A Pioneer Visitor. The Man Who Surveyed Clarinda in 1853.
Elijah Miller, of Kingston, Mo., attended the Miller picnic last week, and before he left town called at the Herald office. In conversation, Mr. Miller related the story of his career in the early days of this county.
He was born January 2, 1825, in East Tennessee. His parents moved to Missouri in 1842. Elijah left home when he was 17 years old and taught school in and near Andrew county at a salary of $39 a month. In 1852 he came to Page county on horseback, though he had been through two years before. He was appointed district and county clerk by Wm. Burge, prosecuting attorney and ex-officio county judge. Wm. Shearer had just resigned. Mr. Miller was also given the contract to survey the plat of the town-to-be, Clarinda. He did this in May of 1853, the task occupying him 11 days, for which he received $3 a day. One hundred and sixty acres were laid out. He had four assistants in his work—Wolf Miller as flagman, B. F. Dodson (now of Des Moines) and John Snodderly (deceased) as chainmen and R. W. Stafford (deceased) axeman. Mr. Miller had learned surveying in Missouri. He was county surveyor here six years and deputy surveyor ten more, making his entire term sixteen years.
When he laid out Clarinda the only houses west of the Nodaway were those of Isaiah Hurlout, south of town, Mr. Burge, northwest, and Henry Farrens, northeast of town.
In the fall of 1869 Mr. Miller was elected county superintendent. He was on the same ticket with U. S. Grant and took his office on January 1, 1870. Prof. Woods was county superintendent during the term before. During Mr. Miller's term school houses were built at almost the rate of one a week, it seemed. When he left the office, in 1880, there were 127 school houses in the county. He was followed in office by S. E. Wilson, he by Miss Granger, she by C. C. Hodges and he by H. E. Deater, the present superintendent.
In 1880 Mr. Miller went back to St. Joseph where he practiced medicine until 1882. He had studied medicine and graduated from a medical college there some years before. His wife and children remained here until 1882, when he traded off his property here (now the J. W. Fisher home) to Ross Hindman for 80 acres of land in Livingston county, Mo. His wife, by the way, was formerly Miss Aletha Loy, a sister of the Loys now at Coin. He married her in 1852. He met her first in Tennessee, her parents and his coming up the Mississippi in the same boat. Her parents settled here, and that fact was what brought him up from St. Joseph in 1850 and 1852.
He left St. Joseph in 1882 and went on his farm. He never was a farmer and never liked farming. While on the farm he never let his neighbors know that he was a physician. In 1884 he moved to Kingston, where he has remained ever since, operating a hotel and livery stable and also his 80 acre farm.
His children are: Webster C. Miller, of this county; Mrs. Alice Abbott of Salt Lake City; and C. B. Miller, who is living with the father. Mrs. Elijah Miller is living, at the ripe age of 66 years.

Mr. Miller presented us with a curious treasure in the shape of a history of Page county. The history was written by himself and was published by the Herald job office in 1876 when Ralph Robinson was editor of the paper. The book is about 4 x 7 inches, is neatly printed and bound, and contains 160 pages of interesting facts concerning the county. It is a real curiosity and will be treasured as a valuable relic by the Herald editor. The thought of writing a county history was suggested to Mr. Miller by Grant's proclamation, which said that every township should have a written history. Mr. Miller and another gentleman contested for a small prize for the best history of this township and the judges gave the other man the prize, though they told Miller that it was only because the poor fellow was broke and wanted to get out of the country. After that he thought he might as well write a history of the whole county, so he set about it, working at it in odd hours in his office and completed it in 1876. He has advertisements of many early Clarinda merchants in his book, for which he charged $5 a page. He sold about a thousand copies of the book, first at sixty cents and later cheaper and cheaper, until he reached the present price, twenty-five cents. Webster C. Miller has copies of his father's book which may be had at 25 cents apiece. They are rare and interesting reading for those who know anything of the early history of the country. --- Clarinda Herald Journal, August 24, 1897, p. 2.