| Lucas M. Miller | |
| State1: | Wisconsin |
| Term Start1: | March 4, 1891 |
| Term End1: | March 3, 1893 |
| Predecessor1: | Charles B. Clark |
| Successor1: | Owen A. Wells |
| State2: | Wisconsin |
| State Assembly2: | Wisconsin |
| District2: | Winnebago 1st |
| Term Start2: | January 3, 1853 |
| Term End2: | January 2, 1854 |
| Predecessor2: | Dudley Blodget (whole county) |
| Successor2: | George Gary |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Birth Date: | 15 September 1824 |
| Birth Place: | Livadia, First Hellenic Republic |
| Death Place: | Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Restingplace: | Riverside Cemetery, |
| Parents: | Jonathan Peckham Miller (adopted father) |
| Allegiance: | United States |
| Branch: | Wisconsin Terr. Militia |
| Rank: | Colonel |
Lucas Miltiades Miller (September 15, 1824December 4, 1902) was a Greek American immigrant, lawyer, Democratic politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Wisconsin's 6th congressional district during the 52nd Congress. He was the first Greek American member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and was an instrumental figure in the establishment and development of the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.[1]
His name was often abbreviated, and some sources spelled his first name as "Lucius."
Lucas Miller was born in Livadia, Greece.[2] At the time, this area was the First Hellenic Republic, as Greece was engaged in their War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. Miller was left an orphan by that war before age 4. He was found wandering the streets of an abandoned town shortly after fighting had occurred there, and was adopted by American abolitionist Jonathan Peckham Miller, who had served as a colonel in the Greek Army during the Greek revolution. His birth name was lost, and so he was given the name "Lucas Miltiades Miller" by his adopted father.[1]
He accompanied his foster father upon his return to the United States and settled in Montpelier, Vermont, in 1828. He attended the common schools until age 16, when he had to begin taking care of his foster father's affairs, due to medical incapacitation. He studied law, obtained his citizenship, and was admitted to the bar.[3] [4]
In 1846, he traveled west to the Wisconsin Territory and purchased 500 hundred acres of land in the settlement that would soon become Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Immediately after arriving in Oshkosh, he became an influential voice in the development of the region. He was a leader in the effort to set aside land along the Fox River for development of navigability improvements. He was instrumental in the movement to relocate the county seat of Winnebago County from to Oshkosh, and began donating pieces of his own land for the construction of county buildings. Ultimately, all of Miller's land became part of the city of Oshkosh, with his central homestead making up what is now the Menominee Park Zoo.[3] He started a law practice in Oshkosh, and operated a general store in partnership with Edward Eastman, a fellow emigrant from Vermont. In the midst of the Mexican–American War, in 1847, Miller was appointed colonel of the Winnebago County militia by governor Henry Dodge;[5] he often utilized the honorific "colonel" for several years thereafter.
Miller also became active politically with the Democratic Party, but joined the brief offshoot known as the "Union Democratic Party" in the political tumult following the Mexican Cession. He was the Union Democratic nominee for Wisconsin Senate in what was then the 4th Senate district, but was defeated by John A. Eastman, the Regular Democrat or "Hunker" candidate.[6] [7] [8] Miller ultimately returned to the Democratic Party after the Compromise of 1850.
In 1852, he was nominated for Wisconsin State Assembly in Winnebago County's 1st district, which then comprised the southern half of the county, plus Oshkosh. He won the seat and served in the 6th Wisconsin Legislature. During that legislative term, he advocated for allowing the Menominee people to remain in Wisconsin and furthered his plans for Fox River improvements. Also during that term, Miller was appointed by the governor to serve as chairman of the state board of commissioners for public works.[9]
Miller sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Wisconsin at the 1859 Democratic state convention, but received only 15 of 206 delegate votes in the first round, then fell to just 7 votes in the second round, before withdrawing from the race.[10]
Miller was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress (March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893), though was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1892. He died in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on December 4, 1902, and was interred in Riverside Cemetery.
While serving in Congress, he proposed a Constitutional amendment[11] to change the country's name to "the United States of the Earth" because "it is possible for this republic to grow through the admission of new states...until every nation on earth has become part of it."[12] [13]