George h MILLER

                   Henry Franklin Miller (born 1/16/1836 ; died 9/14/1915)
Henry and wife EMELINE LONG farmed in Illionis until 1881. They headedWest and spent one to two years near Fall City, Nebraska. Emeline died onFeb. 24, 1882near Fall City, Ne. Henry and his children continued on andsettled in the Norcatur-Clayton area in 1884. Two girls died of tyhoid,and in June of 1885, son Wilson was struck and killed by lightning whileplowing up sod. The following is from the 100 year ago items from theOberlin Hearld.
"Clayton Chips: W. A. Miller was killed by lightning while laying sod onhis house on his claim. J. C. Brooks, who was working with Miller, wasshocked by the lightning and knew nothing for some time;his team ran awayand threw him out of the wagon which ran over him. When they found him hewas calling for Miller."
Henry wasn't one of the real early settlers, but life here wasn't easy inthe 1880's. The main concern of the settler's was raising enough to feedtheir families and livestock.

The main crop in the "beginning" was sod corn. You simply plowed up thesod and then planted the corn in the newly broken sod. Later, they triedspring wheat and then winter wheat, which was more successful. Theydidn't have much entertainment in those days because they had so muchwork on their land and course, little technology. The women of the houseprepared the meals, made the clothes, and tried to garden in order toprovide more food for the family. The men did the "strenuous' workoutside of the home. Henry's son Wilson worked with Jacob Brooks diggingwater wells and building sod houses. Their pay was less than $l~00 a daySon's George and little Llyod worked with the livestock and farming.


Clayton was the town where the family went for supplies, but they onlybought or traded for things to eat, usually the things they couldn'traise themselves, such as sugar, salt, ect.

A lot of the settlers left the county during the 1880's, due to drought,sickness, and other hardships that were too much for some of them. Somesuffered starvation when they passed from Clayton towards the Eastbecause they ran out of supplies and couln't find, or sometimes afford tostop and re-stock for the journey. The settlers that hung on and stayedon the prairie seemed to have had the idea that if they could wait itout, someday this country would be a good place to live and farm. Most ofthefirst group of settlers didn't live long enough to see their dreamsand efforts become a reality.
Henry never went to school, but was self-educated. He taught himself howto read and write. A nephew of his who lived in Pennsylvania said, "Youcould always tell when Uncle Hen was coming for a visit. His papers andjournals would start arriving and in a day or so, [he] would come walkingin from Connellaville." Henry would ride the train from Clayton to hisson's home (about 4 miles), sometimes stopping at the Brooks' for a dayor two to bring them up to date on friends and relatives in Pennsylvania.
In his day, living to be about 80 years old was unusual, but Henry was abig, robust man able to do the hard work required in the early days inKS. He was bald and, like many people of that day, had a beard.
My grandpa, Gary Miller said, "A widower with 8 children, who stuck outthe hardships of pioneering in Decatur County in the 1880's, must havebeen quite a man. I would have really liked to have known him." Henry wasmy great great great grandfather.

Written by Melissa Miller & Edited by Gary Miller