Strange as it may seem, it is within a comparatively brief period that the possibilities of Texas as a farming state have been recognized. Previous to that time its value was supposed to lie in the cattle ranches, where great herds could be grazed upon the free range or the individual pastures. Progressive, enterprising and farsighted men, however, undertook the work of tilling the soil, and it was found to be both rich and productive, and today Texas is considered one of the best farming states in the Union. 

Mr. Miller of this review is devoting his attention to agricultural pursuits and yet gives personal supervision to his interests, although he has now reached the advanced age of seventy-nine years. He was born in North Carolina on December 10, 1826, a son of Joseph Miller, who was likewise a native of that state and died in 1892, at the age of ninety-eight years. His wife, whose family name in her maidenhood was Cox, died when her son John was only six years of age. In the family were eleven children, John K. Miller being the youngest son. He was reared to the occupation of farming, his father following that pursuit throughout his entire life, and after attaining his majority John K. Miller decided to make his life work the occupation with which he had become familiar in the days of his boyhood.

On Christmas day of 1846 was celebrated his marriage to Miss Arrena Tabor, a native of North Carolina and a daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth (Kendrick) Tabor. Three of their children were born in North Carolina, subsequent to which time Mr. and Mrs. Miller came to Texas in 1852, settling about five miles west of Sherman. There he purchased land and followed farming for fifteen years.

On the expiration of that period he removed to what is now called Miller Springs, where he lived until about fifteen years ago, when he built his present home three and a half miles west of Denison and has since occupied this property. 

His entire life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits. For a brief period he lived in Denison, and during that period served as a member of the city council for one term, being elected to the office upon the Democratic ticket.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Miller were born fourteen children, of whom eleven are yet living. Mary Ann, the eldest, born in North Carolina, is the wife of N. B. Tigue; William T.; Alice; A. C. D. [Dayton]; Graves; George W.; Joseph; B. J.; J. N.; Ivy and Estella. 

During the early part of his residence in Texas, John K. Miller was engaged in frontier service, protecting the homes of the pioneer settlers in the Southwest against the depredations of the Indians, and he has witnessed almost the entire growth and development of this part of the state as it has been reclaimed for the purpose of civilization. Many changes have been wrought, until the western country today bears little resemblance to the district into which he came so many years ago.

He and his wife traveled life's journey together for fifty-six years, two months and nineteen days, and were then separated by the death of Mrs. Miller on the 13th of March, 1903, who left one hundred and twenty-five living descendants—children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Since that time, five others have been added to the number of her descendants.

Mr. Miller and all of his family are Baptists in religious faith, he having been a member of the Missionary Baptist church for half a century, and an Odd Fellow for fifty years, and his life has ever been upright and honorable.

[Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. I, pp. 604-605.]

John Kinsey Miller (1826 - 1908), a farmer, was born at Brush Creek, Macon County, North Carolina.  He married Arrena/Orrena/Anna Tabor (1829 - 1903) there on December 25, 1846.  The first of their many children were born the following August, in Meat Camp, Watauga, Macon County, North Carolins.  In 1850, the family was living in Savannah, Macon County, North Carolina.  By 1852 they had begun migrating west, arriving in Memphis, Tennessee, for the birth of their fourth child.  By 1855 the family was living in Grayson County, Texas, near the future site of Denison (founded in 1872).

Maguire, in Katy's Baby, states, "[J. K. Miller] had the foresight to build his house, located at what now is 1401 W. Walker, close to a spring flowing an abundance of clear, cold water. As other settlers moved in, he sold them enough water to satisfy their basic needs. Miller's spring was a great asset, since many of the early residents could not afford to drill their own wells." The J. K. Miller House and Miller's Spring both are Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks.  As time went on, Denisonians would go “way out in the country” to hunt around the spring, which lay just down the hill west of Miller’s house.

Constructed as an Indian fort, the Miller home initially was a log cabin of two rooms with a dog trot between them and a basement below. Later the cabin was expanded into a house, with additional rooms being built around the original ones. 

The Carlat family lived in this house from 1918 to 1961.

John K. and Arrena were great benefactors of Denison. According to some sources, after the Katy arrived in 1872, the Millers donated the land for Forest Park at the center of town. Other sources say it was donated by the Denison Town Company. The couple assembled and donated the city block where the Educational Institute—the first free, graded public school in Texas—was built in 1873 (Bryant and Hunt, Two Schools, 63). In addition, the Millers deeded alternate business area lots to the City of Denison, as well as sites for each early church. They were also founding members of Denison's First Baptist Church. John was a real estate developer. His Miller's First and Miller's Second additions were early plats forming the residential heart of early Denison.

