Return to the Land

John Miller

In the research of our Miller family heritage we established documentation as far back as the early nineteenth-century. Before this time, there seems to be little if any official recordings that give solid evidence of our line. Records were found of common names that gave rise to speculation and will be referred to later. It often became intriguing to find a name that promised familial connections only to be disillusioned when no offspring were located. After speaking with several qualified genealogists it became clear that old stories handed down from generation to generation would have to suffice. These stories undoubtedly have some basis in fact because of verified dates, locations, and reco gnizable names. Wouldn’t it have been rewarding to us now if we had listened to our parents and grandparents tell of our heritage when we were young? Vaden Miller, Jr. is one person who had an inquisitive nature and grasped an opportunity in his youth to ask about our family history. Without Vaden’s knowledge much of this portion of the book could not have been written. My cousin, Harvey Vaden Miller, Jr. was the first born of Harvey Vaden Miller, Sr. and Ina Lindamood Miller. As a youngster on the family farm in Bland County he had frequent contact and visits with our paternal grandparents, John Harvey Miller and Minnie Wright Miller, who farmed in the Kimberling section of the county. It was in their lifetime that our story begins. In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s Grandfather Miller’s family was close-knit and weekends were spent with congenial family gatherings on Kimberling Creek. Vaden, being older than I, established a closer relationship with Grandfather Miller. Vaden began to ask Grandfather who his father was and who his great-grandfather was and so on. In those days apparently families, even if they were proud of their heritage, were not particularly interested in accurate genealogical lineage or the idea of passing information down for future generations. Grandfather felt that Vaden was somewhat of a nuisance and tried to ignore his persistent questioning. Finally, after much persuasion, Grandfather spoke of his background. Our Grandfather was a wonderfully jovial and cordial man. He was proud of his family and in particular of his father and brother who were physicians in Bland County. He was a devout Methodist and was known to be very trustworthy; we believed what he said to be ‘the gospel truth’. Grandfather (John Harvey Miller) began by telling of his great-great-grandfather, John Miller (Johannes Mueller ) of Miller’s Mill. Miller’s Mill was an area adjacent to what is now the town of Fincastle in Botetourt County. Vaden also recalled a story told by our grandfather that during his youth he would travel by horseback from his home on Kimberling to Fincastle for social events and to visit his relatives. It seems improbable that he would have traveled this far without strong familial connections.

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