A Very Merry Christmas to One and All, Since I'm home alone on Christmas day (poor me!), I thought I'd send some Christmas cheer your way in the form of some good genealogy. For your enjoyment, I will present a two-part biography of Major John Miller, founder of Millersburg. Enjoy! Bob Francis _________________________ Source: E. Polk Johnson, The History of Kentucky and Kentuckians, Vol. III, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1912, pp. 1243-1245. Name: Major John MILLER _________________________________________ Birth: September 21, 1752 Sherman Valley, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Death: 1815 Age: 62 MAJOR JOHN MILLER. The names and deeds of those who have wrought nobly in the past should not be allowed to perish and it is in the making of Perpetual record concerning such persons that a publication of this order exercises its supreme function. The name of the Miller family is one which is ineffaceably traced on the history of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and which has been identified with the annals of American history since the early colonial epoch. Strong men and true, and gentle and gracious women have represented the name as one generation has followed another upon the stage of life, and loyalty and patriotism have been in distinctive evidence, the while the family escutcheon has ever been a symbol of integrity, honor and usefulness. In Kentucky, where the family was founded more than a century and a half ago, there have been many worthy citizens to upbear the prestige of the name and thus there is peculiar consistency in offering in this publication a review of the family history. Major John Miller, the founder of Millersburg, Bourbon county, Kentucky, and one of the earliest settlers of this section of the state, was born in Sherman's Valley, near Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of September, 1752, and he is the progenitor of many descendants resident of Bourbon and Nicholas counties at the present time. Major John Miller, in company with his brother, Robert, and several others, emigrated from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in 1775, having been induced to take this actiori by the Governor of Virginia, who gave to each of them a pre-emption grant of four hundred acres of land in that section of Kentucky, which was then a part of Fincastle county, Virginia. The long and hazardous journey through the wilderness was made on foot and the sturdy pioneers arrived at their destination without serious difficulty enroute. Major John Miller and his brother, together with William McClelland and William Steele, had the prescience to discern the special advantages and attractions of what is now Millersburg precinct, Bourbon county, and here they secured their respective allotments of land. In addition to his grant of four hundred acres, Major Miller entered an additional tract of one thousand acres, which he secured at the nominal expenditure of twenty shillings per hundred acres. While they were surveying their lands they were continually menaced by the Indians and on one occasion William Steele was wounded by one of the savages. Concerning the conditions and incidents touching the lives of these sterling pioneers the following pertinent record has been written, being from the pen of George W. Bryan, who was one of the representative citizens of Millersburg. But slight change is made in the phraseology in the reproduction of the article. "To protect their families from attack and siege of the Indians, each of the Millers built upon his lands a log block house or fort, Major Miller's being built near the present boundary line of Bourbon and Nicholas counties, on the land now owned by his greatgrandson, William M. Layson. Robert Miller's was near the big spring on Isaac Chanslor's farm. These block houses were loop-holed and sufficiently large to accommodate the famiilies of the neighboring settlers, who often fled to them for refuge. - After, planting a few acres in corn by simply tickling the rich soil with the hoe, the pioneers returned in the latter part of the year to Pennsylvania for their families. In the following spring they began their return journey, traveling by land to Pittsburg and thence down the Ohio in flat boats, intending to land at Limestone, Maysville, and then to proceed to their settlement, forty miles distant, over the 'Old Buffalo Trace,' which is now the Maysville and Lexington turnpike road. The danger in making the voyage down the river. came not, however, from the water, but from the shore. From tree and bush, from rock and ravine the deadly bullet and the flint-head arrow, dipped in poison, singly and by volleys, kept constantly on the alert the harassed voyageurs, compelling them to keep their boats in the middle of the river, to be out of range. But with all their precautions, Robert Miller fell a victim to their attacks and his body f ell into the river and into the hands of the Indians. Owing to this hostility, the travelers did not land at Maysville as they had intended, but continued their river journey to Beargrass, Louisville, where there was a settlement and fort, and it was not thought safe to settle upon their lands until about 1785-6. But even then, as everyone conversant with the early history of the 'dark and bloody ground' knows, they were often subject to sudden attacks by wandering bands of Indians from beyond the Ohio, who resented the occupation of their hunting grounds by the whites. -- Bob Francis 1920A Butner St. Ft. Eustis, VA 23604 My Homepage is: http://www.shawhan.com Ruddell's Fort Page: http://www.shawhan.com/ruddlesfort.html Early Bourbon County Families Page: http://www.shawhan.com/bourbonfamilies.html