292 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



A PIONEER FOR THE SCOTTISH BLOODS 



114. One of the veteran stockbreeders of Ontario who worked 

 so diligently to upbuild the Scottish Shorthorn interests in the 

 early days of Canadian cattle breeding was Mr. John Miller 

 of "Thistle Ha' " farm. Mr. Miller was born May 12, 1817, 

 near Annan, Dumfrieshire, in Scotland. On April 12, 1835, 

 he left Scotland in a sailing vessel and arrived at Markham, 

 Ont., June 1, with a consignment of Leicester sheep and Berk- 

 shire swine for his uncle, George Miller, another of Ontario's 

 agricultural pioneers. For five years he worked steadfastly for 

 this uncle, but on the arrival of his father and mother from 

 Scotland he participated with them in clearing what is now 

 known as the Atha farm. For eight years he worked for his 

 parents, but in 1848 he bought Thistle Ha' so called from the 

 bad state of its cultivation at its purchase. This ground orig- 

 inally contained 165 acres, but from time to time more land 

 was added until it included over a square mile. Except for 

 100 acres of cedar land, this entire farm was kept in a high 

 state of cultivation. 



The year following his arrival in Ontario, he showed a young 

 Shorthorn bull against all ages and breeds in a class of eight 

 at the Toronto spring show, and took first prize. At the first 

 provincial show in London, 1854, he won first and second on 

 two imported yearling Shorthorn heifers. In 1857 he showed 

 four two-year-old heifers and the bull Redkirk. He was very 

 successful in all Dominion showrings, including the provincial 

 fair and also won in several of the northern state fairs in the 

 United States. In 1867 he purchased from J. H. Spear the cow 

 Nellie Bly 2d for $1,000, after she had won first at St. Louis 

 and several other places. She was the first bovine to be intro- 

 duced to Canada at such a price and became the foundation of 

 that branch of the Nelly Bly family that was for so many years 

 popular in the provinces. About this same time he purchased 