John K. and Arrena Miller lived in Grayson County until Arrena's death in 1903 and John's demise in 1908. They are buried in Coffman-Layne Cemetery in Denison. Four of their children—Asa C. Dayton, Benjamin Jasper, George Washington, and James Napoleon—became photographers working in numerous Texas towns.

The Miller children seem to have been:

1.       Henry Clay Miller (1847–1929) was born in Meat Camp, Watauga County, North Carolina. He did not move to Texas with his family and was a farmer in Boone, Watauga County, North Carolina, most of his life. He married Martha Winebarger in 1870, at age 23. He died at Boone on April 16, 1929.

2.       Mary Ann Miller (1848–1911) was born in Brush Creek, Macon County, North Carolina; by 1860, at age 11, she was living with her parents in Sherman, Texas. She married James Jasper Miller there in 1864. He died in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1867. In 1870, Mary Ann married Noel or Noah Baxter Teague in Grayson County. In 1900 he was a farmer in Duke, Greer County, Oklahoma. He died in 1906. Mary Ann lived on a farm in Goodlett, Hardeman County, Texas, with her sons in 1910; but she was back in Denison at the time of her death in 1911.

3.       John Rickman Miller (1850–1925) was born in Brush Creek, Macon, North Carolina, and came with his parents to Grayson County, living in Sherman by 1860. He married Amanda Lucy "Mandy" Mallory (1849–1927) as early as 1870, when the Census found the couple heading a large Sherman household including most of his siblings; a child named Octavia Miller, age 3 or 5; and a 58-year-old woman named Elizabeth House. John was a preacher in San Saba, Texas, in 1880. In 1900 he was pastoring in Presidio, Texas. At age 70, he was running a truck farm in Lubbock, Texas; he died there June 27, 1925. He almost surely was not the J. R. Miller cited by Haynes and Mautz as a photographer in Tyler, Texas, in 1860.]

4.       William Thomas Miller (1852–1915) was born in Memphis, Tennessee. By 1860, at age 7, he was in Sherman, Grayson County, Texas, with his parents. At age 18, in 1871, he married Mary J. Thomas, but she died in 1874. He remarried, to Salina Jane Hunter, daughter of English immigrants, in 1876. In 1880 he was a wagon maker in Denison. In 1900, still in Grayson County, he was a physician. In 1910 he was a medical doctor in Haskell, Texas, but he died in Grayson County in 1915.

5.       George Washington Miller (1855–1945). George Washington Miller was the first Miller child born in Texas—at the future site of Denison. In 1875 he married Cynthia Mary Teague (1856–1899), sister of his brother-in-law Noel Teague. The Teagues were from Alabama. The family may have lived in Palo Pinto, Texas, in the 1870s and 1880s, as three sons were born there. Cynthia died in 1899. The 1900 Census showed George, now 44, working as a photographer in Henrietta, Clay County, Texas. His son, Jesse Myres Miller (1880–1924), was also listed as a photographer there. In 1902, George married Edna Lula Vermillion. By 1910, he, Edna, and her son Jesse W. Unsell, age 14, were living in Brewster, Texas, where George was a photographer in a studio. In 1920, he was a farmer in Mesilla, New Mexico. Ten years later, he owned a tourist camp in El Paso, Texas, where he died in 1945 at age 89. 

6.       Asa C. Dayton Miller (1857–1932).Birth data for Asa C. Dayton Miller are somewhat uncertain. His cemetery headstone says he was born in 1857, but the "Family Data Collection" on Ancestry.com says he was born in 1859 in Grayson County, Texas. Some sources say he was born in North Carolina. When the 1860 Census was taken, Asa was not listed in the Sherman household of his parents. He was there in 1870, however, living in the household headed by his elder brother, John Rickman Miller. Asa married Sarah Margaret "Maggie" Elkin (1861–1912) early in 1879; she was from Kentucky.

