Mountain Family

My dad, Stephen Hubert lived in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina, as a boy. His mother, Sallie, as well as all of her sisters were school teachers, Sallie and her sisters lived close to a wealthy family who had an English Tutor when they were children and they were allowed the benefit of receiving lessons from the tutor, and this was a real luxury in the mountains in those times.Dad's father William known as Will, usually ran a grocery store. Will was one of eleven children. The Millers' of Will’s generation were:
1. Margaret Alice 1855-1915, 2. Joseph Keener Miller, 1856-1874, 3. Wesley Vance Miller, 1859; - 1921
4. John McCulloch Miller, 1862 - 1934, 5. Callie Mariah Miller, 1864 -1900, 6. William Johnston Miller, 1866 -1918
7. James Labe Miller, 1869 -1952 , 8. Jesse Ben Miller, Dec 23.1872. He worked in the copper mine at Ducktown Tennessee. He fell into a chute at the mine and was "ground up". The date of his death is unknown
9. Pallie Minerva Miller, 1874; - 1948. 10. Sallie Emmabelle Miller, 1876; -1929 11. Laura Tennessee Miller,1878; - 1953.
They lived in Qualla near the Cherokee border with their father Stephen Harrison and their mother Margaret Keener Miller.
Shown in the photo, Stephen Harrison Miller and Margaret Keener Miller and their Qualla North Carolina homestead. Stephen moved his family to Shoal Creek at Qualla. He operated a grist mill there. This was near the Indian Reservation and the Cherokees gave him the name "Tee-Toska" {meaning "the grinder"} He remained at the old home place at Qualla the rest of his life.

My dad, Stephen Hubert told that the Miller children (of Will's generation) loved to mock and give merciless "imitations" of one another and if one of them left the room, the others would 'set in' mocking them.
Shown in the photo below are Stephen and Margaret and their family and a photo of Stephen and two friends of the Cherokee Nation,
Will Miller had been a drinking man. It was told of him that once while he was in his cups, he claimed he saw the devil, face to face. He reportedly quit drinking for good after that. Stephen had many letters and papers belonging to Will. Will had a beautiful flowing handwriting, and liked poetry.
He was good with figures, and taught his children how to do sums by 10's, and they could add up large sums quickly. The Miller children all learned to read early, and had a love of books. Some of them were named after characters from books.
Robert Roy (Roy) was named after Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott. Others were named after politicians, Locke Craig was a popular politician and later was the governor of North Carolina, and William Johnson was originally named William Jennings after a three times presidential candidate, and one of the lawyers from the Scopes monkey trial. He later changed his name to William Johnson, I believe.
The photo below is Will and Sallie Miller with two of their children, Mamie and Roy.

In my father's papers I found a letter of recommendation that described Will and Sallie's children as bright and well mannered and having a love of learning. William, their dad and my grandfather, or Will as he was called, was a ventriloquist. He loved to play practical jokes. Once a man brought some eggs in to the store to barter for groceries or dry goods. Will threw his voice to the egg and made it go “chirp, chirp.” Then Will said, “I am sorry but there is a chicken in this egg.” He would break the egg and say, "Oh, I must have been mistaken!"He continued doing that with many of the eggs. He paid the man for his eggs of course. He just could not resist a practical joke. My grandmother, Sallie died at age 47 with Pellagra, which was a disease very common in the South in the early part of the 20th century. Will died almost a year to the date later, of the great flu epidemic of 1918.

The photo below was taken when Sallie was ill and Will wanted to prove that her children were alive. She worried that they were dead as she was in the hospital and not able to see them regularly, Shown in the photo are Stephen Hubert and Locke seated Lois standing and Will seated and holding young Bill and Kenneth on the right end.