John Campbell Miller: Builder of Fancy Homes in Rural West Virginia

Beautifully illustrated and with charming detail, this book documents fifty-nine houses and public structures of builder John Campbell Miller primarily in southwestern Monroe County, West Virginia, which were constructed between 1886 and 1923. They range from the high Victorian Queen Anne style to the twentieth century Colonial Revival and Craftsman styles, and many are elegant farmhouses that stand out from the bucolic landscape. Readers gain a glimpse of the era when large farming families were the norm and horse-drawn wagons were giving way to motorized vehicles. Organized by community, this book contains over two hundred photographs, roughly half of which are vintage, and a text that covers the stylistic elements as well as the family stories of each. These details have been resurrected through visits and interviews with current residents as well as from the files of the Monroe County Historical Society. The identification of Miller's buildings is based on a list and photo file maintained over the last hundred years by generations of his family.

History

Ziegler, Fred

Crabtree, Becky Hatcher

Americas

35th Star Publishing

Beautifully illustrated and with charming detail, this book documents fifty-nine houses and public structures of builder John Campbell Miller primarily in southwestern Monroe County, West Virginia, which were constructed between 1886 and 1923. They range from the high Victorian Queen Anne style to the twentieth century Colonial Revival and Craftsman styles, and many are elegant farmhouses that stand out from the bucolic landscape.Readers gain a glimpse of the era when large farming families were the norm and horse-drawn wagons were giving way to motorized vehicles. Organized by community, this book contains over two hundred photographs, roughly half of which are vintage, and a text that covers the stylistic elements as well as the family stories of each. These details have been resurrected through visits and interviews with current residents as well as from the files of the Monroe County Historical Society. The identification of Miller's buildings is based on a list and photo file maintained over the last hundred years by generations of his family.

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Try and Be Somebody: The Story of Dr. Henry Lake Dickason

Try and Be Somebody, a biography of the inspiring life of Dr. Henry Lake Dickason, documents the life of the first president of Bluefield State College, Bluefield, West Virginia, and an early 20th century leader of Black education. Though Dickason’s remarkable achievements have been largely ignored by history, the man comes to life with this narrative.
Dickason was born two decades after the end of the Civil War and grew up in a log cabin on Peters Mountain near Lindside, West Virginia. He learned about slavery from his grandparents on both sides of the family, all four were slaves, his father’s parents on the farm where Dr. Dickason grew up and his mother’s parents on a farm at Gap Mills, West Virginia. The life of Henry Lake vividly portrays the lives of the rural Black community of the time. The reader can hear the swing of the cabin door, smell the dinner cooking, and feel hope and sorrows of the family as they live out their lives on Peters Mountain in West Virginia.
Young Henry Lake learned about the oppression of segregation, especially the limited opportunity for black children to get an education from the struggles of his own life. But he recognized early that education was the key to a decent and successful life. Dickason’s thirst for knowledge led him on a transformative journey against formidable odds from a rural agricultural community to an academic world, first at Bluefield Colored Institute, a boarding high school, then to Columbus, Ohio, earning degrees at Ohio State University and becoming the national president of a then fledgling black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha. He was awarded two doctorates later, one in a ceremony in which Eleanor Roosevelt gave the commencement address.
Dickason’s career in education began at Bluefield Colored Institute in 1914 and was part of the evolution of the school through several roles as it became an accredited college in 1949. His fight to maintain the college and its facilities and to expand the campus to include new areas of study spanned nearly forty years. After retirement there, he accepted the presidency of Morristown College in Tennessee and worked to lead the school until his death in 1957.
He rose quietly above racial inequities and personal tragedies to hold the door open for others to have better opportunities. He became a driving force in racial pride and in ensuring that education was available for all those in southern West Virginia who desired to learn.
Dickason’s character has such presence that the reader will make the journey with him, rooting for him and inspired by him the whole way. From his own challenges and successes to the roles he plays in the lives of others, Dr. Dickason lives on these pages. His life, guided by his father’s words, “Try and be somebody,” inspires us all.
Fifty-eight illustrations, an appendix, and multiple indexes supplement the story.

Community & Culture

Fathom Publishing Company

Try and Be Somebody, a biography of the inspiring life of Dr. Henry Lake Dickason, documents the life of the first president of Bluefield State College, Bluefield, West Virginia, and an early 20th century leader of Black education. Though Dickason’s remarkable achievements have been largely ignored by history, the man comes to life with this narrative.
Dickason was born two decades after the end of the Civil War and grew up in a log cabin on Peters Mountain near Lindside, West Virginia. He learned about slavery from his grandparents on both sides of the family. All four were slaves, his father’s parents on the farm where Dr. Dickason grew up and his mother’s parents on a farm at Gap Mills, West Virginia. The life of Henry Lake vividly portrays the lives of the rural Black community of the time. The reader can hear the swing of the cabin door, smell the dinner cooking, and feel hope and sorrows of the family as they live out their lives on Peters Mountain in West Virginia.
Young Henry Lake learned about the oppression of segregation, especially the limited opportunity for black children to get an education, from the struggles of his own life. But he recognized early that education was the key to a decent and successful life. Dickason’s thirst for knowledge led him on a transformative journey against formidable odds from a rural agricultural community to an academic world, first at Bluefield Colored Institute, a boarding high school, then to Columbus, Ohio, earning degrees at Ohio State University and becoming the national president of a then fledgling black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha. He was awarded two doctorates later, one in a ceremony in which Eleanor Roosevelt gave the commencement address.
Dickason’s career in education began at Bluefield Colored Institute in 1914 and was part of the evolution of the school through several roles as it became an accredited college in 1949. His fight to maintain the college and its facilities and to expand the campus to include new areas of study spanned nearly forty years. After retirement there, he accepted the presidency of Morristown College in Tennessee and worked to lead the school until his death in 1957.
He rose quietly above racial inequities and personal tragedies to hold the door open for others to have better opportunities. He became a driving force in racial pride and in ensuring that education was available for all those in southern West Virginia who desired to learn.
Dickason’s character has such presence that the reader will make the journey with him, rooting for him and inspired by him the whole way. From his own challenges and successes to the roles he plays in the lives of others, Dr. Dickason lives on these pages. His life, guided by his father’s words, “Try and be somebody,” inspires us all.
Fifty-eight illustrations, an appendix, and multiple indexes supplement the story.

Fathom Pub. Co.

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Books by Crabtree, Becky Hatcher

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Crabtree, Becky Hatcher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

John Campbell Miller: Builder of Fancy Homes in Rural West Virginia

John Campbell Miller: Builder of Fancy Homes in Rural West Virginia

Try and Be Somebody: The Story of Dr. Henry Lake Dickason

Try and Be Somebody: The Story of Dr. Henry Lake Dickason

Try and Be Somebody: The Story of Dr. Henry Lake Dickason