7.       Frank Graves Miller (1859–1917) was born near the present site of Denison. He trained as an attorney but practiced only one year, in Pueblo, Colorado. On March 1, 1881, he married Bernetta May "Nettie" Ringo (1864–1943) in Denison. "Graves" (as he was known) was in the real estate business there with his father-in-law in 1887–1888 and then with brother Asa C. Dayton Miller in Denison in 1889. Later he was a brick mason in Sherman; real estate agent in Jack County, Texas; and building contractor in Ada and McAlester, Oklahoma. After his children were grown, he and Nettie moved to Oak Cliff in Dallas, Texas, where he operated a furniture store. He died in Dallas of influenza in 1917, at age 58.

8.       Grayson R. Miller was born in Grayson County, Texas, in 1860. He died a year later.

9.       Joseph Franklin Miller (1861–1957) was born in Grayson County, Texas. He married Mary Delina McCormick in 1880. He appears to have been a farmer in Cooke County, Texas, much of his life. Perhaps he died on March 31, 1918, in Fannin County; or on September 9, 1957, in Deaf Smith County, Texas.

10.    Benjamin Jasper Miller (1863–1933). Benjamin Jasper Miller was born in Grayson County, Texas, on July 24, 1863. After farming with his father, he married Laura Etta Overstreet (1867–1941) in 1883 at Denison, at age 19. Haynes documents Benjamin's career as a photographer.

—In 1888, he apparently was active briefly in Runnels County, Texas (Ballinger is the county seat).

—Beginning around 1888 and continuing until around 1891, Benjamin and his younger brother James Napoleon Miller were active as photographers in Abilene, Texas, working together under the name "Miller Brothers."

—In 1892, Benjamin was working solo in Sweetwater, Texas.

—From around 1896 through 1900, he was active as a photographer in Mexia, Limestone County, Texas.

—He may have appeared briefly in Lancaster, Texas, just south of Dallas, around 1898.

—By 1910, Benjamin was documented as a photographer living in Marlin, Texas. By 1920, however, he had left photography and become an insurance agent in Marlin, which he continued in 1930.

—He reportedly died in Fannin County on April 25, 1933, at age 69, but I haven't been able to verify this death information. 

11.    Christopher Columbus Miller (1866–1882). One of twin boys, C. C. was born and died at Grayson County. He perished at age 15 of a "spinal affliction" and was buried in Coffman-Layne Cemetery in Denison.

12.    James Napoleon Miller (1866–1945). One of twins, James Napoleon Miller was born in Grayson County, Texas, on September 25, 1866. At age 14 (in the 1880 Census), he was a farmhand. Haynes documents James's career as a photographer.

—Beginning around 1888 and continuing until around 1891, James and his brother Benjamin Jasper Miller were active as photographers in Abilene, Texas, working together under the name "Miller Brothers."

—In 1890, James married an Irish immigrant, Sarah Jane Boyd (1871–1958), in Waco, McClellan County, Texas.

—On September 1, 1893, their daughter, Anna Maye Beatty Miller, was born in Anson, Jones County, Texas. Perhaps James went there to work after the Abilene partnership folded.

—By 1900 the family had returned to Denison. They stayed there, with James working as a Railway Mail clerk at least from 1900 through 1930. In 1926, he traveled to England. Death came in Denison, on October 21, 1945. He and wife Sarah Jane are both buried in the Coffman-Layne Cemetery, Denison.

13.    Jay J. "Bonaparte" Miller (1867–after 1870). Born and died in Grayson County. In 1870, Jay J. was listed living in that large Sherman household headed by brother John Rickman Miller and wife Amanda. As his death is not well documented, he may have been the same person as James Napoleon Miller.

14.    Byrd Miller (1869–1870). Born and died as an infant in Grayson County.

15.    Robert Roscoe Miller (1870–1872). Born and died as a child in Grayson County. Buried in Coffman-Layne Cemetery, Denison.

16.    Ivy or Iva or Ira Lillian Miller (1872–1872). Born and died as an infant in Grayson County. I did not find definite death records.

17.    Estelle Arrena Irene "Stella" Miller (1875–1957). Born and died in Denison. On September 11, 1898, she married Frank Jennings (1871–1961). He was part of a large family well known for its furniture stores on Main Street in Denison. The couple had four sons. One, Paul R., served as principal at Denison High School.

