BOONEVILLE MAN
Iowa Fiddler Looks to Fair By Herb Owens
BOONEVILLE, IA.-Amos Clinton Miller, 77, has been playing a fiddle since he was "knee-high to a grasshopper" just as his father and mother had before him.
When days are unfit for fishing, "Clint" sits alone in his neat one-room cottage and practices all the old-time tunes he can remember, like "Arkansas Traveler," "Molly in the L o w 1 a n d," "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Devil's Dream."
Clint wants to keep his fingers in shape for the annual Iowa State Fair old fiddlers' contest Aug. 21 and 22. He won the blue ribbon in 1953 just 16 years after his mother, the late Mrs. Kendall M. Miller, had won first prize at the 1937 fair.
"My father was a fiddler, too." he said, "He competed in the fair contest, but he didn't win."
Had Own Dance Band
Born in Missouri, Miller was 4 when his family moved to Des Moines, where he attended school and became a truck driver for the Consumers Coal Company. He worked 23 years on the coal handling job, then six years for the Concrete Materials Company of West Des Moines as foreman of a track crew.
"The fiddle playing started when I was too short in the arms to reach out on the strings so I used to lay the fiddle across my hip instead of tucking it under my chin," said Clint.
Miller later had his own dance band, with his sister, Mrs. Dora Allen of Booneville, as the pianist.
"I had two older brothers who fiddled, too," he recalled, "but my little dance band broke up after we lost our accordion player. He was a good one and we missed him."
Miller has competed in the old-time fiddlers' contest several times. He cited the rules: All the fiddlers must play by ear or from memory. There is no music reading in the meet. And, the tunes must be the old-time vintage.
A Dedicated Fisherman, Too
From early days of spring, however, Miller is a dedicated Raccoon River fisherman.
Last spring, on Mar. 23, the first night-crawlers surfaced and Miller was fishing early the next morning. He caught his limit of channel catfish, 18 to 22 inches long.
Clint first married Dolly Garrison of Des Moines. After her death, he married Rose Bell, a widow with four children. She died in 1962.
When Mrs. Allen's son needed a home here, Clint converted his large garage into a comfortable, modern cottage and turned his home over to the nephew.
Miller always has been healthy, having been examined only twice in his life by doctors once at 8 for pleurisy and again as a young man for an aching shoulder, an ache he learned was caused by three ulcerated teeth.
Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines, Iowa
Fri, Jul 24, 1964
Contributor: Carmen Gardiner
Iowa Fiddler Looks to Fair By Herb Owens
BOONEVILLE, IA.-Amos Clinton Miller, 77, has been playing a fiddle since he was "knee-high to a grasshopper" just as his father and mother had before him.
When days are unfit for fishing, "Clint" sits alone in his neat one-room cottage and practices all the old-time tunes he can remember, like "Arkansas Traveler," "Molly in the L o w 1 a n d," "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Devil's Dream."
Clint wants to keep his fingers in shape for the annual Iowa State Fair old fiddlers' contest Aug. 21 and 22. He won the blue ribbon in 1953 just 16 years after his mother, the late Mrs. Kendall M. Miller, had won first prize at the 1937 fair.
"My father was a fiddler, too." he said, "He competed in the fair contest, but he didn't win."
Had Own Dance Band
Born in Missouri, Miller was 4 when his family moved to Des Moines, where he attended school and became a truck driver for the Consumers Coal Company. He worked 23 years on the coal handling job, then six years for the Concrete Materials Company of West Des Moines as foreman of a track crew.
"The fiddle playing started when I was too short in the arms to reach out on the strings so I used to lay the fiddle across my hip instead of tucking it under my chin," said Clint.
Miller later had his own dance band, with his sister, Mrs. Dora Allen of Booneville, as the pianist.
"I had two older brothers who fiddled, too," he recalled, "but my little dance band broke up after we lost our accordion player. He was a good one and we missed him."
Miller has competed in the old-time fiddlers' contest several times. He cited the rules: All the fiddlers must play by ear or from memory. There is no music reading in the meet. And, the tunes must be the old-time vintage.
A Dedicated Fisherman, Too
From early days of spring, however, Miller is a dedicated Raccoon River fisherman.
Last spring, on Mar. 23, the first night-crawlers surfaced and Miller was fishing early the next morning. He caught his limit of channel catfish, 18 to 22 inches long.
Clint first married Dolly Garrison of Des Moines. After her death, he married Rose Bell, a widow with four children. She died in 1962.
