Christian Miller had very little opportunity to attend school, as his boyhood was passed in a frontier community, but he has learned many valuable lessons in the school of experience. He accompanied his parents on their removal to Walla Walla county and remained with the colony until it was disbanded, after which he worked as a farm hand for a time. In 1889 he purchased his first farm, comprising one hundred and sixty acres on section 26, Russell Creek township, and has since added to his holdings from time to time until he now owns about four hundred acres of excellent land. He is engaged in diversified farming and has been very successful in his work.
On the 8th of November, 1882, Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Grace E. Davies, who was born in Kansas, June 18, 1855. Her father, W. W. Davies, was a native of Wales, born August 8, 1833, and was at the head of the colony of settlers who came to this county. Before leaving Wales he was married August 24, 1854, to Miss Ann Jones, and they became the parents of twelve children. It was in 1855 that they came to America and for a time made their home in Utah and later in Montana, but in 1867 came to Walla Walla county, Washington. Mrs. Davies, who was born in Wales, March 29, 1836, died May 19, 1879, and Mr. Davies passed away November 25, 1906. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller, of whom two survive, namely: Sarah M., the wife of Elmer Meiner, a farmer of Russell Creek township; and Esther M., at home.
Mr. Miller is a republican in politics and has served for a number of years on the school board, in which connection he has done valuable work for the schools. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and has many friends within and without that organization. Through his own efforts he has gained financial independence, his success being based upon enterprise, hard work and good management.
HON. LEVI ANKENY.
With the history of development in the northwest Hon. Levi Ankeny, of Walla Walla, is largely familiar. He has been a witness of the various phases of life during the progress from pioneer times to the days of present prosperity and he has ever borne his part in the work of general upbuilding and improvement, while at the same time he has so conducted his private business interests that substantial results have accrued. He has been active in connection with mining and with the copper industry and for many years he has occupied a most prominent position in banking circles. His business interests alone would entitle him to representation in this volume and yet there are other phases of his life which also render him a most prominent and representative citizen of the northwest, for he has been United States senator and has done much to further the interests of this section of the country in the halls of national legislation.
Mr. Ankeny was born near St. Joseph, Missouri, on the 1st of August, 1844, a son of John and Charity (Geer) Ankeny, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of the state of New York. Both were members of old families whose ancestry can be traced back to Revolutionary war times and who were represented by valiant soldiers in the struggle for independence. The father was a newspaper man in Milford, Pennsylvania, for a number of years and died while on a trip across the plains to Oregon in 1850. His widow continued the trip and spent her last years in Portland, Oregon.
Levi Ankeny of this review was a little lad of but six summers when his parents started with the family on the long trip over the hot stretches of sand and through the mountain passes to the northwest, yet he remembers many incidents of that journey, which was made after the primitive manner of the times. He was reared on the Pacific coast and largely acquired his education in Kingsley Academy in Portland. After reaching adult age he was for several years engaged in merchandising in Orofino and in Florence, Idaho, selling goods from pack trains all through the mining regions and also through the Fraser river country of British Columbia. He was also for several years with the Wells Fargo Express Company. During these years he became identified with the cattle industry and his herds roamed the plains of both Idaho and Washington. He was in Walla Walla in his cattle operations, grazing his herds throughout this section of the country in the early days before settlement had laid claim to the land.
