Representative Justin Willard Miles View All Years
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Justin Willard Miles
Jackson County
Born in Canaan, Wayne Co., Ohio, June 18, 1830. He is a descendent of English stock, his great-grandparents coming from the mother country about 1750 and settling in New England. Coming from the old Whig stock, they are naturally Republican, and are of that radical mold that makes them strong partisans. Our subject was elected a member of the Seventeenth General Assembly from Jackson County, Iowa, overcoming a large Democratic majority, and served his constituency in a very acceptable manner. He was made a member of the Agricultural Congress of the United States by Gov. Sherman. Representing his State in that body for five consecutive sessions, he was honored with the Chairmanship of the Iowa delegation. Mr. Miles was married, Feb. 4, 1856, to Miss Sarah Jane Heckert, daughter of John and Saloma (Harsh) Heckert. Mrs. Miles is a native of the same town as her husband, and was born March 4, 1837. To them have been born three children, namely: Hattie Idell; Pearl died, aged two years; and Benjamin Franklin. When Mr. Miles began life here in Iowa he had but little money, and his success is largely due to his own indefatigable industry and application to various business enterprises, among which was farming, which he closely followed up to 1870. In that year, when the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad was built, he, with eleven others, went on a bond for $15,000, to be paid when the road was completed to the town of Preston, the first town west of Miles, and the contract was carried out by both parties. After the station was located at Miles he took charge of it, and engaged in dealing in livestock and in the grain business. He was agent here for seven years, and in the grain and produce trade for twelve years, doing an extensive and lucrative business. During this time he still carried on his farming interests. Few men in Iowa have had so extensive an acquaintance throughout the entire State as Mr. Miles. His fine conversational powers, combined with his genial, frank disposition, make him the center of attraction in every social circle. He has, for many years, taken great interest in Free Masonry, and has taken all the degrees, both ancient and modern, except the thirty-third degree. He is now quite extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits, and is the founder and President of the Exchange Bank of Miles, where he now resides.
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