Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/386



Cincinnatus Hiner Miller was born in Union County, Indiana, November 10, 1842. His parents moved to Missouri in 1848, and to Oregon in 1852. The Poet tells the story:

"The first thing of mine in print was the valedictory class poem, at Columbia College, Eugene, Oregon, 1859. At this date Columbia College, the germ of the University of Oregon, had many students from Oregon and California, and was famous as an educational center.

"I had been writing, or trying to write, since a lad. My two brothers and my sister were at my side, our home with our parents, and we lived entirely to ourselves. We were all school teachers when not in college. In 1861, my elder brother and I were admitted to practice law under Geo. H. Williams, afterwards Attorney General under President Grant."

As a lawyer Mr. Miller became deeply interested in Joaquin Murietta, a Mexican brigand for whom he made a legal defense.