Gustavus Hindman Miller

Born in Texas in 1857, he grew up after the early death of his father and was educated in Coryell County before moving to Tennessee as a young man. He built a successful career in business there, working first as a store clerk and later becoming a merchant, manufacturer, financier, and farmer associated with Chattanooga.

He is remembered today mainly as the author of Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted; Or, What's in a Dream (1901), a wide-ranging dream reference that helped make his name last well beyond his business career. The book gathered dream symbols, folk beliefs, and moral advice into a format that proved hugely popular with general readers.

That mix of everyday common sense and fascination with the mysterious is part of what still makes his work interesting. Even though the book reflects the ideas of its era, it remains a familiar name in the history of popular dream interpretation.