Bio: Miller, W.H. (Robbed by Indians - 1907)

Contact: Michelle Melcher
Email: michelle@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Miller, Brown

----Source: Fairchild Observer (Fairchild, Wis.) 2/21/1907

Miller, W.H.

A Story of the Early Days

Two Brothers Establish Camp and Are Robbed by Indians – Succored by W.H. Miller

In the fall of 1858, two brothers by the name of Brown came up here from the southern part of the state to hunt and trap. They built a camp where Pettisville now is. One day they found that the Indians had broken into their camp and robbed them of all their provisions and ammunition, leaving them utterly destitute of anything to eat or drink.

As Sparta was the nearest place where they could replenish their larder, and that some 75 miles away, they started to find some settler of whom they could get provisions. They finally came to W.H. Miller’s, who had settled on a claim in 1857. After getting something to eat, one of the Brown boys and a companion went home; the other stayed with Miller most of the winter.

Last week, 49 years later, a man stopped at Fairchild and enquired for W.H. Miller. On being told that Mr. Miller lived west of town a couple of miles, he went out there. None knew him until he asked Mr. Miller if he remembered the Indians robbing his camp and of his coming there for food. He was one of the boys who so many years ago had been befriended by Mr. Miller, and had never forgotten his kindness to them. When the civil war broke out he went into the army. He is now living at Spencer, Wis.