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No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Judge James H. Miller Papers, A&M 1886, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

James   Henry Miller (1856-1929) was the son of William E. Miller and Sarah Barbara McNeer, of Monroe County  . William and Sarah Miller married on February 8, 1849, and had four children: Charles Lewis, James   Henry, Anderson E., and Mary Benson. James   graduated from the Concord Normal School in 1879 and then taught school for almost three years. He studied law with private tutors and at the University of Virginia, and was admitted to practice in 1881. James   Miller married Jane Tompkins on February 1, 1882, and the couple had four children: James   Henry Jr., Grace Chapman, Jean, and Daisy Corinne.

James   H. Miller had a long career in law and public service during the late nineteenth and the twentieth century, serving as superintendant of schools and prosecuting attorney in Summers County  . In 1904 he was elected judge of the Circuit Court of the Ninth West Virginia Circuit. Miller served sixteen years on the bench. He was also active in the state's Democratic Party and in Summers County   business affairs. Judge Miller died on February 9, 1929.

Scope and Contents

James   H. Miller (1856-1929) was a judge and attorney in Hinton, Summers County  , West Virginia, for more than forty years. He also wrote a history of Summers County   in 1907. Black-and-white photographs, postcards, letters, and miscellaneous letters and printed items document the profession life of James   Miller and the personal life of his descendants, particularly his daughters, Daisy Miller Gooch and Grace Miller Rose. Boxes 1 and 2 contain identified photographs from the early 1900s to 1965 (bulk 1900-1930). Levels of description vary and may include names, dates, or locations. Subjects include James   H. Miller, Daisy Miller, William Miller, the Miller family, Shan Rose, and the photos are chiefly portraits. Boxes 3 to 5 contain unidentified photographs, which are also chiefly portraits and also date from the early 1900s to approximately 1930. Boxes 9 and 10 contain oversize photographs and copper-plate negatives. Subjects of oversize pictures include the Georgetown Prep baseball team from 1910 and Rose's Drug Store in Hinton.

Box 6 contains post cards sent between 1911 and 1957 (bulk 1911-1917), which are primarily addressed to Mrs. James   Miller and her daughters. They depict historical sites and geographical features across the United States and typically contain brief messages pertaining to the places visited. Many are unsigned. Box 7 holds letters, a diary, and miscellaneous printed material. Letters to and from Judge James   Miller date from 1902 to 1929 and pertain to his career as a judge and attorney. Topics include his 1904 nomination as the Democratic candidate for the West Virginia Senate, his cases, county   court matters, and his death in 1929. Other manuscript materials include the 1902 diary of Grace Miller Rose and scattered letters and printed items belonging to Grace Miller Rose and Daisy Miller Gooch. Box 8 contains oversize manuscript material, including an early-nineteenth-century Holstein-Friesian Herd Register.

Separated Material

4 photos separated to A&M 4168, Panoramic Photos Collection:

City   of Clarksburg (original); 1894

City   of Clarksburg (copy); 1894

Bridge, Potomac River at Shepherdstown, WV; undated

18th Convention UDC, Clarksburg, WV, Stonewall Jackson's Birthplace (group portrait); 1915/09/29