~ The Miller Farm ~

According to the deed to the property, the property was first given on April 5th, 1787 to George Nace, a private in the Revolutionary War, for his service in the army of the United States. The property then was owned by John Irwin a merchant of Pittsburgh, and subsequently sold to James Duff for the sum of six hundred dollars on December 15th, 1802. The property was bought by James Miller, Sr. on May 21st, 1806 as recorded in the Mercer County, Pennsylvania (Book B, page 40).

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The Miller Farm Location:

The property is located approximately one hundred miles south of Lake Erie, fifty miles northwest of Pittsburgh and three miles east of the Ohio state line. It is on the south bank of the wide Mahoning River basin. The Mahoning River flows through the valley about one mile north of where the Miller farm once stood.

According to my grandfather, Julian D. Miller, James Miller, Sr. arrived on horseback to the property, leading two pack horses. He brought with him a surveyor's map, seedling fruit trees and seed corn. After clearing enough land to build a log cabin, James, Sr. continued to ready the property for farming.

 James, Sr.'s property was very near a Native American village. The Kusk-Kusk-Kee had thrived in the area before the arrival of this researcher's ancestors and others. On the Miller property were found many arrowheads and other relics.

James, Sr. died in 1828, and is buried on the wooded property. It is this researcher's belief that the picture to the right is his grave. Son, Alexander, a veteran of the War of 1812, is also interred in this location.

James, Sr.'s youngest son James Miller, Jr. was willed the property. It is he who built the home pictured above around 1850. He and his wife, Mary McCreary, had ten children on the farm.

After James Miller, Jr.'s death in 1881 (James Jr.'s will), the property was passed to his son John R. Miller. John R. would eventually lease the farm to the Carbon Limestone Company in 1889 for the removal of stone. The quarrying efforts were unsuccessful, and in 1902 the farm was leased to the Union Limestone Company. Union was to pay five and half cents per ton of stone removed. The Union Limestone Company worked on the land for several years. On March 28th, 1910, John R. leased the farm to the O.H. Sheasley Company of Oil City, Pennsylvania. Five wells were drilled on the farm. At first the wells produced six to eight barrels of oil daily, but after several years production waned and the lease was sold to Shelly from Oil City. Mr. Shelly operated the lease by himself for approximately three years until he was killed when a gas engine exploded. Oil production on the farm was stopped. In 1915, with quarry blasting dangerously nearing the home, the house was moved to another location on the property. In 1918, the Union Limestone Company purchased the buildings on the Miller farm for $5,000. John R. retired from farming, and moved to New Castle, PA where he died in 1919.

What occurred with the property from the early 1900s to the 1980s is unclear. This researcher will make attempts for more information.

A housing developer purchased a section of the Miller Farm property several years ago and in recent years constructed new homes on the property. The Miller Farm cemetery, which this researcher discovered in the summer of 1999 (with help from a longtime inhabitant of the area) abuts the new development. About a mile away, the original, once beautiful, farmhouse, owned by another party, sets abandoned and in great disrepair.

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www.pitt.edu/~spano/millerfarm.htm

Updated: December 11, 1999