American Art Collaborative

The artist's younger brother Decatur Howard Miller distinguished himself as a leader of the Baltimore business community. As a young man, he entered the tobacco business of Jacob Heald and eventually succeeded his employer as head of the firm. He continued to direct the business in his own name until 1880. Miller also served as director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Baltimore Dry Dock Company, the Consolidation Coal Company, and the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, which operated ships along the northeastern Atlantic coast. He was at one point a member of the city council and vice-president of the Board of Trade (1875-1876). D. H. Miller appears to have assumed responsibility for the financial affairs of his brothers and sisters, and it was probably his astuteness as an investor that led to the artist's financial independence.