John Frederick Miller was a true pioneer of the early American frontier in Southwest Virginia. Settling at an early date (about 1748), near the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in what is now the Patrick-Henry County area of Virginia; he undoubtedly faced many hardships, dangers and uncertainties in order to establish a future for his family and descendants in the new land to which he had migrated. One such incident occurred in 1756, during the French and Indian War, when the Virginia Militia commandeered John Frederick Miller's home and built a fort (Fort Mayo) around it. He filed a complaint with the Virginia Colonial Government, and was compensated for his losses. John Frederick was born in 1711 in Freudenberg, Germany; and died in 1787 on his Little Toby Creek Tract, in what is now southwestern Halifax County, Virginia.