Hugh Miller


From mid-April until mid-December, 2011, the farmhouse was renovated. As the work progressed, daily progress reports and photos were posted to show the details of how our contractor started with, for example, this:

Before: old dining room (click on all photos to embiggen).

and ended with this:

After: Charlotte's new kitchen.

For those interested in reading about troubles and triumphs of this project from start to finish, all posts concerning it have been consolidated into an article entitled “2011 House Renovation”, located in the Pages section on the right-hand side.

As told by: Hugh Miller/Thistle Ha’.
Photo credit: Argentine Shorthorn Breeders Association.

Tarquinos cattle

Tarquinos cattle

While showing Shorthorns at the International Livestock Show in Chicago one year, Hugh Miller/Thistle Ha’ was introduced to Pedro Laco, Secretary of the Argentine Shorthorn Breeders Association. He remarked that the Miller name was famous in Argentina. Laco said that another John Miller, who “must have been a relative of yours” [debatable, sources differ whether this John Miller came from Scotland or England], sailed up the Ri­o de la Plata in the 1820s with the first pedigreed bull imported into Argentina – a Shorthorn bull named Tarquin. It was at “The Caledonia” ranch near Cañuelas, Buenos Aires that John Miller began crossbreeding Tarquin with native Spanish cattle, resulting in such a remarkable improvement in the quality of the beef that he is considered the founder of the modern beef industry in Argentina.

Laco added that Tarquin had white feet. This proved to be a bad trait on the pampas, since the white hair attracted ticks. Tarquin proved to be so prepotent that it took ten generations to completely eliminate white feet from his “Tarquinos” offspring.

Source: Document from Thistle Ha’ private collection.


Although John Miller/Thistle Ha’ had success at winning several elections to local office, he failed in his attempt at higher office. In the February 22, 1887 federal election, he ran for the Conservative party, led by Prime Minister John Macdonald, who governed with a coalition of members from two political parties: the Conservatives and the Liberal-Conservatives.

The image on the left is the second page of the Returning Officer’s election results, showing that John Miller was easily beaten by the Liberal party incumbent, James Edgar. Hugh Miller/Thistle Ha’ recalled that John Miller ran against a very capable opponent in a riding that was considered a safe seat for the Liberals. Edgar later became Speaker of the House of Commons and was knighted by Queen Victoria.

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