Frank Millard was born on the eve of the Civil War on January 22nd, 1860 to Leander and Sarah VanVleck Millard in Palo, Ionia County, Michigan.According to a TrumpetHerald poster and Millard cornet owner David Koch, in 1884, Frank became an original employee of the J.W. York Band Instrument Company in nearby Grand Rapids. By 1899, he was listed as bandmaster of the 32nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry, with the staff position rank of Chief Musician.
1901, Frank Millard partnered with George Newell (3/28/1865 – 4/7/1933) from Kalamazoo and later Coldwater, and Newell Thomas (1853 – after 1930). The Grand Rapids firm was called Newell, Millard & Thomas. It produced a mix of brass instruments from 1901 through 1903 before being broken up.
Sometime after the split, F. Millard & Company was incorporated to again produce brass instruments. Before 1908, and probably before 1905, Millard, who remarried to Cassie Banasawitz Millard (11/2/1869 – 5/14/1939), set-up the new firm in Detroit. In 1912, Millard became the 7th company permitted to place the shield logo of the Metal Polishers’, Buffers’, Platers’, Brass and Silver Workers Union on instruments. The company had signed the “regular Agreement” with Detroit’s Local #1 on November 15th, one day ahead of J.W. York’s Grand Rapids Band Instrument Company.
