Return to the Land

Harvey Vaden Miller

Harvey Vaden Miller was born on July 11, 1910. Vaden received his elementary education on Kimberling and farmed with his father where he developed a life long passion for farming. As he became of age he left Kimberling and moved to Bluefield where he roomed and boarded with his older brother Carl and his wife Estelle. He found employment at the National Electric Coil Company becoming a craftsman assembling coils for electric motors. On January 10, 1931 he married Ina K. Lindamood at the courthouse in Princeton, West Virginia. Vaden was 20 years old and Ina was 19 years old at the time. Ina was born in Smith County, Virginia and her family had moved to Bluefield where her father worked for Norfolk and Western. Shortly after their marriage the couple returned to Kimberling to help John Harvey farm. However, there were not enough economic resources for two families therefore Vaden and Ina returned to Bluefield. Vaden resumed work at National Electric Coil Company . While residing there their first two children, Lois Jean and Vaden, Jr., were born. In 1935, National Electric Coil Company offered Vaden a position in Columbus, Ohio. Vaden and his family arrived in Ohio by train. Their third child, Barbara Ann, was born in Columbus. In 1940, after five years in Ohio, Vaden began to long for the mountains of Virginia. He moved his family back to a white two-story frame house that they had purchased on Route 606 in Bland near Kimberling. The house came with some farmland. This property was purchased from James Miller the grandson of Abraham Woodson Miller and Vaden ’s great uncle. Vaden commuted to his employment at National Electric Coil Company in Bluefield as well as ventured into his own small farm operation working on weekends and at nights. For additional income Aunt Ina milked several cows and sold milk and eggs. All extra money went to defray their expenses. However, Aunt Ina was an industrious entrepreneur and wanted some money of her own. She would clean and dress chickens and take them to her neighbor, Jesse Finley, who would peddle them in town and give Ina the proceeds. Aunt Ina admits that Uncle Vaden never knew of her secret cache of spending money. Those two were ambitious and worked hard raising their family. They never complained of any hardships that they had to endure. Vaden commuted to Bluefield daily driving 20 miles over unpaved roads and crossing the treacherous East River Mountain. By the mid- 1940’s electricity had come to Bland County and Vaden became more progressive in his business ventures. A rural milk delivery pick up had begun and he and the family built a small dairy and milk house in 1947. Initially they sold Grade C milk, which was used for producing ice cream and milk by-products. Once their new dairy became operational it was upgraded to a Grade A facility. Vaden continued to work in Bluefield and Ina and the children ran the dairy. By then, three other children had been added to the family: Larry, Charles Douglas, and Catherine Marlene. The farming operation was profitable and more land was

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