crackers some evenings. Finally electricity came to
the county, so we put in a well, added to the store
again and living space and modernized. At one
time we became a Clover Farm Store, but later
went back to being Miller's Store. Our last addi-
tion was a small beer tavern.
In the fall of 1953 we decided to sell the store
and move to a warmer climate. In 1954 we ended
up in Hemet, California, the southern part of
California, where we had another market until the
spring of 1963, then retired.
We remember all our friends in Bear Lake and
spent some of our happiest years there. Fred died
in 1975. 1 still live in Hemet in the house Fred
built. Our daughter, Marilyn and three grand-
children and one great-granddaughter live in On-
tario, sixty miles from Hemet. By: Dorothy Miller

Fred and Dorothy Miller at Bear Lake store
JOB MILLER FAMILY
Job Miller and wife, Lois, and children, John,
Hugh, Ruth, Robert and Clifford arrived in
Ladysmith March 14, 1914, on an immigrant train
with household goods, a cow, and a team which
belonged to her father, Martin Crabbs. Martin
brought two sons but they refused to stay. They
returned to Indiana and took the team.
Job purchased a piece of wild land from Fred
Welder on what is now County Road P. The road
ended there. There was a barn and a very small
house, but no fields and no conveniences.
The nearest school was at Port Arthur, 22 miles
away. John went there until he started to work in
the mill at Port Arthur with his father. They
traded at the Frank Taggart store and got their
mail there.

Mr. and Mrs. John Miller and Duane, Janet, Nancie,
and Lorraine- 1967
Job worked in the wheat fields in the midwest
during the early years. In 1921 he and his sons
built an eight room house. Later they added more
buildings and made fields to raise crops and a good
dairy herd.
Job was very interested in community affairs.
He was instrumental in organizing the West Grant
School which was built in 1917 and was a member
of the Ladysmith Milk Producers. He served on
those boards as well as being assessor of the Town
of Grant and manager of the Rusk Co. Shipping
Association.
Mrs. Miller helped organize a Sunday School in
the Lone Birch School before West Grant was
built. The D.J. Summervilles were friends and
neighbors. Mrs. Summerville taught in Sunday
School and he preached although he was not or-
dained. He later became Rusk Co. Highway Com-
missioner and State Commissioner.

John, eldest of the Miller children, married Fan-
nie Presher in 1931. They had four children: Lor-
raine, Nancie, Janet, and Duane; and eight
grandchildren.
Ruth married James Presher, Fannie's brother.
They had three children, Clifford, Lois and Violet
and seven grandchildren. Clifford married Irene
Stickrod who had moved to Rusk Co. from Illinois.
They had two children, Barbara and Helen, and
seven grandchildren. Hugh did not marry. He
made his home with Clifford and Irene until they
retired from the farm. Robert was also a bachelor
and stayed on the home place which they farmed
together.
Several acres of river frontage adjoining the
Miller Place were taken up from the government
by Louis Cloutier, a Frenchman, known locally as
Looy Clooky, in the 1880s. This land was pur-
chased by the Millers from a Mr. Zehner and later
sold to a Mr. Zimmerman. It is now owned by
David Prohaska.
All five of the Miller children did mill work and
returned to farming. John followed in his father's
footsteps and served on the town, county, and
school boards. By: Fannie Miller
THEODORE MILLER FAMILY
Karl Miller and Elizabeth Gardner along with
several other family members, immigrated to
America from Baden, Germany in 1879. Upon
their arrival in Pennsylvania, Karl and Elizabeth
were married and set up housekeeping. Two
daughters were born before leaving for Illinois to
live.
It was here in Morton, Ill., that my father,
Theodore Miller, was born in 1888, the 5th in a
family of 9 children. Later, Iowa was also their
home for a few years until in 1907 the Miller fami-
ly came to Rusk County, settling in the Town of
Washington, near Boot Lake, where my grand-
parents continued to live until Grandfather's death
in 1921. Grandma later moved to Ladysmith and
lived until her death in 1939, at the age of 80. One
of father's sisters, Molly Webb, and brothers, Carl,
Frank and Louis, also spent much of their adult
life in Rusk County.
As a young man, Theodore worked in the
lumber camps of the area as a setter and gant
turner. He married Edna Bennett of Rusk Farm,
the teacher of the "Miller School." Their first
home was of logs with a screened porch which
father built near his parent's home. This was the
birthplace of my brother and me.
I liked to hear my parents tell the story of my
birth on Feb. 11, 1916 during a severe blizzard.
Luckily the day before they received a large
medical guide or "Doctor Book" as it was com-
monly called at that time, and studied it that even-
ing. Early the next morning, although 3 weeks
ahead of schedule, I made my hurried arrival,
father officiating! Later in the day as the storm
subsided, he walked after Grandmother who had
planned to act as mid-wife bringing her back with
him, though not telling her I had been born.
When I was 8 months old, mother's health
necessitated a move to a drier climate, so Montana
was home for the next 3 years. Father worked as a
mechanic on a large ranch until in 1919 they
moved to Ladysmith where he worked in the
Flambeau mill. He established his garage business
on Railway Ave., in the Village of Weyerhaeuser
in August 1920. This building is still in use by 2 of
his grandsons, Dick and Arnold Koehler.
In 1928 we moved to a new home on Highway 8,
still in Weyerhaeuser, just east of the old creamery
which father had purchased and remodeled for his
garage business which he operated until his death
in 1960. Mother had passed away in 1946 follow-
ing surgery at the age of 54.
Besides my brother Donald and myself (Delle
Koehler), both of Weyerhaeuser, three other
children were born to this union: Robert, who died
in 1940 at the age of 17; Bonnie Halmontaller, Ft.
Worth, Tex.; and Judy Schwellenback, of Durand.
Theodore Miller had 12 grandchildren at the
time of his death and missed becoming a great-
grandfather by only 3 months. By: Della Miller
Koehler

