Gaylord B. Miller, M. D., a leading practitioner of medicine in Grand Rapids, Mich., is a native of Torrington, Litchfield county, Conn.., was born July 25, 1831, and a son of Thomas Allen and Mary C. (Hudson) Miller, natives of the same state. His paternal grandfather, Ebenezer Miller, was a patriot of the Revolutionary war and fought under Gen. Isreal Putnam, his ancestors having been of English and Welsh descent.

Dr. G. B. Miller is the eldest of a family of three children, the next in order of birth being John Thomas, a graduate of Yale college and an attorney in Grand Rapids, and the youngest, Hobart Brizillia, being proprietor of a boat-house at Reed’s Lake. The doctor was preliminarily educated in the Torrington academy, passed thence to the Stockbridge (Mass.) academy, where he was prepared for college, and at East Hampton, Mass., was fitted for medical tuition. His first preceptor in this science was Dr. James Welsh, at Winsted, Conn., under whom he was prepared for lectures at Woodstock, Vt., which he attended in 1849; he then passed one year in the office of Dr. J. B. Whiting, at Torrington, Conn., and the winter of 1850-51 he passed at the Michigan university, Ann Arbor. He then attended the Berkshire Medical college at Pittsfield, Mass., from which he graduated in 1852, and started in practice at Harwinton, Conn., where his success was so gratifying that he remained there eleven years.

In 1863 Dr. Miller came to Grand Rapids. During the Civil war he served as assistant surgeon for eight months in the hospital at East Bridge street, Grand Rapids, and at the general rendezvous near Jackson, Mich.; was then ordered to report to Gen. Sherman, and joined the army at Chattanooga, Tenn.; was on the Atlanta campaign, and was finally honorably discharged for physical disability at his own request, and this disability still clings to him, rendering him incapable, at times, of continuous professional labor.

Dr. Miller became a member of the Massachusetts State Medical association in 1852, of the Connecticut State Medical society in 1853, and the Litchfield county Medical society in the same year, and of the American Medical association in 1860. He is now a member of the various medical associations of Grand Rapids, of the Michigan State Medical society, and was president of the Grand Rapids Medical and Surgical society but is not now an active membership with any of these, for the reason that he is unable to attend their meetings, particularly their night sessions. For three years he was president of the Grand Rapids board of health.

The marriage of Dr. Miller took place in New Hartford, Litchfield county, Conn., December 13, 1853, to Miss Caroline Amanda Watson, daughter of Thomas and Emeline (Curtis) Watson, who both died in West Winston, Conn., at the respective ages of seventy-six and eighty-five years. The grandfather of Thomas Watson served gallantly in the Revolutionary war, and was a descendant of John Watson, an Englishman, who settled in America in 1644. By marriage, the grandfather was connected with the families of Gov. Bradford, Jonathan Edwards and Noah Webster, and Mrs. Miller is a sixth cousin of our naval hero, Admiral George Dewey. Mrs. Miller is a lady of liberal education, being a graduate of Mount Holyoke seminary, in the class of 1851.

To Dr. and Mrs. Miller have been born three children, viz: Mary Emma, who died unmarried in 1881, at the age of twenty-six years; Thomas Watson, a merchant for a number of years in Grand Rapids, and Alice, wife of Rev. Henry Hopkins Kelsey, pastor of the Fourth Congregational Church, at Hartford, Conn. The doctor and his wife are members of the Park Congregational church at Grand Rapids.

In politics the doctor has been a life long republican, his father having been an active abolitionist. In his profession he keeps in close touch with the advancement which is continually being made. Neglect of patients can never be charged against him, and in the performance of each day’s duties he finds inspiration and strength for the labor of the day following. These sterling qualities have brought him an extensive practice, and his standing with the public and the profession is all that could be desired by even the most ambitious.