Representative James Cutler Milliman View All Years

JAMES CUTLER MILLIMAN was born in Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, New York, January 28, 1847, and died in Santa Monica, California, July 21, 1933. His parents were Francis and Emily (Hunt) Milliman. Owing to the death of his mother he went when nine years old to live on a farm where for four years he worked for his board and clothes. Later he received small wages. In March, 1864, he tried to enlist in the Union Army but was rejected because of his youth, but in September of the same year he was accepted and became a member of Company E, Forty-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry. At the siege of Petersburg he was shot through the elbow, which necessitated the amputation of his arm. He received his discharge December 28, 1864, and in January, 1865, he with his father and four brothers removed to Harrison Township, Harrison County, Iowa. The next two years he spent as a student in the State University of Iowa, Iowa City, and the following two years teaching school in Harrison County. The fall of 1868 he was elected county recorder, running on the Republican ticket, and served in that position eight years. In September, 1876, he with A. L. Harvey established the Harrison County Bank at Logan. April 1, 1879, he sold his interest in the bank and for the next four years he gave his time principally to real estate business, except for one year he was at Council Bluffs in a wholesale farm machinery enterprise. In 1884 he joined with Almon Stern in Logan in real estate, abstract, brokerage, and insurance business, which connection continued until 1907. In 1893 he was elected representative and served in the Twenty-fifth General Assembly. In 1897 he was elected lieutenant governor, and was re-elected two years later, serving the four years of Governor’s Shaw’s administration. Among his many activities was his work as an auctioneer, for years crying farm sales. For many years he was active in the Grand Army of the Republic and was commander of the Department of Iowa for the year 1908-09. He served several terms as mayor of Logan. His loyalty to his community was shown in a great many ways, one being the gift to the town of a wooded tract of thirty acres, known as Milliman Hill. Although his declining years were spent in California, he retained his citizenship at Logan, voting by absent ballot.