Freeman Edwin Miller (May 19, 1864 – July 8, 1951) was an American poet, lawyer, newspaper editor, professor, and district court judge.
Early life
Freeman Edwin Miller was born May 19, 1864 near Newtown, Indiana.[1] He attended DePauw University from 1881 to 1890.[1][2] Miller began teaching at the age of 16 while attending university courses.[1] Upon graduation with his Bachelor of Arts in 1887 he was valedictorian.[1] He received his Master of Arts in 1890, and relocated to Stillwater, Oklahoma.[1]
Writing career
In 1886 Miller edited the Veedersburg Indiana Courier, and in 1887 he edited the Canadian Texas Crescent.[1] He was the publisher and editor for the Stillwater Advance and Daily Democrat in 1905.[3][4] In 1906 and 1907 was the publisher for the Stillwater Progress.[4] He wrote the column "Oklahoma Sunshine" for the Daily Oklahoman from 1905 to 1917.[4] His 1904-1905 "Oklahoma Sunshine" column from the Stillwater Advance which was later collected into a book of the same title.[5] Miller was an English literature professor from 1894 to 1898 and 1915 to 1916[6] at OSU in Stillwater, Oklahoma, then called the Agricultural and Mechanical College.[7] He chaired the English department beginning in 1894.[1] Miller was considered the territorial poet laureate of Oklahoma.[7][8][3] C.W. Moulton published Oklahoma and Other Poems in 1895, [9][10][8] and the Knickerbocker Press published Songs from the Southwest Country in 1898.[11] He performed his poetry at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.[3] His poem "The Builders" was read by the clerk at the Oklahoma state constitutional convention.[4] His epic poem, "Oklahoma: An Ode," was read at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.[12][13]
Legal career
In 1889 Miller was elected district attorney for Texas' 31st Judicial District in Canadian, Texas.[14][1] Miller filed suit against Payne County for unpaid attorney's fees, and the case was the first to be appealed to the Oklahoma State Supreme Court in 1907.[15][16] A proponent of alcohol prohibition, in 1892 Miller was president of the Stillwater branch of the Christian Temperance Union,[17] and upon statehood helped to write the Oklahoma's Prohibition Enforcement Act.[4] He was the secretary at the 1894 Democratic Statehood Convention of Oklahoma held in Perry, Oklahoma.[18] In 1932 Oklahoma Governor William H. Murray appointed him district judge for Oklahoma's 11th District Court, and he served until 1936.[4]
Personal life
In 1914 Miller married Ada M. Kelly.[19] He died on July 8, 1951 at the age of 87.[4]
^https://lccn.loc.gov/33038798
Miller, Freeman E., 1864-1951. Oklahoma, and other poems, by Freeman E. Miller. Buffalo, C. W. Moulton, 1895. vii, [9]-126 p., 1 l. front. (port.) 18 cm. PS3525.I54 O5 1895
^https://lccn.loc.gov/12036799
Miller, Freeman E., 1864-1951. Songs from the south-west country, by Freeman E. Miller. New York, The Knickerbocker Press, 1898. 196 p. front. (port.) 20 cm. PS3525.I54 S6 1898
