JOHN MILLER

The following bio was taken from page 308 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

 The original Millers came from Ireland because of religious persecution.  They landed in Pennsylvania then migrated to South Carolina and Virginia.  John Miller, who went to South Carolina, was the father of General Andrew Miller, who was born in South Carolina in the Abbeville District in 1874.  John was reputed to have planted the first sugar cane in South Carolina and the first apple orchard in Texas.  He was a member of the South Carolina legislature and later moved to Georgia and married Mrs. Crawford, whose maiden name was Cherry.  She was a Huguenot who had come from France because of the persecution of the Huguenots.  She had a brother, John Cherry, who was in Washington’s army.  General Andrew Miller was also a general of the Georgia Militia and fought in the War of 1812. 

To the Miller-Crawford union were born John Cherry Miller, a doctor; Andrew J.S. Miller, another doctor; H.V.M. Miller, who was Dean of Atlanta Medical College for fifteen years; and Mary I. Miller.  The first son, John C. Miller, married twice, first to a Thompson.  The couple had four children, one of whom, Emily, married Mattison Barton; and another, Mary I. Miller, who married John C. Carr, whose people came from England.  His mother was named Mary and it was said that she came here so suddenly that she never knew her exact age as it was recorded in the church books in England.

 Mary I. Miller and John C. Carr had four children, one of whom, Rachel Carr, was born in 1843 and died in 1863.  She married William Preston Davis, and of her children, one daughter named Siddie (Davis) married Emory Lloyd II.  An interesting family legend was repeated by Siddie from her father’s recount of fighting in the Civil War when his wife, Rachel Carr Davis, died at home.  When he returned, no one wanted to be the one to tell him the sad news.  He told his family, “You need not be so careful.  Rachel came to me on the battlefield.”

A sister of Rachel, who was also named Siddie, married Henry L. Miller, the son of Mary I. Miller, previously mentioned.  Daisy Miller, one of their five children, married Will Bradford of Overton.  On their land the discovery well, Daisy Bradford No. 3 was the beginning of the East Texas oil field production.                 

Submitted by Joan Lloyd