JOHN MICKLAM
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JOHN MICKLAM, farmer; P. O. Kilbourne. "Uncle Johnnie," as he is familiarly
called, first saw the light of day in the city of London April 7. 1796, and is
now in his 84th year; he has seen many of the "notable" and crowned heads of
Europe, George III and IV, the Queen's father, Alexander I and Old Blucher, and
many others, and can relate very many interesting things, of which he was an
eyewitness, that are now matters of history. John was the eldest of a family of
eight children born to John Micklam and Ann Goulds. Feb. 17,1819, he emigrated
to this country, landing at, Norfolk, Va.; thence to Petersburg, where he was
engaged as a dealer in tobacco and lived about three years; he has now in his
possession several bills of lading and invoices of goods (seen by the writer) in
the quaint handwriting of that time, showing the character of the business done.
Subsequently to this, he engaged in growing tobacco. In early life, he
learned the tobacco business with his father. While in Virginia, he
saw the first steamboat that ever sailed on the James River, a rude affair, with
a hulk like a canal boat, and an engine with upright arms working vertically. In
1827, he emigrated to Kentucky and Tennessee, and remained until 1836, when he
came to Bluffdale. Greene Co., this State, and remained there until 1845; he
then came to Mason Co., and has since lived here. June 13, 1821, he married
Maria Pegram in Dinwiddie Co., Va.; they have had eight children: John W.,
Martha A., Indiana M., Mary D., Charles E., Stanfield A., Sophia and Harriet M.
Mr. Micklam has always been a very temperate man, and was never drunk in his
life, and is a man of excellent information, a great reader, and a true type of
an old English "gentleman."
Maintained by
Mason County Coordinator Donna Mayer