James Henderson Miller was the only son of John Miller of "Locust Hill," Mason County, by his second wife, Sarah Henderson. John Miller, born May 19, 1781, at Woodstock, Va., died March 6, 1846, at "Locust Hill," Mason County, 3rd son of Christian and Catharine Wisemann Miller left Woodstock in 1796 to "go west" to the Great Kanawha Valley in search of his fortune. As his father's parting gift he received œ40 in gold and the advice to go security for no man. After a short time at Fort Clendenin, he settled in the French town of Gallipolis as a hatter, where he learned to speak and read French, as there were but two English speaking men in town. In 1810 he returned to the Virginia side of the Ohio River, bought a large farm and built the second brick house in Mason County, now known as "Elwell," the homeplace of the late Judge C. P. T. Moore. A few years later he purchased from the heirs of General Washington about nine hundred acres in the Kanawha Valley, comprised in the "Locust Hill" and "Beech Hill," farms--the former and part of the latter are still owned by his descendants. He also owned a thousand-acre farm in Teas Valley, and about twenty-five servants. He married in Jan., 1806, Sophia, daughter of Maj. William and Margaret Handley Clendenin. The Clendenins and Handleys are prominent in the military and political life of the pioneer settlements of Virginia. She died April 17, 1823, leaving seven children, and he speedily consoled himself with another wife in the person of Sallie Henderson, Oct. 23, 1823.