John & Harriet Miller

John and Harriet Miller. First Settlers 1885. , Boyne City's first permanent settlers arrived on the shores of Pine Lake (now Lake Charlevoix) on November 14, 1856 from up state New York. It has been said that they found the place by following a dream. As the story is told, Harriet awoke one night from a dream in which she envisioned a lake to the west shaped like a bear with an abandoned cabin at the east end. Determined to follow her dream, she convinced John to sell their property and they set out to find this strange new place. , , After making their way from New York to Northport they met John Saxton Dixon and persuaded him to take them to the eastern end of Pine Lake. Upon arriving here, they were surprised to find an abandoned cabin just as Harriet had seen in her dream. , , John and Harriet were married on Christmas Day in 1840. He was born the son of Scotch and Irish emigrants in 1811 and she was born Harriet Russell to Canadian parents of Irish descent in 1823. They had two sons Hugh and James. , , John Miller was known to everyone in the community as "Uncle John" and Harriet has since earned the status as “Boyne’s First Psychic.” They named this place “Boyne” after a river in Ireland where a famous battle was fought. , , John died on May 8, 1896 and Harriet followed him two years later.