June 10

Audie D Miller was born 10 June 1876

PHOTO: Audie Miller with his mother Alice Ford Miller

This is the only picture I have of Audie Miller

Alice Ford Miller was a sister of my great-grandmother Nancy Ford Thomas

Alice married Dallas 'Dale' Miller

PHOTOS: Dale and Alice Ford Miller

Audie had four siblings - Carrie (died age 6 months, from "congestion of brain"), Harriet, Dora (died age 27 from tuberculosis), and John. I don't have any pictures of Carrie or Dora.

PHOTOS: Cliff and Harriet 'Hattie' Miller Girard (this is the only picture I have of Harriet)

PHOTO: John Cleveland Miller and his wife Giulie.

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Audie contracted tuberculosis and traveled to New Mexico hoping to recover in the desert air. (It was about the best that doctors could do for TB patients at that time.) Here is a letter Audie wrote to his parents:

Sunday, Sept. 24th, 1899

Dear Folks,

   I arrived here yesterday morning at 8:30 a.m., and you can bet my first impression of the place was not of the best. I took the bus up to the hotel and took a look at the place. It was a Mexican town and the same as most small places. The houses and stores are all one story and made of "dobe" (square blocks of mud), they are all flat-roofed and are usually plastered smooth on the outside. I had supposed the reason they made them of dobe was because it was cheap, compared to wood and brick, but it seems they are better. The walls are two to three feet thick and all cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and they last for years. There is a church somewhere near here that is nearly 200 years old and is built of dobe. (That word is pronounced doby, long o.)

   The rates at the hotels are very high -- $10 per week is the cheapest and that is by the month -- $2.50 per day regular. I knew that was more than I could stand, so I got talking with the clerk, he is an American from Colorado who is here for his health, about where I would be able to get cheaper board. He said that everything is so expensive it would be hard to find a place very cheap, and if I could find a place for $30 per month, I would be lucky as he hadn't heard of anyone getting board cheaper than that.

  Well, I had dinner, and it was a queer one -- some different from the hotels in Michigan. Here they do not ask if you will have soup, they just bring it in and set it before you and not say a word, and then for the meat, etc, it was the same way, only they had two kinds of meat and each one was brought in on a large dinner plate, and some sliced tomatoes, as to other vegetables I don't know what they were. I tried them and the taste was enough. Then, before I was through eating they brought in a piece of lemon pie that was pretty good. I certainly made up my mind if I had to get used to their food it would take some time.

   I then started out to find Mrs. Hagerty, (Nora Nagle), they live directly across from the depot, but the business portion of the town is away about half a mile. I found the place and supposed her mother's letter had got there, saying that I was coming to New Mexico. When she came to the door I recognized her at once, although it has been a long time since I saw her in South Haven. Well, I asked her if she was Mrs. Hagerty and she was, then I told her I was Mr. Miller. It seems there is a Miller up at the college that Mr. __ had spoken of quite often, but Nora had never seen him to know him, so she said, from the college? and I said, from South Haven. She didn't know then who I was and I had to explain that I was Audie Miller from South Haven, Michigan. Her mother's letter came while I was there. They are very nice and I had a nice visit. I asked them about a good cheap place to board. At first they couldn't think of a place that would suit me at all but before I left they mentioned a place near them, kept by a widow lady, Mrs. Bennett, who boarded the men at the depot. I called at this place and found a very nice American lady with nice rooms and I engaged board for one week. Well from the supper and breakfast I had, I won't have a chance to complain, everything was so good and nice and she has a lot of chickens, so there are nice fresh eggs. She is very pleasant. Her husband died of consumption the 27th of last August, less than a month ago. He was here over two years but was too far gone when he came, it only prolonged his life. From what I have heard, there is no better place than Las Cruses for throat and lung disease. The climate is certainly fine and the air is so much different: seems so fresh and pure. My appetite so far is better than when I was home. I am going to take dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Hagerty today.

   I had a good time in Albuquerque Thursday. After I had mailed your letter, I was walking down the street when who should I meet but a young fellow by the name of Loren Benson, of South Haven. He went to school there but his folks live out in the country near there, the girls know him for he asked about them. I was glad to see him. He is going to live there with his sister. His brother-in-law, Fred Griffith, is a conductor on the Santa Fe, and Benson is trying to get a job as brakeman. I had dinner and supper with them, they treated me fine. We took in the fair all day long, and the sports were good. It was the biggest fair ever held in the territory. The 9th U.S. cavalry were there from Ft. Wingate, they are all colored except the officer. They are the ones who saved the rough riders at the battle of San Juan. They gave a sword drill in the afternoon and a mounted exhibition at night. It was one of the finest things I ever saw. The horses were trained fine. The captain would give the orders and they were repeated to the company by the bugular. Then they dismounted and had a skirmish on foot. They went through the different maneuvers just like clock work. They would charge toward the grand stand shooting their guns, it must have been just like a battle, so much shooting. They would fire towards the stand and I got scared and kept my face down. I made up my mind if I got hit by a bullet, my face would go home in good shape. One of the soldiers did get a bullet in his gun by mistake and one poor fellow got shot through the foot. It must have been when they were lying on the ground. Well, there was excitement for a while, a great many went home when they would fire. It was a stream of fire all along the line. The drill was great and it finished up with a big field piece (cannon). They can fire that pretty fast and they kept moving it around. It was great.

   You can tell everyone that I am at Las Cruces and am feeling good so far.

                                                     Audie

OBITUARY 

"Mr. Audie D. Miller died of consumption at Las Cruces, New Mexico, Monday morning at 10 o’clock, where he went a year since in hope of regaining his health. He was the eldest of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Miller, who are well known in and about South Haven. Audie Miller was born in Bangor, June 10th twenty-five years ago, and moved with his parents to South Haven at the age of four months, and has never lived away from here until last September when he in company with Frank Wynn went west. The bereaved family received word last week, however from Mrs. Nora Hagerty formerly of this place, that Audie had grown too weak to start and that she and the many friends he has made for himself there were seeking that he had every attention. Only a short time after a telegram announced his death. The remains are expected here tonight and the funeral will probably be held Sunday afternoon at the Baptist Church."