HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY

PORTSMOUTH AND IT PROJECTOR

A large trade in village property had also sprung up. Parties would select land with some advantages of location that would commend it to the public, lay out a town, and go it the market to sell either interests in the whole tract, or lots in the village. Owing to difficulty of access, Saginaw had but a small population at the commencement of the year 1836, but it had attained some notoriety. Saginaw City had been platted four or five years previously, and was supposed by many to be the only point on the river where a town was likely to be built. But others who were aware of the difficulties of ascending the river with heavy laden craft, and anticipating the vast commerce which the products of the valley must eventually induce, conceived the idea of starting a town nearer the mouth of the river. With this in view, Judge Albert Miller, who had become familiar with this entire region, purchased a tract of land of the Trombley's in July, 1836, and in the same month had the village of Portsmouth surveyed and platted. This was the first attempt to start a town within the present boundaries of Bay County. This whole region was then in Saginaw County. Judge Miller, the first to project a town near the mouth of the Saginaw River, is now a resident of Bay City, and still engaged in active pursuits. We append a brief biographical sketch of him as follows:

Albert Miller was born in Hartland, Windsor Co., Vt., May 10 1810. His father, Jeremy Miller, was a native of Middletown, Conn. His mother, Sarah Miller, was a native of Hartland.

The ancestors of Judge Miller on his mother's side were among those who landed at Plymouth Rock, in 1620. A plate, now in the possession of the family, was brought over in the "Mayflower," by Sarah Clark, whose name it bears. It is to this woman that Judge Miller traces his ancestry.

His father belonged to an old English family that settled in Massachusetts in 1640. Judge Miller is the youngest of a family of four children, three of whom are still living. When he was seven years of age his father died; his mother living until 1863, when she died at the advanced age of eighty-four. At a very early age Judge Miller was obliged to provide for himself, his mother having but limited means. At the age of ten he engaged with his uncle, who gave him his board and a pair of boots, in return for his Summer's work.

From the time he was eleven years old until he was fourteen he lived with another uncle, who gave him his board and clothing and allowed him the privilege of attending the district school during the Winter.

The next year and a half were spent at home on the farm; the following three Summers in farm labor;; and the Winters, until he was eighteen, were spent in school. After that, two Winters were passed in teaching a district school in his native town.

About this time Mr. Miller resolved to fit himself for Datmouth College, and entered Kimball and Union Academy, at Meriden, N. H., in 1830, with this intention.

Shortly after entering the academy, he was prostrated by a severe illness, which compelled him to change his plans; and in the Fall of 1830 he started for the West.

It was the first time he had traveled more that twenty miles from home; and every day's progress had the charm of adventure and novelty.

He went by stage and canal to Buffalo, at which place he took boat for Detroit. The latter city, at the time Judge Miller passed through it, contained two thousand two hundred and twenty-two inhabitants. In the Spring of 1831, his mother and sisters having arrived from Vermont, he settled with them at Grand Blanc, Genesee Co., Mich. Here he remained until the Fall of 1832, when he visited Saginaw, and purchased a tract of land at the junction of the Shiawassee and Tittabawassee Rivers, to which he removed February, 1833. Judge Miller, during his stay at Grand Blanc, taught school, and finished the second term that was ever taught in Genesee County. During the Winter of 1834-35, he taught in a building which was occupied by the United States troops in 1823. This was the first school taught in the Saginaw Valley. In the Spring of 1833 Mr. Miller was elected to an office that constituted him one of the inspectors of elections for his township; during his residence there of fifteen years he was a constant member of the board of inspectors, and was never absent from an election. Upon the organization of Saginaw County, in 1835, he was appointed judge of the Probate Court, by Stevens T. Mason, then acting governor of the territory; this office he held for nine years. He was a justice of the peace for the township of Saginaw for thirteen years.

In 1847 he represented the county of Saginaw in the state

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Legislature; at this session the capital was removed from Detroit to Lansing. In 1836 Judge Miller purchased a tract of land near the mouth of the Saginaw River, and laid out the town of Portsmouth, which now constitutes the Sixth and a part of the Fifth and Seventh Wards of Bay City. This was the first effort made in building a town in that vicinity. In 1836-37 he with two partners erected a steam saw-mill on said tract, which was the second saw-mill put in operation on the Saginaw River. He was a stockholder and director in the company that put in operation the second salt manufactory. Judge Miller was influential in securing to Bay City the first railroad. He takes a great interest in all matters relating to the early history of Michigan, and is an active member of the State Pioneer Society, having been its first president. He is now president of the Saginaw Pioneer Society. He was the first postmaster of Portsmouth, having received the appointment, in 1837, from Amos Kendall, postmaster-general under Jackson. Judge Miller married, at Detroit, on the 6th of February, 1838, Miss Mary A Daglish, a young lady who had recently emigrated with her parents from London, Eng. They united with the Presbyterian Church the same year. He has been an elder in the church at Bay City for more than twenty years, and has three times been a delegate from the Presbytery of Saginaw to the General Assembly. He was a Jackson Democrat until the Republican party was formed, since which time he has given it his hearty support. Judge Miller has bravely endured the hardships of pioneer life, and is at present strong and active. He is well acquainted with the history of the valley, and his fine memory, combined with great originality of expression, renders his narration of early experiences very entertaining. He has contributed interesting and important information to this publication, and in various ways aided in the work of gathering various material for its contents.