• Came to Michigan in 1854, according to 1894 Michigan Census.762

• Reuben Mills, a brother of the late Nelson and Barney Mills, holds a prominent place in the history of Marysville, both because of his sturdy and upright citizenship and his substantial connection with the lumbering interests of this part of the state. He was born in Wardsville, the Dominion of Canada, on April 11, 1839, the son of Barney and Margarette Ann (Hamilton) Mills.
As a boy Reuben Mills attended the school in Wardsville, Canada, during the short winter season, and at the Mills school in Marysville after he had come to this place at the age of nineteen [1858]. From the age of nine until he was thirteen Reuben lived at home, and then went to work by the month on a neighboring farm. After six years he came to Michigan, and here for one year was engaged in farm work for his brother. He then started in the lumber business, and in a single summer at running a shingle and lathe mill, and receiving pay by the thousand, he made the sum of four hundred dollars, a very remarkable amount for a boy of those days. Soon after this venture he found his way to the lumber woods, and there worked for some time, driving logs by way of Elk creek and Black river. Following that he worked in the Reeves, Williams and Mills saw mill, soon becoming foreman and an overseer of logging camps, a calling which he followed for thirty-five years. He invested in four hundred acres of farm land in Sanilac county, Michigan, and it has been so well improved under Mr. Mills’ management that it is now practically all under cultivation.
At the age of twenty-one Mr. Mills was united in marriage to Miss Corinthia Wright, of Marysville, Michigan. She died, leaving four children, Etta, Prudence Edith, Arlington, and Herbert R. Etta became the wife of John A. Rowe, a Methodist Episcopal minister, now the pastor of a church at Napoleon, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe have five children. Prudence Mills married Frank Geel, a farmer, and is now the mother of one child. Arlington Mills passed away in his twenty-first year, and his brother Herbert died at the age of seventeen.
Politically Mr. Mills is a thorough going Republican, and had the honor to start his allegiance to that party by casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln as president. He was a member of the school board of his district for forty years without a single break until his resignation on last July. Since his seventeenth year he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, the greater part of the time being also an office holder in the church.
In 1898 Mr. Mills was again married, his bride being Mrs. Addie M. Davis, of Marysville. It is interesting to record that in the days when Mr. Mills was a sturdy driver of logs for his brother he once, during a summer in the early sixties, cleared five thousand dollars in a single season.12, p 780

• Received 1/26th of the 1/4 share of the assets of said co-partnership belonging to the Barney Mills estate.739, p 4

• REUBEN MILLS: AGED PIONEER PASSES AWAY
Was One of the First in Developing Lumber Tracts in This Part of State
Marysville, Jan. 24 – Reuben Mills, pioneer resident of Marysville and one of the first developers of the lumber industry in this part of the state, died Sunday night at 12 o’clock at his Marysville home, after a lingering illness of one year’s duration. Heart trouble was the direct cause of death.
Mr. Mills, who had reached the age of 82 years had been in failing health for some time, and his death last night was not unexpected.
The death of Mr. Mills removes one of the last of the few surviving pioneers whose lives were given over to the development of this section of Michigan, and whose early life were filled with hardships of the lumber camps and log running which featured the early history of St. Clair county and vicinity.763

• 1842 Census: Mosa Township, London District, Ontario.297
• 1851 Census: Mosa township. Age 14.298, p 2,299,300, p 7
• 1860 Census: Vicksburg, St. Clair, Michigan. Age 19, sawyer, b Canada. Living with brother, Nelson Mills.301
• 1870 Census: Marysville, St. Clair, Michigan. Age 31, lumberman, $1,000; $0, b Canada.764
• 1880 Census: Port Huron, St. Clair, Michigan. Age 41, b Canada.695
• 1894 Michigan Census: Port Huron Township, St. Clair, Michigan. Age 53, b Canada. Foreman sawmill. Father b Scotland; mother b OH.762
• 1900 Census: St. Clair Township, St. Clair, Michigan. Age 61, b Mar 1839, Canada (W). Farmer. Parents b Scotland.729
• 1910 Census: St. Clair, St. Clair, Michigan. Age 70, b Canada. Farmer. Parents b Scotch.730