California Biographies Mendocino and Lake Counties, California Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California With Biographical Sketches History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry Illustrated, Complete In One Volume Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914 FRITZ F. MILLER.� The general manager of the Lake County Auto- mobile and Transportation Company was born September 10, 1851, on the island of Langeland ofif the east coast of Denmark, and was the eighth in order of birth among eleven children, whose parents, Soren Hansen Miller and Annie (Peterson) Miller, were lifelong residents of Denmark, dying there at the ages of eighty-eight and seventy years respectivly. Various occupations combined to enable the father to earn a livelihood for the family, he being not only a farmer and land-owner, but also a shoe manufacturer, saddler and tanner. The children were reared in the Lutheran faith and confirmed at the age of fourteen years. Immediately after Fritz F. had been confirmed he left home to earn his own way in the world, shipping as a sailor on a freighting vessel that plied the waters of the North sea between Norway and England and Scotland, besides doing business at various ports of Lapland and Russia. A later cruise took the lad to Holland, France, Portugal and Spain, as well as to South America. Three years were given to a long voyage that took him to the North African coast countries. Constantinople and other Mediterra- nean ports, whence he sailed through the Suez canal and on to Calcutta and Bombay. The course of the voyage took him to the port of Valparaiso in South America and around the Horn to Rio Janeiro and other Brazilian ports. An interesting episode of this long voyage took the form of an exploring and prospecting tour up the Amazon river for almost four hundred miles, during which he saw many wild animals of types rarely seen, many strange birds and trees, as well as rare plants and flowers. A brief experience as a sailor on a German vessel was ended when the agitations leading up to the Franco-Prussian struggle necessitated the return of Mr. Miller to Hamburg and his withdrawal from the crew of the ship. Thereupon he shipped on board the Plymouth, a vessel of the American navy, and after he had arrived in Boston November 23, 1868, he was formally ac- cepted in the United States service. Later he was transferred to the frigate Franklin, and for three years remained in the navy. Next he sailed on the steamer Providence, in the Atlantic coast service, after which for one year he was connected with the New York and Fall river service. During 1872 he came to California via Panama. Since then he has been connected with the stage business. Transportation is and always has been his hobby. As a sailor, enduring the vicissitudes incident to life on the high seas, he made a study of the business of water transportation and since he left the sea he has studied transportation by land. Not only was he a capable, efficient sailor, but he is also now one of the most successful stage line managers on the Pacific coast. After having had charge of the stage line from Marysville to Colusa for one year he and his brother, W. P. ^filler, became the owners of the first stage line from Colusa to Bartlett Springs and operated their line to connect with river boats before there was any railroad to Colusa. From 1873 to 1888 he made Colusa his home. In the year last-named he moved to Mendocino City and became interested in a stage line from that place to Casadero, also in another line to Ukiah. The marriage of F. F. Miller and Miss Helen Smith was solemnized at Mendocino City February 29, 1892, and five children were born of the union. The deepest sorrow of their married life came to them with the loss of their eldest sons, William and Andrew, both of whom died at the age of nine years, and in the death of Margaret, their little daughter of eight months. Ray- mond and Myrtle are the surviving members of the family. During the sum- mer of 1852 William Smith, a native of Boston, Mass., joined in the gold rush to California. Later he took up timber lands in Mendocino county and erected at Albion a sawmill, of which he engaged as superintendent, remaining at Albion until his death about 1891. A few years after he first crossed the plains he returned east for his wife, Margaret (McArthur) Smith, a native of Connecticut. Their daughter, Helen, was born in San Francisco and reared in Mendocino county, attending the public schools at Albion. During 1898 Mr. and Mrs. Miller removed to Lakeport, and at the same time Mr. Miller started a stage line from this place to Hopland. After he had continued the business successfully for almost a decade, in 1907 he sold out the line to the Lake County Automobile and Transportation Company, of which he is a large stockholder and since 1908 the general manager. The equipment of the com- pany includes three White auto trucks of one and one-half tons, three seven- passenger touring cars, thirty horses and fourteen stage wagons. During the period of his residence in Mendocino county he became identified with the Mendocino City lodge of Odd Fellows. From the time of coming to the United States he has been an adherent of the Republican party and a firm believer in the wisdom of its policy. Although not identified with any relig- ious sect, he is a believer in the uplifting influence of true religion and has contributed to various church enterprises, notably those of the Catholic Church, to which his wife belongs. Exceptional judgment and a high order of executive ability on his part have brought success to the Lake County Automobile and Transportation Company, whose lines from Pieta to Lake- port via Highland Springs and also from Hopland and Lakeport, have a grati- fying patronage at almost every season of the year, but particularly during the summer months, when city dwellers are seeking the cool resorts of the moun- tains and lakes.