Miller Family

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Searching For The Real Fiddler’s Green, by Nita Wise; The News Messenger Bicentennial Edition. Thursday, July 1, 1976, Page 3-H (Courtesy of the Montgomery Museum of Art and History. (Transcription of article)

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Facebook Group, Blacksburg Memoires, of the way we were.

Post on May 9, 2021 by Ed Marsh

Ed kindly listed the following primary sources:

• In the 1850 US Census, Blacksburg, Alexander Black, age 50 (born 1803 according to records), wife Elizabeth (age 42), and large family (including son, Dr Harvey Black) are living in Blacksburg.
• 1860 US Census Richland County, Wisconsin, Alexander Black, wife Elizabeth and 5 of their children had moved from Blacksburg to WI where they remained for the rest of their lives.
• 1860 US Census, Princeton, VA (later WV) Charles H. Miller, age 30, and wife Margaret (age 22) were residing in Princeton where he was employed as a surveyor NOTE: Over time, Miller was obviously a good appraiser and purchaser of valuable real estate – so his trade of “surveyor” makes sense).
• 1870 US Census, Blacksburg, VA, Charles H. Miller, wife Margaret, and 5 young children were residing in their home in Blacksburg.
• 1880 US Census, Blacksburg, VA Charles H. Miller, wife Margaret, and nine children were residing in his home; Plus, his Father Grief Miller and mother Nancy; a boarder; and a servant were present.
• 1890 US Census – sadly, was destroyed in a fire in the Commerce Dept in D.C.
• Judge Charles Henry Miller died in 1899
• Margaret Jane Earhart Miller died in 1903
• In 1904, the Railroad tore through the Fiddler’s Green farm between Miller and Clay Streets and soon thereafter, the Miller children, A. Warren & Juanita (Rucker), began developing “Snob’s Nob” the new residential area of Blacksburg.
• The Chancery Court document is transcribed:

Fiddler’s Green Sale to C H Miller, 29 April 1863, Montgomery County, VA Chancery Court Records

Know all men by these presents, I have this day sold to C. H. Miller a tract or parcel of land containing 64 acres more or less, now occupied by Mr. Fell & Borman and known as Fidler [sic] Green purchased by me of John Lyle. Also one other tract containing 41 acres purchased by me of John McFarland and adjoining the lands of H. H. Price and others. Also the Tavern House & Stables & all appurtenances and tannery including all the lots that was [sic] sold with said property **[except so much as has been heretofore sold by me to Jos I. Shue], for the sum of Twelve Thousand Dollars to be paid in one hundred and twenty days at which time I bind myself to make the said Miller a Warranty Deed to the said parcels of land and to the said Tavern and Tanyard property. Witness my hand and seal this 29 April 1863. John Lybrook** My brackets to make clear the exception of sale to Shue, and the price of sale to Miller are separate issues.

Transcription of the Virginia Registry of Historical Places

https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/

The second parcel to be developed was the Miller Addition, located west of the Southside Land Company’s holdings. As laid out in 1919, the subdivision was served by an extension of Water Street now Drape Road from the edge of town and Preston Ave, both running parallel to Main Street. The five side streets were extended west from the Southside development. The consistency of the plan suggests that the whole district was conceptually developed at one time and laid out in phases. A total of about 125 fifty-foot-wide lots were subdivided into the two additions, but many purchasers chose to buy two lots and combine them for more space. The Miller Addition was divided into two parts owned by two developers, the O.C. Rucker family and a Warren Miller.

            “The Miller and Southside Additions were originally part of a farm known according to area residents as “Fiddler’s Green.” The farm was owned by one branch of the Black family, founders of Blacksburg in 1798. Fiddlers Green was a gift from John Black to his son Alexander in the 1820 (Swink). Alexander Black and his wife sold the tract where they resided to Robert Murray in 1853. Although the fifty-three-acre tract changed hands numerous times, it was identified as the Fiddler Green tract when it was sold to Juanita M. Rucker in 1898. The house at 150-109-68, at the north end of the district and known today as the Eoff House, appears to have been build by the Ruckers in 1912 on the site of the Fiddlers Green home place. Miller family descendants recall that there was a frame house that previously stood on the site and that it replaced another house (Little and Elliot).

            Juanita Miller Rucker sold the thirty-three and one third acres of the tract to her brother A. Warren Miller in 1900. He owned and resided on a nearby 136-acre farm, called Miller’s Woods located to the southwest of Blacksburg. Miller purchased an …“

This is from the Virginia registry of Historic places article on the Miller-Southside subdivision in Blacksburg.

The northeast corner of Roanoke and Main Streets has been occupied by many structures since the formation of the town of Blacksburg. A large brick building appears in early photographs of the town and has been known as the Amiss Hotel and then the site of the National Bank of Blacksburg, built in 1943. This building was a subject of Roanoke Times article (date to be determined, but probably in 1942). Fiddler’s Green and A.W. Miller is mentioned in this article. Transcription of article.

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