May 23, 1976
ONCE UPON A TIME
by Donna Hunt

James Kinsey Miller, who watched Denison grow from its earliest infance, once grew cotton where Walter Jennings Furniture Store now stands.
Miller was arround when the first train rolled into Denison in 1872, having purchased 500 acres here from Samuel R. Caruthers for $1,000 in 1866.
A house he built soon after is said to have served as a stronghold against Indians in early days.  One story passed down through the years is that an Indian was hanged in the huge bois d'arc tree in the front yard.  Originally the house was simply built to be near the trail to Baer's Ferry across Red. River.
Miller was born in Macon County, North Carolina, December 10, 1826, and came to Texas in 1852 in one of the wagon caravans that at the time were moving south and westward.  He settled 5 miles west of Sherman when the county seat was only a settlement of 3 general stores and a large pecan tree grew where the courthouse now stands.
After the 2 month trek from North carolina to Sherman, the journey to Denison in 1860 was a short one and Miller brought his family to a log cabin on the banks of a spring.
Six years before leaving North Carolina, Miller married Miss Arrena Taboe and 12 of their children were born before they arrived in Denison.
First record of Miller's property was a 1,000 acre grant to W.R. Caruthers by Anson Jones, president of the Republic of Texas.  After the death of Csruthers, his son, Samuel R. Caruthers took the west half of the 1,000 acre grant and his mother, Mrs. Martha Jane Caruthers, the east half.
First record of Miller's house itself is in 1887 when the Millers designated their homestead as the area embraced by Perry, Washignton, Maurice and Bond on which the house is situated.  Later the property where the house is located was narrowed to a 120 by 372 foot plot between Walker and Johnson streets.
The house at 1401 West Walker is now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Warren "Cap" Blood and was given an Official Texas Historial marker serveral years ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Carlat acquired the house in June 1919 and the Carlat family lived there for 42 years, longer than anyone else.
The house was possibly moved a short distance many years ago.  When Miller deeded the property to Addison Lea on October 22, 1889, the document read, "also the building now situated in the northwest part of Denison and known as our old homestead, said building to be moved off the land on what  is not situated at the instigation of the City of Denison, Texas."
It is believed that the house could have been built on Walker Street or Perry Avenue and after establishment of the city and platting of the property have been moved to conform.  There is no record.
Miller was the first "utility magnate" of that time as his spring flowed water for the other settlers.  He granted a plot of ground for each church denomination strugggling to establish a church.  After the town was incorporated, he donated land for the first public school and gave the site of Forest Park with the provision it be used for a public park.  He is also said to have given the city a deed to every other lot in the business section of town.
A full basement is now found beneath the 2 original rooms of the house.  Oak logs were formed into a Texas dogtrot house with an open hallway between 2 rooms by Miller.  In later years owners covered the logs with planed siding and additional rooms and porches were added.
The center section, where the dogtrot would have been located, has sawed timbers supporting the floor.  The remainder of the original floors is supported by oak logs.  It's not known whether this is evidence of a later rebuilding job or that the basement was enlarged after the dogtrot was built into the house.
History of the old house is vague.  The late Mrs. Frank Jennings, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Miller, is reported to have been born there.
Miller's only descendant still residing in Denison who carried the Miller name is Earl C. Miller, son of Mrs.I.E. Miller, 817 West Bond.  Mrs. I.E. Miller is a daughter of another early day resident, Dr. J.H. camp, who came to Denison about 85 years ago.  J.K. Miller was Mrs. Miller's husband's grandfather and Mrs. Miller remembers in her earliest days of marriage.  She recalls J.K. Miller coming to visit when her son, Earl, was just a baby.
Miller's obituary appeared in the January 18, 1908 edition of the Sunday Gazetteer called Miller "the first settler in Denison 40 years ago."
The articlea read in part, "J.K. Miller, one of the most noted and best known Grayson County pioneers died last Saturdya at the home of his son, Dr. Miller, at  Basin Springs, near Sadler.  The deceased was 80 years old.  He was the best known of Denison pioneers casting his lotmore than 40 years ago.  The First Baptist Church was built upon part of his original farm.  He served the church faithfully as a deacon and charter member."
"During the Civil War Mr. Miller served a frontier guardsman and scout under Col. Bolden and Col. Diamond.  He endured all the hardships of those perilous times, and up to the time of his death, clearly told interestingly of Indian attacks and hardships of the settlers in obtaining the necessities of life."
"He watched Denison grow from its earliest infancy.  He traded 50 ponies for the part of the land that now forms some of the most valualbe of Denison property."
Of the 5 Calat children reared in the house, two still live in Denison - Mrs. T.B. Anderson and Mrs. W.T. Scully.
Mrs. Anderson sums up the life of the house most ably saying, "there's been a lot of living in that house," and judging by the sturdy condition of the old oak logs, there will be a lot more.