James Millikin

James Millikin (1827 – March 2, 1909) is the founder of Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.

James Millikin was born on August 2, 1827 in Clarkstown, now Ten Mile, western Pennsylvania, to Abel Millikin and Nancy (Van Dyke) Millikin. Abel was a moderately successful farmer.

Little is known about his childhood in Western Pennsylvania prior to his enrollment as a student at Washington College (now Washington and Jefferson College). While attending college and seeing his classmates struggle with college expenses, James made a vow that if he made a fortune he would found an institution of learning where all who sought an education fitting for any occupation they may desire.

While medicine had become the desired career of some of his relatives, James was more persuaded towards business as his profession. Partnering first with his own father, James and Abel spent the summer of 1849 driving sheep to Indiana to sell at market. The following year, James drove another flock to Danville, Illinois, pasturing them briefly and selling the herd at a larger profit.

His educational interests continued briefly during the winter of 1850 in Wabash College at Crawfordsville, IN before he resumed his sheep herding enterprises. It was during the 1850s that James began purchasing government land tracts throughout Illinois and Iowa for investment. Expanding his herds to include livestock, he later came to be called "first cattle king of the Prairie State."

For a time, he settled near the town of Danville, IL for his enterprises.

It is unclear when James Millikin formally met Anna Bernice Aston, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Aston and Hetty (Bartlett) Aston. Rev. Samuel Aston was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and served churches near James Millikin's childhood home. Anna Bernice Aston attended Washington Female Seminary in Washington, Pennsylvania around the same time that James Millikin's own sisters were students. A legend, according to Dr. Albert Reynolds Taylor, first president of Millikin University, was James' sisters wrote to him encouraging the relationship.

Rev. Samuel Aston later located to Mt. Zion, Illinois, but died November 7, 1856. James and Anna were married on January 1, 1857 at the Aston home in Mt. Zion by Rev. E. W. Thayer of the First Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Illinois.

Around the time of his marriage, James had been visiting Decatur and believed he saw a good future with it. It is estimated that when James and Anna arrived in Decatur, James had a personal fortune of $75,000, acquired in large part from selling his government land purchases for good profit as development grew.

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