Ionia County MI Archives Biographies.....Miller, John March 14, 1826 - 1900 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: William Brackett brackettwilliam@yahoo.com February 24, 2011, 7:58 am Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Ionia and Montcalm Counties, Mich Author: Portrait and Biographical Album of Ionia and Montcalm Counties, Mich The Portrait and Biographical Album of Ionia and Montcalm Counties, Mich. Was published in 1891 by Chapman Brothers of Chicago, Illinois. It contains on pages 723-725 a biography of John F. Miller. This biography reads: “John F. Miller. A boy who has in him the right spirit, who is manly and straightforward, courageous and enterprising, has opportunities to make a success in life, not withstanding he may have had unfortunate surroundings in childhood and have been called to pass through numberless discouragements in youth. The subject of this sketch can remember nothing bright about his childhood. He knows that his father and mother were natives of England, and that his mother’s maiden name was Foster. There were four children, two of whom are now living. He also knows the date of his birth, March 14, 1826, and that London, England, was the place of his nativity. But he can remember no happy home fireside, no food, endearing words and caresses. His first recollection is of being kicked and cuffed about from one place to another. He never had a home, for there are no homes in the slums of London. The first effort Mr. Miller made to work for wages was in 1834, when he entered the service of a baker and confectioner at Gravesend, England. Here he was treated worse than a dog. During his three years’ life with them he never knew what it was to sit down to the table to eat a meal, but his poor food was brought to him in the bakery and he ate it as he could. In the afternoons he had to deliver bread around the city, and had a certain portion of work to do before 1 o’clock, P.M. The eldest daughter attended the shop and gave him a larger task than he could possibly accomplish, but when he failed to be ready in time for his round of delivery he was unmercifully beaten and kicked about. He was then sent un-stairs to get his loaf of bread, and here he would find the lame daughter of the baker, who alone gave him kind words and encouragement. Seeing that he had been crying she would pat him on the back and say, ‘Never mind Johnny, you will be a man by and by.’ At the end of the three years the lad left his tyrannical master and tried to get another situation, but could not because he had no recommendation. He then went aboard a fishing smack, where he had to bind himself as a apprentice to the owners for seven years. He hoped that upon the water he would have more freedom, but found that he jumped from ‘the frying pan into the fire.’ He could not have met anywhere with more cruel and brutal treatment, for not a day passed that he was not felled to the deck by blows. He had, however, one friend here, the mate of the vessel, Jones by name, who took his part, but he could not endure the life he was obliged to lead. He finally ran away and went to Sheerness, a government naval station in England. Our subject shipped on board a twelve gun brig, ‘Espiegle,’ for the cruise as a second-class boy. The destination of the brig was China in 1844. He left Sheerness, touched at Ascension Island, thence to St. Helens, to Cape Good hope, to Singapore, East Indies to Borneo Island, and Hong Kong, China. His vessel engaged with others in forcing the forts on either side of Boga Tigress and barriers along another river, up to the city of Canton. It took a week to clear the way to the moorings and let hundreds of inhabited junks and sampans float down the river, thus opening a way to Canton. The seamen were thus employed during the day, and at night went ashore with the sappers and miners undermining the walls of Canton. On a certain day all was ready for the bombardment of the city. Then the English Commodore sent word that if the gates of the city were not opened by noon he would fire upon the city. At 11 o’clock the Mandarins came down and negotiated a truce. John miller was at Nankeen, up the Yang-tse Kiang River and all about those parts. He remained upon the brig for five years and in the meanwhile was promoted through all the grades to able seaman. Upon his discharge at Sheerness, England, he was second-class petty officer. He then shipped in the merchant service as able seaman and made a trip to Batavia, Java Island, upon the ship ‘Richard Thornton,’ making two voyages to that port from London, England. The he shipped on a coaster along the Irish coast for a short time. He left this vessel at Waterford, Ireland, and came to Liverpool on a packet, or passenger vessel, paying three pence for transportation, lodging and meals. He shipped on a six-hundred-ton brig loaded with coal for Acapulco, South America. They were twenty-eight days lying off Cape Horn, and each man was allowed only a pint and a half of water per day, no cooking being done for two weeks. They then bore away for the Island Juan Fernandez, where they expected to find no inhabitants. They reached shore at dark and anchored until morning, when they went ashore. They found there very unexpectedly two men, sailors, who had run away from a Whaling vessel on account of the hard service, and having been unable to find food were nearly starved. Not long after this favorable winds arose and the brig was able to make its destined port. The subject of this sketch had shipped to go to Acapulco and back, and was to receive for his wages $ 10 per month. At Acapulco he went ashore and by chance met a young American sailor, who had come there upon a condemned passenger vessel. This new friend advised him to leave the Britisher and ship to California at $ 110 per month. He stole away, and mingling with the passengers on the American bargue, the ‘Talma of Salem,’ for two weeks kept very quiet and made himself known to no one. One day he was standing in the fore part of the ship when a man accosted him, saying, ‘Young man would you climb up and get those socks for me on the rigging.’ He promptly assented and did the service for the stranger. This man was Mr. Richard Vosper. They entered into conversation and he confided his case to Mr. Vosper. It proved that he was one of the thirty gentlemen who had bought the vessel and were going to Panama. Our subject engaged to ship with him at 4 100 per month. The law of Acapulco was that all hands upon American vessels must go to the American Consulate and register. This our fugitive dare not do, so Mr. Vosper, of Saranac, shipped as the sailor and John miller’s name was registered as passenger. The captain of this barque was a poor navigator. The crew consisted of captain, mate and two sailors, our subject and a Dutchman. The American Consul refused to give the captain leave to sail unless he would take with him two Spaniards to a place called Rio Leo, between Acapulco and Panama. There was no discipline enforced on the vessel, and all on board were shareholders except John miller and the little Dutchman. Having been out about two months, they had been for a week lying on and off the coast, looking for Rio Leo that they might land the Spaniards. About sundown they saw a vessel close into the shore. They concluded that she was also bound for Rio Leo and that they might safely follow her, and as in a short time she was lost to sight thought that s he had gone to port. In the morning they had imperceptibly drifted away, but they went sailing nine miles an hour in the direction which they ignorantly supposed was the right one. When within four miles of shore they saw a channel, and our subject suggested that they were not where they thought they were, but as they all voted to continue in that direction they went ahead at a brisk rate and ran into a sand bar. No damage was done, but they did not dare to go further in that direction. A boat was fitted out with six men to carry the Spaniards to land, and John Miller was one of the six. They left the ship at daylight, had a good breeze and in the afternoon found themselves at the mouth of the river. They saw a shanty on the bank and two Mexicans. They entered the river and going up four miles found themselves actually at Rio Leo, a new shanty settlement. A landing was made, and our sailors went on shore with agreement to return to their boat at 7 o’clock next morning. When that time arrived they could not find the little Dutchman, and after hunting for him in vain were finally obliged to leave without him. They returned to the ship, reaching it that night at 9 o’clock. The next morning at daylight they put to sea and made sail for Panama. When twenty miles off from land the man from the mast head called out, ‘A boat off the weather bow!’ Changing the course of the ship they came up to the boat in an hour and a half, and to the astonishment of all found in it the little Dutchman. At last they reached Panama in safety, and Mr. Vosper decided to take John Miller with him to Michigan. They crossed the Isthmus on foot to Gogonia, thence to Charges in little boats and on board the New York Mil Packet to Havana. From there they set sail to New Orleans, and made their way to Cincinnati. Going to Cleveland, our hero sailed out of that city on the lakes and made that his business during that year. In the fall of 1851 he came to Saranac and lived with Mr. Vosper. In the spring he paddled in a canoe from Saranac to Grand Haven, and all that season sailed on the lumber vessel ‘Lizzie Throop.’ He returned to Mr. Vosper again in the winter, and on Christmas Day he married Marilla Brant, a daughter of Mason and Almira (Tobias) Brant, both natives of New York, who came to Michigan in 1844 and settled on a raw farm in Boston Township. They cleared this off and sold it, and then moved to another part of the township. In 1850 Mr. Brant became smitten with the gold fever and went overland to California and entered the gold mines. He started to come home and died at San Francisco. His wife is still living at the age of seventy-six years. They were the parents of seven children, five of whom are now living. Mrs. Miller was born August 30, 1836, in New York State. John Miller now established his first home, buying a house at Grand Haven, but pursuing still the life of a sailor, he continued to sail on the lakes for thirteen years. The last seven years he was captain of a vessel. He has spent altogether thirty-one years on the water. He lived at grand Haven for two years and then bought his present farm, where his wife lived while he was upon the lakes. In 1862 he enlisted in the navy of the United Sates, and was upon the gunboat ‘Argosy,’ which operated upon the Mississippi and red rivers. At one time he had charge of a Mortar boat. He took part in the bombardment of Vicksburg and of Ft. Dalrusie on the red River, and many masked batteries all along the river. He served until the close of the war, then came home and sailed one year on the lakes, after which he gave up the seafaring life and since then has remained on his farm. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of six children: Mary, wife of Thomas Branson, lives in Berlin Township and had three children; Mason, who married Katie Buche and lives in Wisconsin, has one child; John married Lizzie Buche and lives in Muskegon; they have one child; Talbot is single and lives in Oregon; James E. married Ida Hutt and lives in Wisconsin; Kirby is single. Mr. Miller is a member of the Grand army of the republic at Saranac, and his wife belongs to the Patrons of Industry. He is a stanch Democrat in politics. For many years he has been a director of the school district. He raises grain and stock and is actively engaged in farm work, having one hundred acres all improved. In connection with this sketch appears a view of his residence, which he built some ten years ago at the cost of $ 3,000, while the barn cost $ 400. He has triumphed over the hardships of his early lot and in his home life has made for his children the happy surroundings which he lacked in his youth.” File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/bios/miller1133gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 12.7 Kb