Henry Miller (January 5, 1853 - July 11, 1896) was an American electrical worker who became the first Grand President of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Miller was born on a ranch near
Fredericksburg, Texas. He worked as a water boy for a government project to string a
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
line from
San Antonio, Texas
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, to
Fort Clark when he was 14. He worked for
Western Union
The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
and other utility companies just starting out as a
lineman. In 1886, Miller worked for the St. Louis Municipal Electric Light and Power Company. During this time, he saw an opportunity to organize electrical workers when they came to the
St. Louis Exposition in 1890.
[They Dared to Dream, The 18-part History of the IBEW, Thorn Pozen, 1991 & The Electrical Workers' Story]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Henry
1853 births
1896 deaths
American trade union leaders