Return to the Land

PART II

The Children of John Harvey and

Minnie Catherine Miller -------------------------------------

Edgar Lorenzo John Miller

John Harvey and Minnie Catherine Miller married in 1892. They first began their life together in a small cabin up the hollow from the present Miller homestead on Kimberling. Later they moved to the home built by Dr. Lorenzo John Miller, John Harvey’s father, where they raised their children and lived for the remainder of their lives. They had eight children all of whom grew up honoring their parents and keeping in close touch with each other throughout their lives. Edgar Lorenzo John Miller was born to John Harvey and Minnie on September 24, 1893. As Edgar came of age he helped his father with the farm chores and learned the basic principles of life that would help him become a successful businessman later. There was a one-room schoolhouse about a mile from his house where he received his basic education. The school has long been destroyed but all of the Miller children attended there. He then attended Hiwassee College in Tennessee and one year at Emory and Henry College in Washington County in Southwestern Virginia. Tuition fees were minimal in those days but work was required of the students who had limited resources. Edgar was an industrious student and worked at the college to help pay for his tuition, textbooks, housing and food. His various responsibilities included working in the kitchen, waiting tables, working in the laundry and milking cows in the dairy. He kept his clothes neat by pressing his pants at night beneath the mattress of his bed so the crease would be correct the following day. He did not formally complete his studies but did obtain enough college education to become a teacher in a small school on Little Walkers Creek in Bland County. When World War I began he entered the army at the age of about 24 years old. He completed his basic training quickly and was transferred to Norfolk, Virginia to wait being shipped to Europe. Fortunately the war ended before he had to leave the states and he returned to Kimberling to begin his life’s work. He began his business career by running a general store in a building about 100 yards up the road from John Harvey ’s home. This store was a tall two story white boarded building with a large uncovered front porch and a single flat sloping roof. On warm spring and summer days his patrons would gather on the loading platform or porch and sit in rocking and straight back chairs where they would exchange stories, renew acquaintances,

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