Gustavus Hindman Miller

Gustavus Hindman Miller, (1857-1929) was a prominent merchant, manufacturer, financier, capitalist farmer, author and public spirited citizen of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was born in frontier Texas, September 4, 1857, in a small board house on a ranch, on Raney's Creek, Beat No. 3, near where the present site of Coryell County, now stands. He was the eldest son of Franklin Lafayette Miller (b. 1832, Millersburg, Tennessee; m. 18 Dec. 1856) and Emily (McGee) Miller (b. 11 May 1841, Jackson, GA)...See more

Gustavus Hindman Miller, (1857-1929) was a prominent merchant, manufacturer, financier, capitalist farmer, author and public spirited citizen of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was born in frontier Texas, September 4, 1857, in a small board house on a ranch, on Raney's Creek, Beat No. 3, near where the present site of Coryell County, now stands. He was the eldest son of Franklin Lafayette Miller (b. 1832, Millersburg, Tennessee; m. 18 Dec. 1856) and Emily (McGee) Miller (b. 11 May 1841, Jackson, GA), early pioneer settlers of that county. G. H. Miller obtained his education in the common schools of Coryell county, Texas, 1867-76, at the old board shanty and the old rock house. In 1870, the census lists Gus and his brother Frank, as living with their mother, stepfather, two half-siblings and a lodger, in Bosque County, Texas. Recollections of their school days by William King Sadler, a close friend of G. H. Miller: "Gus, I think of you more than ever as I get old. The happiest of my days were when we went to school at the old board shanty and the old rock house. ...those were great days. We never dreamed of violating the law; our minds were in a different channel. We were taught honesty if we were taught anything. We ran our own boat from the beginning, almost." "I want to impress upon you that this Rainey's Creek country is level prairie, fine black land, owned by Germans. Gus and I can well remember when it was the greatest country, socially, in the world. The boys and girls who were raised there have proved to be the very highest type of manhood and womanhood. No one ever heard of trouble with the old settlers, that is, between themselves. Then we visited and loved each other and lived peaceably with all mankind. We were what you folks call wild, but we were sons of adventurers who came here, to land untried. We would ride the wildest horses ever known to the world. We didn't do anybody any harm. I have seen this same polished, shrewd Gustavus Miller ride the wildest horses I ever saw. I saw him tie a red handkerchief around his head, make his horse pitch around the arbor where preaching was to be held for the benefit of the crowd. He didn't charge a cent nor do any harm! More at Wikipedia See less