Return to the Land

and sometimes play their musical instruments. It mostly functioned as a store but also was a place of hospitality. The store sold poultry, foodstuffs, cracked corn, buckwheat flour, cornmeal, and dry goods. In addition to the general store Edgar branched out into the timber business. Although Virginia Hardwood Company had harvested much of the timber in the northwestern part of Kimberling there remained large areas of uncut timber that he began to process. He acquired a sawmill and produced lumber. By the age of 35 he decided it was time to wed and raise his own family. He met Edna Pearl Beasley from Dublin, Virginia and they were married on June 6, 1928 at the First Baptist Church in Pulaski, Virginia. My Aunt Pearl never quite took to country life but she returned with her husband to Kimberling where his business was located. They had one daughter named Margie Lee. The family lived in a beautiful white frame house built by Uncle Edgar. It was located a few yards from his store and a short distance from John Harvey ’s home. Margie Lee related many stories about her grandparents who lived next door and for whom she developed a great love. As the coalfields in southern West Virginia became more developed they began to require timber for the mining process. Edgar found this to be an economic advantage and he used his sawmill to cut mining caps and also mining props that he hauled on his trucks to the mines. He had two black Ford trucks that he used in hauling timber as well as taking the family to church or to visit relatives. Edgar also did some farming. Often, when he would be driving Aunt Pearl in the timber truck, she would yell at Miller and tell him ‘to watch the road’. All the Miller brothers, including my father, often “farmed from the road”. Edgar also maintained an active church life and was superintendent of the Sunday School at the Salem Methodist Church that his father and grandfather had attended and supported. Pearl was musically gifted and played the pump organ at Salem. The church’s chancel was constructed of cherry wood that was donated by Dr. Lorenzo John Miller. The other Miller family members attended this church until their adulthood and most were baptized there. Edgar had musical talent and played the fiddle. He and his first cousin, Archie Helvey, would play a duo, with banjo and fiddle, of the song Cripple Creek. As a youngster I surely was impressed listening to their performances and was in awe of their abilities; especially not having any musical aptitude myself. During the World War II years there was still no electricity on Kimberling but Edgar was progressive and resourceful enough to install electrical wiring in his home. He powered the lines with a Delco Plant, which consisted of a series of very large heavy glass batteries. He had lights in the yard so the family could play croquet at night. Years later when he and Pearl lived in Dublin he would often lament his monthly electric bills as he remembered the old Delco Plant with its low cost.

In the late 1940’s Edgar had become successful enough that he purchased a new engine to power his sawmill. Shortly thereafter the sawmill burned leaving him short of earning a

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