History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 266

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

ritory; and Nancy A., wife of R. Bartlett, a
" farmer of Williamson county. Mr. and Mrs.
Durant have twenty-fivegrandchildren. Our
subject takes an active part in public affairs,
votes with the Democratic party, and both he
and his wife are members of the Methodist
Church.
iW A is D. MILLER, one of the most progressive
and intelligent farmers of
Travis county, resides near St. Elmo.
At the close of the late war he caine out of
the Confederate service and joined his family,
refugees from Missouri to one of the eastern
counties of the Lone Star State. He resided
in Newton county, Missouri, before the war,
and had been engaged in farming, lumbering
and the handling of live-stock. His father,
Hezekiah Miller, was a farmer by occupation,
though in early life he had worked at cabinetmaking;
he was born in Richmond, Virginia,
in the year 1800, and was a son of John
Miller, a native of England; the latter had
emigrated to America and had assisted in
fighting the battles of the war that ended in
the complete independence of the United
States. About the year 1820 Hezekiah Miller
left the State of his birth and removed to
Kentucky; there he was married, in Cumberland
county, and it was here our subject was
born January 13, 1831. Ten years later Mr.
Miller removed his family to Randolph
county, Missouri, where his son, W. D.,
received his education and grew to manhood.
Upon attaining his majority he went from
home to work for wages; but this sort of
occupation was not in harmony with his
independent nature; so he undertook the
management of a farm on his 9vin responsibility;
this proved a satisfactory venture.

In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company
G, Eighth Missouri Volunteer Infantry,
under Colonel Mitchell; he participated in
the Pleasant Hill and Jenkins' Ferry engagements,
and was in many skirmishes. At
the close of hostilities he -was paroled at
Shreveport, Louisiana, and a few weeks later
joined his family at Douglasville; shortly
afterward he located on land in Travis county.
He found his financial resources much
crippled, but this serious condition of affairs
did not depress him. He engaged at once
in the raising of cotton and corn, and was
soon getting ahead of the world. Five years
later he and his wife were driving on the
road south of Austin, when Mrs. Miller
remarked, "1 wish we were able to buy that
farm over there." The "wish was father to
the deed," as she indicated the place they
now own. They have since added to the
original purchase, and now have 562 acres;
310 acres are under cultivation and yield
abundant harvests.
Politically Mr. Miller is a Democrat of no
uncertain type.
The paternal grandfather of Mr. Miller
married a Miss Ellington, and they had a
family of eleven daughters and two sons, one
of whom was Hezekiah Miller; he was twice
married, the children of the first union being:
John D.; W. D.; J. C.; Elizabeth, deceased;
Mary, deceased, wife of Quilla Wallace; and
Kittie; the mother died in 1848; there was
one child of the second marriage, Major
Miller, of Missouri.
W. D. Miller was married December 26,
1854, at Millersburg, Calloway county, Missouri,
to Nancy Northcutt, a daughter of
Eli and Ellen (Ellis) Northcutt, who had ten'
children: J. K., deceased; W. H., deceased;
T. D.; H. Clay; Mary; James McClintock;
Nancy; Elizabeth C.; George; and Willis,

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