JOHN G. MILLER FAMILY
© By Jean M. Heide
Selma Historical Foundation

John G. and Katherine Miller moved to San Antonio in 1848. They lived on Main Street near a 10-foot alley at West Commerce and Navarro Streets. Later they moved east on Main Street near a graveyard and powder house where a Mr. Lollard was the caretaker.

In 1857 they moved to the Salado Creek on the Austin Road and lived there until 1859 when they moved to Selma on the Cibolo. John G. Miller owned the general store, was a postmaster and ran the stage stand for the route from Austin to San Antonio. Their children were John A., W. F. (lived in San Antonio as an adult), George (lived in Marathon as an adult) and Mrs. C. Y. Myer (lived in Belton as an adult).

Katherine Miller was responsible for having the "Old Town of Selma" platted. (See 1879 map by surveyor L. C. Navarro on this website). John and Katherine leased some of their property in Selma to the Sawyer, Risher and Hall stage line for use as a stable/stage stand in the 1860's. The lease was for a 20 year duration.

Son John A. wrote about his recollections of his days as a cow puncher for a book compiled and edited by J. Marvin Hunter written with the assistance of the President of the Old Trail Drivers Association, George W. Saunders. The book was published in 1924 and reprinted by the University of Texas Press in Austin. In his recollections, he tells of how he and Riley Davenport use to supply "beeves" to San Antonio butchers William Heffling and Loesberg and Speicer. In 1869, the markets were located at the old market house on Market Street and the other in the middle of Alamo Plaza south of Crockett Street. He also accompanied Capt. W. L. Smith to Brownsville in 1870 to bring horses to the Pettus Ranch near San Antonio where the horses were sold to the U.S. government under Col. Ed Cunningham's contract.

In 1873, John drove about 900 head of cattle to Wichita, Kansas along with John Davenport, Bob Murchison and Mike Connor. (Davenport and Murchison were young men from the Selma area. See the William Davenport and Murdock Murchison family histories).

For awhile, John owned property on the Cibolo in Comal County, but ultimately moved to Bandera in 1881 and bought the old James ranch. He quit the cattle business in 1876 and married Jennie C. Davenport, who was one of William Davenport's daughters, on February 26, 1878.


Sources:

The Trail Drivers of Texas: Interesting Sketches of Early Cowboys and Their Experience on the Range and on the Trail during the Day That Tried Men's Souls – True Narratives Related by Real Cowpunchers and Men Who Fathered the Cattle Industry in Texas, J. Marvin Hunter, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1924, 1985, p. 933-6.

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