Daniel F. Miller

Daniel Fry Miller (October 4, 1814 - December 9, 1895), a pioneer lawyer, was briefly a U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district. He is the only person in Iowa history to successfully nullify a congressional election (and thereby force a re-vote, which he won but with little time left in the term).

Born in Cumberland, Maryland, Miller moved with his parents to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1816. After attending the public schools, he taught for several years. Next, he engaged in newspaper work in Wooster, Ohio. In 1830, he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was employed as a clerk in stores. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1839 and commenced practice in what is now Fort Madison, Iowa, then in Iowa Territory. In 1840, he served as member of Iowa's territorial house of representatives.

In 1848, the Whig Party nominated Miller to run against incumbent Democratic Congressman William H. Thompson. Thompson was declared the winner by the state's election canvassers, but Miller accused Thompson of absconding with the voting rolls from the election. The U.S. House resolved the contest over two years after it occurred, by deciding that neither Thompson nor Miller was entitled to the seat. That decision forced a special election, which Miller won. Thus, from December 20, 1850, to March 3, 1851, he was the First District's duly elected member of the Thirty-first Congress.

Following his brief service in Washington, he resumed the practice of law. In 1856 He served as presidential elector on the Republican ticket. Because Republican frontiersman John C. Fremont had carried Iowa, Miller became an official elector and his vote for Fremont was counted in the electoral college. He served as mayor of Fort Madison in 1859, before moving to nearby Keokuk, Iowa, where he continued the practice of law. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election as judge of the Iowa Supreme Court in 1860, losing to George G. Wright, who would serve an additional ten years on the Court and eventually serve one full term in the U.S. Senate.

Miller was elected mayor of Keokuk, in 1873. He served as member of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1894. He retired from active practice in 1895 and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he died December 9, 1895. He was interred in St. Peter's Cemetery, in Keokuk.

References

• Daniel F. Miller at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa 1st W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum 2nd Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack 3rd Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young 4th Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King 5th Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King 6th A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy 7th Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle 8th McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven 9th Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey 10th Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist 11th Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell AL Hastings and Leffler Terr Chapman A. Dodge