The Miller name is prominent in this section of the Pioneer Sketches of the Cove, and I am passing it along: All Trades Needed A new settlement needed men who had learned trades and could make whatever the settlers needed. Many times the blacksmith and the wagonmaker locating at a crossroads started a new town. A blacksmith came, but we do not know the name of anyone earlier than George Miller, here in the years 1830-50. George Miller lived in a house that stood near where Lee Detwiler lives and conducted a shop where Leroy Stotler's shop is now located. He was a hard working man and farmed some, owning land now partially covered by Brown's dam. He cleared several acres of land on the mountains where Snyder's orchard is now located. This land had grown up in sumac when I was a boy and was a great place for pheasants to gather in the fall where they fed on the sumac berry. Many a time I saw as many as fifty pheasants fly out of that field in one evening. I was not a wing shot, but hunted with a rifle in those days. I would watch the direction they went and then follow them hoping to see them sitting on a tree. I could generally get two or three in an evening with my rifle. Dr. J. E. Skillington would have killed the limit in a few minutes. The most I ever killed was five in one evening. It is related of George Miller that he was a very passionate man, and when he had any difficulty in welding or shaping a piece of iron or steel he would open a rear door of his shop and throw the iron into the millrace, saying, "here devil, take it." When both he and the iron had cooled off he would fish the iron out of the race and go to work. I remember Mrs. George Miller, a very pleasant old lady, who, after the death of her husband, bought the farm where George Hall now lives, where she lived with a son, Jacob, for many years. A daughter, Janie, married young man by the name of Josiah Ritchey, who came to Loysburg and opened a tailor shop. He and John Dittmar, a saddler and harnessmaker, used the same room-the front room in the house now owned by Mrs. Sadie Davis. Later Josiah Ritchey bought the farm north of town now owned by Jacob Sell, conducted a hotel and farmed. Ritcheys had a large family, and when the war came in 1861, Mr. Ritchey was drafted. His oldest son, Melancthon, told his father he would go in the father's stead. A drafted man had to furnish a substitute or go himself, so the young man went that the father might stay home to care for the family. He came home and his father helped him secure a medical education in appreciation for what he had done. He taught school a few terms very successfully, being well liked as a teacher. I went to school to him part of one term. After graduating at Jefferson Medical college, he practiced medicine a short time in Loysburg, then moved to Harrisburg where for many years he was one of the leading physicians. Vincent Ritchey is a pharmacist in Carlisle where he and his sons conduct a large drug store. Daniel Ritchey is a jeweler in Harrisburg. Frank, a doctor of medicine, died a few years ago. Herman is a dentist in Harrisburg and James is a real estate dealer in Harrisburg. Two sisters also live in Harrisburg. All these young people were reared in Loysburg. Their house was a center of activities for the young people forty or fifty years ago. When the family moved to Harrisburg it was distinct loss to the community. There were greatly missed in the Reformed church of which they were all active members, and much missed in social circles. John Meloy, a young man, a carpenter by trade, came to Loysburg in 1855. He married Miss Nancy Miller, a daughter of George Miller. They first moved to Saxton and a few years later to Altoona. Mr. Meloy worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad company. He retired and he and his good wife lived many years in Logantown on Willow avenue near Fourth street where I often visited them. Mr. Meloy was a veteran of the Civil war. John Meloy has two daughters, married and living in Altoona, Mrs. Maggie Taylor and Mrs. Mollie Ashcroft. Two sons are also living, Thomas in Pittsburgh and James in St. Paul, Minn. William Little and Henry Burket followed George Miller as blacksmith at the same stand. Joseph Manning, an Englishman, was for many years their wagonmaker. He was a good wagonmaker and made many heavy wagons which were ironed by William Little and Henry Burket. He built the famous wagon now owned by Frank Brumbaugh which was shown at the Martinsburg centennial and a picture of which is shown on page 21 of this book. Such a wagon cost in those days at least $125 and the Conestoga bed about the same amount. William Little retired from active service at his trade and his son, James P. Little, conducted the shop for forty years or more. Leroy Stotler is now the efficient mechanic in this long used and important plant. William Little came to Loysburg from Saxton in 1849 when 21 years of age. He bought lots from the Stoners and built a brick house where Henry Grub now lives, and conducted a blacksmith shop where Lloyd Hall now lives. Later he sold this to George W. Pennel and bought the George Miller shop, then a part of the James Patton estate. He also bought a number of lots from Mr. Patton on one of which he later built the brick house in which his daughter, Margaret, now lives. William Little was the father of James Patton Little, Mary Agnes, Sarah Catherine, Kansas, Emma Flora, William Francis, Anna, Eliza Jane, and Margaret. James P. Little marred Miss Belle Fisher and their family of two girls and three boys are well known in Loysburg. Clara is married to Mr. Faulkner and lives in Iowa. Miss Elsie lived in the fine home that James P. Little, her father, built. Harry Little, a graduate of Wesleyan university, Stamford, Conn., was a prominent teacher in Jersey City, N. J. He died a few years ago. William Little, another son of James P. Little, is one of Pittsburgh's prominent young business men. Edgar, the only son now living in South Woodbury township, is a progressive farmer, now living on his own farm two miles north of Loysburg. He married Miss Clara Jamison and they have a delightful family. The oldest son, Wilbur, is a college graduate and teaches mathematics in the New Enterprise High school. Annie Whiteman PABlair Rootsweb List Administrator Annie Whiteman/Steve Patz Blair County Coordinators http://www.rootsweb.com/~pablair