Shaver, F. A., Arthur P. Rose, R. F. Steele, and A. E. Adams, compilers.  "An
Illustrated History of Central Oregon." ("Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam,
Wheeler, Crook, Lake, & Klamath Counties")  Spokane, WA: Western Historical
Publishing Co., 1905.  p. 556.
 
JAMES H. MILLER

     a farmer, living about one-half mile northeast from Rutledge, in Sherman
county, was born in Indiana, on November 9, 1840. His father, Hulings Miller,
was of Quaker ancestrage, and his father, the grandfather of our subject,
enlisted under General Harrison, of Tippecanoe fame, of Indiana, to repel  the
savages, and was accidentally killed while helping to construct a fort at
Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother, the paternal grandmother of our subject, was a
Miss Ball before marriage to Mr. Miller. Our subject's mother was born in the
Carolinas, and is now residing with her son, Joaquin Miller, the "poet of the
Sierras," at Oakland Heights, California, aged eighty-eight. She was descended
from a Dutch family in the Oglethorpe colony, which were among the first
settlers in Georgia. The family moved to the Carolinas later, where Mrs. Miller
was raised. Our subject's parents left Indiana in February, 1852, and started
across the plains with horses and ox teams. The family consisted of the father
and mother, three sons and one daughter. They had a pleasant trip and, although
they saw many who had died from the ravages of small-pox and cholera, they had
no particular sickness and suffered no attacks from the Indians. The first
winter on the coast was spent at Parish Gap, near Salem, Oregon, and in the
spring they moved to Lane county, where the father took a donation claim. He was
killed in a runaway accident, concerning which, it is believed to this day,
there was foul play. He lived about a month after the alleged accident. Our
subject lived with his parents nine years in the Willamette valley and there
completed his educational training. Then he came to The Dallas and worked at the
carpenter trade for a few months, which he had learned previously. Being of an
adventurous spirit, he sought to the mines of the west and we next find him in
Pierce, Idaho. After a year there he returned home, and about that time was
stricken with the measles which were terribly epidemic at that time in the
Willamette valley. So fierce was the disease that he never fully recovered from
the effects. Later he went to eastern Oregon and was occupied at packing and
freighting for three years. Then he spent a winter in the Willamette valley
after which he went to Crook county, which was then Wasco county, and remained
there thirty years, stock-raising and farming, and there also he was married on
July 25, 1877, to Kate Pringle, who was born near Salem, Oregon, on September
20, 1852. Her father, Clark S. Pringle, was a native of Missouri and crossed the
plains, with ox teams, in 1846. He had a very trying time as a portion of his
stock died and the Indians stole some and they were beset with many other
hardships. He came by the Klamath Lake route, being among the very first over
that road, and the train nearly starved to death. They reached Salem on
Christmas day, 1846. His father took a donation claim and he remained with him
for two years, then being twenty-one, struck out for himself. He married
Katherine Sager and they now live in Spokane. She was born in Ohio and crossed
the plains with her parents, with ox teams, in 1844. At least she started across
the plains with her parents, but on the road her father and mother died, leaving
a family of seven children, the eldest being fourteen and the youngest an infant
in arms. A young German physician took charge of the children and cared for them
until they reached Walla Walla. Captain Shaw was in charge of the train and when
they reached Walla Walla, the children were given to Dr. Whitman to care for the
winter. He was appointed legal guardian of them all and they were with him at
the time of the massacre. Following that, they were raised in the Willamette
valley, where homes were found for them. It must be remembered that on this
occasion these girls were captured by the Indians and to the great credit of
Peter Steen Ogden it should be stated that he, the chief factor of the Hudson's
Bay Company, at Vancouver, Washington, ransomed them with his own private means
at the risk of losing his position with the company. The two boys, John and
Frances, were killed. The girls were Catherine, Elizabeth, Martha, Louise and
Henrietta. Louise died shortly after from the shock and exposure. Catherine, who
is Mrs. Miller's mother, was brought up by Reverend William Roberts at Salem.
     In 1897, Mr. Miller removed to Sherman county and he owned two different
farms of one half section each, in the county. For five years he lived on a
leased place near DeMoss Springs. Now he is dwelling on a farm of four hundred
and forty acres, owned by his son. He has sold all his own property in the
county. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller nine children have been born Ella, who married
John Grimes, and died in 1900, in Crook county, aged twenty-three; James R.,
living in this county; Perry P., who owns the place where his father resides;
Warren S., Melvin G., Ola P., Phernie N., Eugene H., and Earl K., all at home.
Mr. Miller has two brothers living, Cinnatus Hiner, the "poet of the Sierras,"
who writes under the nom de plume of "Joaquin Miller," living at Oakland
Heights, California; and George M., an attorney in Eugene, Oregon. Mr. Miller
also has one brother and one sister deceased, John B. and Ella. Mrs. Miller has
one brother, Sanford S., deceased, and two sisters living, Annie, wife of John
D. Bentley, of Colfax, Washington, and Lucie, wife of D. Collins, trainmaster in
Spokane. She has three other brothers deceased, Frank F., Marcus W., and Orva
C., and one sister deceased, Emma.
     Mr. Miller is a Republican and while in Crook county was quite active in
political affairs and was county surveyor there for some time. Mr. Miller is a
man who gained his educational training by his own efforts and is deserving of
much credit in that he fitted himself for the important position of surveyor.
     In 1852, Mr. Miller passed by the territory now embraced in Sherman county,
and then there was not a solitary white settler in it. He and his wife have
spent their lives in developing and building up Oregon, especially that portion
now embraced in this work. He enlisted to fight in the Rogue River Indian war,
but owing to his youth, he was placed with the wagon train, and there served
till the close of the war. He joined the Oregon Militia in 1861, expecting to
see service in the Civil war, but, owing to the continued outbreaks of the
savages, his command was detained here to quell the Indians.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2010 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.