My Genealogy Hound

Bradford S. Miles, a prominent farmer and the most extensive horticulturist in Franklin County, was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., December 19, 1824. He was educated in the common schools of his native county and has followed farming all his life. He taught school in Jefferson County three years, and purchased and moved to his present farm in 1849, being engaged in school teaching the following three years. As a result of his energy and perseverance he now owns 2,000 acres of improved land, well stocked and equipped for farming. He also owns seven dwelling houses in Pacific, which place was a wilderness at the time of his settlement. December 19, 1849, he married Miss Anna Eliza Roberts, a native of Charlotte County, Va., and a daughter of Archibald H. and Frances (Portwood) Roberts, also natives of Charlotte County, whence they removed to Franklin County, Mo., when Mrs. Roberts was seven years old. When sixteen years of age Archibald H. Roberts entered the War of 1812 as a substitute for his uncle, and served two years. He was a son of John and Susan (Pettus) Roberts, natives of Virginia. Mrs. Frances Roberts was a daughter of Thomas Portwood, who married a Miss McCargo. To Mr. and Mrs. Bradford S. Miles seven children were born, viz., John A., Pliny, Fannie K. (deceased), Victor R., James B., William H., and Thomas E. Mrs. Miles is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Miles is a Democrat, politically, and a member of the I. O. O. F. He was the seventh of the twelve children of Jonathan E. and Lucinda (Sheldon) Miles, natives of New Hampshire and Connecticut, respectively, of English descent. Jonathan E. Miles, the son of Abner Miles, settled in Jefferson County, N. Y., in 1800, when there were only three houses in his township, and not over ten acres of cleared land. He was captain of an independent rifle company in his town during the War of 1812, but his only active service was the march to the scene of the battle at Sackett’s Harbor, where the company arrived just as the British were withdrawing from the field.