Cass County, Missouri; while there he united with the Amish Mennonite Church. After some time he returned to Indiana and became a member of the Forks Amish Mennonite Church in his home community. There in 1890 he was chosen as deacon, one year later as preacher, and in 1906 as bishop, D. J. Johns performing all three ordinations. About a year after his ordination he voluntarily adopted the "plain coat" so that his ministry would be more effective among the Mennonites (MC), although his Amish Mennonite church did not require it. He traveled far and wide in the Amish Mennonite and Mennonite brotherhoods, served as an evangelist and a Bible Conference instructor times without number, and exerted a strong influence everywhere he went. His sermons were well prepared, his voice was strong and clear, his thought processes clear and direct. As a disciplinarian he was somewhat strict, yet not a legalist.
He, wrote considerably for the Gospel Herald, the organ of the Mennonite Church (MC), and contributed several sections to the large Bible Doctrine book of 1914. He was active in his local conference, first the Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference, and then in the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference (MC) after the merger of 1916. He was the first moderator of the united conference, and frequently thereafter. He was active in the Mennonite General Conference (MC), on the Mennonite Board of Education (MC), and especially on the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (MC), of which he served as president 1920-1935, and as treasurer 1939-1940. He continued to serve a large bishop district in the churches of Indiana until his health collapsed in his eightieth year, early in 1944. He died 19 January 1955. Burial was in the Forest Grove cemetery, southeast of Middlebury.
| Author(s) | John C Wenger |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1957 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Wenger, John C. "Miller, Daniel D. (1864-1955)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Miller,_Daniel_D._(1864-1955)&oldid=143314.
APA style
Wenger, John C. (1957). Miller, Daniel D. (1864-1955). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Miller,_Daniel_D._(1864-1955)&oldid=143314.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 691. All rights reserved.
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