My Genealogy Hound

Dr. B. M. Miller, physician and planter, Shoal Creek, Ark. Dr. Miller was born in Missouri, in 1831, and is the son of Samuel and Mary (Hatton) Miller, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of South Carolina. The father was a soldier in the War of 1812, and at its close was mustered out at what was then the little French village of St. Louis, where he met and married Miss Mary Hatton in 1815. He was a farmer, and continued that occupation until his death, in 1858. His widow joined the “silent majority” in 1877, at the age of eighty-seven years. Both were members of the Methodist Church. The paternal grandparents were John and Katherine (Bellue) Miller, and the maternal were Thomas and Joannah Hatton, who were the grandparents of Frank Hatton, postmaster-general. The parents of Dr. Miller were identified with the early history of Missouri, and the latter received his education in the schools of his district until eighteen years of age. He was then sent to Westminister College, at Fulton, Mo., and there continued until twenty-one years of age. In 1855 he began the study of medicine under Dr. Thomas Howard, of Millersburg, Mo., and continued with him for two years, after which, in 1857-58, he attended lectures in the Missouri Medical College. He then commenced practicing in St. Aubert, Mo., where he remained about a year and a half, and then came to Johnson (now Logan) County, Ark., located in the neighborhood of Shoal Creek, and there he has built up a very extensive practice, extending over a large portion of the eastern part of Logan and a part of Yell Counties. He is assisted by his son, Dr. S. E. Miller. Our subject was married in 1867, to Miss M. J. Sellers, a native of Tennessee, born in 1847, and the daughter of Edward and Serena Sellers. To this union have been born four children: S. E. (born in 1867), Aubrey (born in 1868), Dudley (born in 1876), and Jean (born in 1878). In 1869 Dr. Miller purchased 100 acres of land upon which he has built a good house and substantial out buildings, and further improved by fencing and clearing about 60 acres. He raises wheat, oats and corn, and in the last few years has been raising cotton. His farm will average thirty bushels of corn, forty to sixty bushels of oats and three-fourths of a bale of cotton to the acre. In 1862 he enlisted in Company I, Tenth Missouri Cavalry, as assistant surgeon, but resigned and served as private. He took part in the Missouri raid and served until the close of the war. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Elizabeth Lodge No. 215. His wife, who was a consistent member of the Methodist Church, died on July 18, 1890, to the great sorrow not only of her husband and children, but the numerous friends her pleasant, genial disposition had gathered around her.