THE MILLER FAMILY
My great-grandfather, James Henry Miller,
born 1849, and his wife, Lucinda Shaefer, moved
from Indiana to Wisconsin in 1881. In 1898, with
8 children, they moved to south of Ladysmith. My
grandfather, Vanson (Vance) V. Miller, born in
Indiana in 1875, came with them. He married
Alice E..Bickel in 1896, in LaFarge, Wisconsin.
He also bought land from the French Lumber
Company. He returned to LaFarge and operated a
brick factory.
In 1902 he moved his family, with 2 sons, to
Rusk County. They lived east of G on the present
farm. While clearing land and building he worked
on log drives, trapped and hunted wolves and also
worked at the local brickyard.
In 1907 he was elected town chairman, served
on the county and school board and was the
assessor. He held these positions off and on until
the mid 30s. In 1917, he was elected to the state
assembly and appointed undersheriff in 1922.
With Jack Lindoo, in 1923, he formed the Pioneer
Land Company. Elected sheriff in 1925-26 his
wife, Alice, served as undersheriff, and she was
elected sheriff in 1927.
With the increase in dairy herds, he and others
formed and directed the Dairyland Milk Co-
operative. Later, a Co-op Oil and grocery store was
set up in Ladysmith.
Vance died in 1960 at age 85; Alice died in
1971, at age 91.
Vance and Alice Miller were true examples of
pioneer spirit -  honesty, self reliant, hard
workers, and a help to others. Vance was a tall,
powerful man, over 6'8" and white haired since his
twenties; Alice was the typical farmwife of the
times, sturdy, hard working, uncomplaining, many
times assuming all the farm work while he was
gone on his politician duties. She milked cows,
tended a garden, raised chickens, and found time
to help others.

Vance and Alice Miller
My parents ran the farm dairy when my grand-
parents served as sheriff or undersheriff, as they
had to live at the jail. I spent much time with them
and had the free run of the jail. As these were pro-
hibition days, most crimes were drunk, disorderly,
or of a minor nature. Offenders of a more serious
crimes were escorted via the "Velvet Special" to
the State Penitentiary.
While in the State Legislature, a local man, in-
jured in a railroad accident was denied compensa-
tion by the court. Grandfather, not a lawyer, took
it to the State Supreme Court and got a reversal on
the decision. The original farmhouse burned down
in 1960 and with it went a host of historical items,
maps, and platbooks, used to settle many disputes,
cartons of negatives and photographs of local peo-
ple and farms. As a self taught photographer,
many pictures were taken and used in the land of-
fice days. These were sent out as postcards to bring
more people into the area. They rebuilt, quit farm-
ing and lived out their days in the county they had
helped develop and loved. By: Vance D. Miller
THE MOBERG FAMILIES
Lillian M. Moberg came to Bruce in 1932 from
near Frederic, Wis., to live with her mother's
brother, Elmer Peterson, after her parents died.
She attended the Bruce School from 5th grade
through high school. After graduating in 1940, she
worked for the Blain Motor Company at Bruce