John Miller & Elizabeth KuchJohn Miller was 19 when he came to the United States with is parents, Fred and Christina Miller, in 1886. During his first year in this country he worked for the railroad and then came to Mercer County, bought some land for $2.50 an acre and homesteaded some additional acreage. In 1889, he married Elizabeth Kuch, also born in Russia, the daughter of George and Elizabeth Kuch. John and Elizabeth were married in Krem. The had thirteen children: Rudolf, Emma, Emanuel, Albert, Theresa, Henry, Rosalia, Emil, Fred, George, Edwin, Anna, and Clara. As a homesteader, John was loaned seed wheat by the government, seed that had to be repaid in kind within three years, but without interest. Some of his wheat crop he hauled to New Salem, 50 miles away, some to the Krem Roller Mill. The cost of grinding No. 1 wheat was 38 cents a bushel. For each bushel he received 38 pounds of flour and 20 pounds of bran. He reported that the first rats came to this area around 1913 in a carload of lumber or in a threshing machine. He had his own threshing crew, consisting of eight boys. Their first thresher was powered by horses. Later he acquired an Avery tractor. John had the first car in the neighborhood, a 1912 Model T Ford. His last car was a 1936 Dodge, now owned by a grandson, Sherel Miller, son of Emil, of Cashmere, Wash. Elizabeth died in 1918 after seven years of ill health. In 1920, John married Barbara (Adolf) Richter in Odessa, Wash., and later made their home in Dryden, Wash. After Barbara’s death in 1944, he married Helen Hille. He was 89 when he died in 1956. He is buried in Cashmere, Wash. ~Source: Hazen 1913-1988, Diamond Jubilee book, page 273 Children of John & Elizabeth Miller:
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Rudolf Miller