MERRILL I. MILLS was born November 4th, 1819. in Canton, Connecticut, and was one of the many sons of the far east who have had much to do with the development and prosperity of the city. In obedience to his father's desire that he should enter a professional life, he took a course at the Connecticut Literary Institute at Sufheld, preparatory to a course at Yale. He, however, had little taste for college life, and expressed strongly his preference for a business career, and in 1833 he joined his father in the manufacture of gunpowder. For five years he was actively engaged in the practical departments of that business, and in 1838 went to Southern Alabama, as the representative of his father in a mercantile establishment there located. In 1840 he was called home by his father's illness, and for the next five years remained in Canton, devoting himself to the management of his father's business. By this time New England methods had ceased to suit his ambition. He had gained practical experience as a merchant and manufacturer, and turned to the west as an inviting field for more extended enterprises. He carefully studied the field and its prospects, and, determining to give his attention to merchandising through the west, lie set out in 1845 for Fort Wayne, Indiana. The close of navigation stopped the transit of his goods at Detroit, and this fact caused a radical change in his original purpose. He saw in Detroit a promising city, and without much delay decided to locate here. Establishing himself as a dealer in Yankee Notions, he pushed the business energetically, and extended his trade to many points in the west. He employed a number of teams and wagons, and they traversed the interior of several western States, and especially the fur regions. He exchanged his goods largely for furs, and incidentally built up a fur trade of extensive protioits, shipping liberally to foreign markets. Prosperity attended his efforts and he became one of the best known traders in the States of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. About 1850 he began the manufacture of cigars, sold large quantities throughout the west, and continued the cigar and fur business, in connection with later and more important enterprises, up to the time of his death. In 1861 he joined the late Frank Nevin in the manufacture of tobacco. This enterprise was prosperous from the beginning, and the firm continued until the death of Mr. Nevin In 1878. Mr. Mills then took as an associate the late W. H. Taft, and organized the Banner Tobacco Company, of which he was chosen president and manager. He was also prominently identified with other manufacturing interests. In 1867, with W. H. Taft and Jeremiah Dwyer, he organized the Detroit Stove Works, and In 1872, with Charles Ducharme and Jeremiah Dwyer, the Michigan Stove Company. He was made vice-president of each company and held both positions until his death. He organized and was for many years president of the Detroit Transit Railway Company. He was also vice-president of the Frankfort Furnace Company, the Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and president of the Eldridge Sewing Machine Company of Chicago, and was for many years a director of the First National Bank of Detroit. He was active in public affairs whenever his aid and counsel were needed. In polities he was a staunch Democrat, and was a prominent factor in the political field. In 1857 and 1858 he was chairman of the Democratic State Committee. During the late war he was among the most earnest workers in the cause of the Federal Union. His means, his influence and his time were all enlisted in the recruiting and equipment of regiments in Detroit. He served as Mayor of the city in 1866 and 1867, and his administration was marked b watchfulness and a conscientious regard for the promotion of all measures that promised to benefit and develop the best interests of the city. In 1868 he was the Democratic nominee for Representative to Congress from the First District. The District had. in 1866, given a Republican majority of four thousand five hundred. Mr. Mills was not elected, but he won a notable triumph in reducing the Republican majority to fifteen hundred. He was subsequently a member of the Board of Estimates, and in 1876 was a delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Convention which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the Presidency. The same year he was appointed by Governor Baglcy one of the Centennial Commissioners for the State of Michigan, but except that in 1881 he served as one of the first Board of Park Commissioners, the Centennial year marked his retirement from politics. He had participated to the full extent of his inclinations, and was content thereafter to leave to others the winning honors in that field. About 1880 the cares of a busy life brought indications of failing health, but, like all active spirits, he protested against yielding to the statement that his physical infirmities called for a halt. He did, however, in obedience to the advice of his physician, journey to Manitou Springs, Colorado. The journey proved a fruitless one, and he returned home in a feeble condition, and, amid his family and friends, passed away, September 14th, 1882, leaving as survivors his wife and two children. The extended and important business interests left by Mr, Mills fell at once in charge of his son, Merrill B. Mills, who had entered upon a business career at an early age, and his father's death consequently found him fully equipped for the duties which had devolved upon him. He is president of the Banner Tobacco Company and Frankfort Furnace Company; treasurer of the Michigan Store Company; vice-president of the Detroit Stove Works; a director in the Detroit Transit Railroad and in the Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Source: History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan By Silas Farmer 1890