Background
John Henry Miller was born on March 12, 1702, at Rheden in the principality of Waldeck, Germany, where his parents then resided.
John Henry Miller was born on March 12, 1702, at Rheden in the principality of Waldeck, Germany, where his parents then resided.
In 1715, young Miller was apprenticed to a printer in Basel.
Completing his apprenticeship, he went to Zürich as a journeyman, but soon opened a printing office of his own there and began the publication of a newspaper. Abandoning the business after a few years, he spent some time in travel. In 1741, he accompanied Count von Zinzendorf to Pennsylvania and for a short period worked as a journeyman in Franklin's printing shop in Philadelphia. He was back in Europe in 1742, and in 1744 opened a printing office in Marienburg, West Prussia. In 1751, he made a second visit to America and associated himself with Samuel Holland in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The two founded Die Lancastersche Zeitung, a bilingual paper, the second of its kind in America, the first being Franklin's Deutsche und Englische Zeitung. Soon afterward, however, Miller went to Philadelphia where he found work in the printing house of William Bradford, 1721/22-1791. He was again in Europe in 1754, and remained until 1760, when he recrossed the Atlantic, bringing with him equipment with which to set up a printing establishment in Philadelphia. In 1762, he began the publication of a newspaper, Der Wuchentliche Staatsbote, which he edited under the successive titles Der Wuchentliche Philadelphische Staatsbote, Der Wuchentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote, and Henrich Miller's Pennsylvanische Staatsbote until 1779. From his shop, also, a German almanac was issued each year. He printed a few books in both the German and English languages, chief among those in English being Juvenile Poems (1765), by the younger Thomas Godfrey, which included "The Prince of Parthia, " the first native play to be produced professionally in America. In 1765, when the Stamp Act became operative, Miller announced that he would suspend his newspaper "until it would appear whether means can be found to escape the chains forged for the people and from unbearable slavery". This suspension continued from October 31 to November 18. On July 5, 1776, Henrich Miller's Pennsylvanische Staatsbote had the privilege of being first to announce to the world the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Through the accident of circumstances it was the only newspaper then published in Philadelphia on Fridays, and July 4th that year fell upon Thursday. Unfortunately, Miller was not able to give the text of the historic document until the following Tuesday, but on that day he printed it in large type as an extra leaf to his journal. From September 17, 1777, to August 5, 1778, the occupation of Philadelphia by the British troops forced suspension again. The British seized his press and materials and removed them to New York, but after the enemy left Philadelphia Miller succeeded in reestablishing himself and his paper. On May 26, 1779, he retired from business and removed to the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he died.
Miller was a scholarly man and a good printer; his wife was equally gifted, being a woman of culture, who "spoke French fluently and was an excellent painter in water-colors".
He was a pedestrian of note; even when he was advanced in years he would occasionally walk from Philadelphia to Bethlehem, a distance of fifty-three miles.
In 1744, Miller married Johanna Dorothea Blanner, a Swiss.
