Mesa County CO Archives Biographies.....Miller, Lawrence M.  November 30, 1840 - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 16, 2006, 5:55 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Lawrence M. Miller, of Mesa county, Colorado, who is comfortably settled on

a thirty-five-acre farm one mile and a half northeast of Grand Junction, and is

one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of this neighborhood, might almost

be called the special apostle of irrigation in his section of the county, so

enthusiastic and enterprising has he been in promoting every phase of the work

and so substantial in benefits to the community have been his services and the

results of his inspiring example.  He is a native of Lyncoming county,

Pennsylvania, born near Williamsport on November 30, 1840, and the son of

Ambrose and Belinda (Marshall) Miller, also natives in that county, where they

passed their lives, actively engaged in farming. Mr. Miller’s maternal

grandfather, James Van Camp Marshall, was selected at one time to make a treaty

with the Indians on the Susquehanna, and one of the stipulations of his

agreement with them was that they should vacate to the whites a strip of land

along the river as wide as the distance a man could walk from sun to sun.  He,

being a great walker, measured the distance himself, and as the sun went down he

threw himself on the ground and stretched out his arms to their utmost length,

then stuck a stake where the ends of his fingers touched.  There were nine

children in the family of Mr. Miller’s parents, of whom he was sixth, and only

three are now living, one brother being a resident of Pennsylvania and another

of Wisconsin.  Mr. Miller grew to manhood in his native state, working on the

farm in summer and attending the district schools in winter.  He also attended

Dickinson Seminary at Williamsport and a select school at Lewisburg a short

time.  At the age of seventeen he was obliged to quit school on account of his

health, and going into the Cogan valley pines of his native state, remained two

years, working for nine dollars a month and clothing himself.  He was very

frugal and saved one hundred dollars, with which he moved to Illinois and,

locating near Springfield, hired out to work on a farm.  He remained there two

years, but as there was a strong attraction for him in Pennsylvania, at the end

of the time specified he returned to that state and was married.  After a

residence of several years there and two in Maryland, he engaged in lumbering in

Pennsylvania three years.  In the fall of 1869 he moved to Chippewa Falls,

Wisconsin, where for a year he conducted a lumber business and after that was

engaged in mercantile life, carrying on a huge store for a leading lumber

company.  From Chippewa Falls he moved to Hodgeman county, Kansas, not far from

Larned, where he started an industry in the cattle business.  In 1885 settlers

came there and he moved his cattle to Colorado, locating in the Grand valley

where he found a range among the hills, and since that time he has been a

resident of this section of the state.  In 1890 he disposed of his cattle and

bought fifteen acres of land now owned by Dr. Cowell, and turned his attention

to raising fruit.  He improved his place, making a fine fruit farm of it,

putting twelve acres in orchard trees.  In 1890 he bought the ranch of

thirty-five acres which he now owns and occupies.  It was all raw land at the

time and he at once set to work to develop and improve it for a home, building a

fine modern brick dwelling and other necessary structures.  A portion of the

land was above the ditch and he put in a private pumping plant to irrigate it,

and in 1900, in partnership with his son, began raising Angora goats, of which

they now have about one thousand five hundred on the range.  They have prospered

abundantly in this enterprise, and Mr. Miller gives his son a large share of the

credit for their success.  On April 10, 1862, Mr. Miller was married to Miss

Amelia Andress, a native of Pennsylvania, the daughter of William and Sarah M.

(Jackson) Andress, the father a farmer who is now deceased, the mother making

her home with her daughter, Mrs. Miller.  One son has been born to the Miller

family, Eben McKean, who is in business with his father.  Mr. Miller is

independent in politics, but while living at Grand Junction served two years as

a member of the city council and two as mayor.  He was also four years president

of the Grand Valley Canal, and at present is president of the Grand Valley

District Ditch.  This enterprise is one of stupendous importance to the region

in which it is located, being capable of irrigating sixty thousand to eighty

thousand acres of arid land.  In fraternal circles Mr. Miller is an enthusiastic

Freemason, belonging to all branches of both the York and the Scottish rites.   

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/mesa/bios/miller304gbs.txt

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