Lewis Miller (July 24, 1829 – February 17, 1899) was an American businessman and philanthropist who made a fortune in the late 19th century as inventor of the first
combine (harvester-reaper machine) with the blade mounted efficiently in front of the driver, to the side of the horse(s), rather than pulled behind. His daughter
Mina (1865–1947) married fellow Ohio inventor
Thomas Alva Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
on February 24, 1886.
Biography
Miller was born in
Greentown, Ohio. He devoted much of his wealth to public service and to charitable causes associated with the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. ...
, and was the inventor of the "
Akron Plan
The Akron Plan was a scheme for the design of churches and other religious buildings that housed Sunday schools. It was characterized by a set of wedge-shaped classrooms that radiated from the direction of a central superintendent's platform. Do ...
" for Sunday schools, a building layout with a central assembly hall surrounded by small classrooms, a configuration Miller conceived with Methodist minister
John Heyl Vincent and architect
Jacob Snyder. The arrangement accommodated 1) a collective opening exercise for all the children; 2) small radiating classrooms for graded instruction in the uniform lesson of the day; and 3) a general closing exercise in the central assembly area.
John Heyl Vincent collaborating was baptist layman B.F. Jacobs devised a system to encourage Sunday school work, and a committee was established to provide the International Uniform Lesson Curriculum, also known as the "Uniform Lesson Plan". By the 1800s, 80% of all new members were introduced to the church through Sunday school.
In 1874, interested in improving the training of Sunday school teachers for the Uniform Lesson Plan, Miller and Vincent worked together again to found what is now the
Chautauqua Institution
The Chautauqua Institution ( ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education center and summer resort for adults and youth located on in Chautauqua, New York, northwest of Jamestown in the Western Southern Tier of New York State. Established in 1874, the ...
on the shores of
Chautauqua Lake, New York.
Miller died in 1899 of
kidney disease
Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can ...
and was buried in
Glendale Cemetery in Akron, Ohio.
[Vigil, Vicki Blum (2007). ''Cemeteries of Northeast Ohio: Stones, Symbols & Stories''. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ]
References
Further reading
*''New York Times'', February 18, 1899, p12
*''Lewis Miller'' by Ellwood Hendrick, 1925. . Book, discusses his farm machinery patents as well as his co-founding of the Chautauqua Institution.
*"Theodore W. Miller Rough Rider, his Diary as a soldier together with the story of his life..." by George E Vincent 1899
External links
*
Biography at National Inventors Hall of Fame*
1899 film of a ''Buckeye Mower (Reaper)'' harvesting wheat in Queensland Australia(link appears inactive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Lewis
1829 births
1899 deaths
19th-century American inventors
19th-century American philanthropists
People from Stark County, Ohio
Chautauqua Institution
Methodists from Ohio
Edison family
Burials at Glendale Cemetery, Akron
Philanthropists from Ohio
Methodists from New York (state)