When Mrs. Allen's son needed a home here, Clint converted his large garage into a comfortable, modern cottage and turned his home over to the nephew.
Miller always has been healthy, having been examined only twice in his life by doctors once at 8 for pleurisy and again as a young man for an aching shoulder, an ache he learned was caused by three ulcerated teeth.
Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines, Iowa
Fri, Jul 24, 1964
Contributor: Carmen Gardiner
BOONEVILLE MAN
Iowa Fiddler Looks to Fair By Herb Owens
BOONEVILLE, IA.-Amos Clinton Miller, 77, has been playing a fiddle since he was "knee-high to a grasshopper" just as his father and mother had before him.
When days are unfit for fishing, "Clint" sits alone in his neat one-room cottage and practices all the old-time tunes he can remember, like "Arkansas Traveler," "Molly in the L o w 1 a n d," "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Devil's Dream."
Clint wants to keep his fingers in shape for the annual Iowa State Fair old fiddlers' contest Aug. 21 and 22. He won the blue ribbon in 1953 just 16 years after his mother, the late Mrs. Kendall M. Miller, had won first prize at the 1937 fair.
"My father was a fiddler, too." he said, "He competed in the fair contest, but he didn't win."
Had Own Dance Band
Born in Missouri, Miller was 4 when his family moved to Des Moines, where he attended school and became a truck driver for the Consumers Coal Company. He worked 23 years on the coal handling job, then six years for the Concrete Materials Company of West Des Moines as foreman of a track crew.
"The fiddle playing started when I was too short in the arms to reach out on the strings so I used to lay the fiddle across my hip instead of tucking it under my chin," said Clint.
Miller later had his own dance band, with his sister, Mrs. Dora Allen of Booneville, as the pianist.
"I had two older brothers who fiddled, too," he recalled, "but my little dance band broke up after we lost our accordion player. He was a good one and we missed him."
Miller has competed in the old-time fiddlers' contest several times. He cited the rules: All the fiddlers must play by ear or from memory. There is no music reading in the meet. And, the tunes must be the old-time vintage.
A Dedicated Fisherman, Too
From early days of spring, however, Miller is a dedicated Raccoon River fisherman.
Last spring, on Mar. 23, the first night-crawlers surfaced and Miller was fishing early the next morning. He caught his limit of channel catfish, 18 to 22 inches long.
Clint first married Dolly Garrison of Des Moines. After her death, he married Rose Bell, a widow with four children. She died in 1962.
When Mrs. Allen's son needed a home here, Clint converted his large garage into a comfortable, modern cottage and turned his home over to the nephew.
Miller always has been healthy, having been examined only twice in his life by doctors once at 8 for pleurisy and again as a young man for an aching shoulder, an ache he learned was caused by three ulcerated teeth.
Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines, Iowa
Fri, Jul 24, 1964
Contributor: Carmen Gardiner
Iowa Fiddler Looks to Fair By Herb Owens
BOONEVILLE, IA.-Amos Clinton Miller, 77, has been playing a fiddle since he was "knee-high to a grasshopper" just as his father and mother had before him.
When days are unfit for fishing, "Clint" sits alone in his neat one-room cottage and practices all the old-time tunes he can remember, like "Arkansas Traveler," "Molly in the L o w 1 a n d," "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Devil's Dream."
Clint wants to keep his fingers in shape for the annual Iowa State Fair old fiddlers' contest Aug. 21 and 22. He won the blue ribbon in 1953 just 16 years after his mother, the late Mrs. Kendall M. Miller, had won first prize at the 1937 fair.
"My father was a fiddler, too." he said, "He competed in the fair contest, but he didn't win."
Had Own Dance Band
Born in Missouri, Miller was 4 when his family moved to Des Moines, where he attended school and became a truck driver for the Consumers Coal Company. He worked 23 years on the coal handling job, then six years for the Concrete Materials Company of West Des Moines as foreman of a track crew.
"The fiddle playing started when I was too short in the arms to reach out on the strings so I used to lay the fiddle across my hip instead of tucking it under my chin," said Clint.
Miller later had his own dance band, with his sister, Mrs. Dora Allen of Booneville, as the pianist.
"I had two older brothers who fiddled, too," he recalled, "but my little dance band broke up after we lost our accordion player. He was a good one and we missed him."
Miller has competed in the old-time fiddlers' contest several times. He cited the rules: All the fiddlers must play by ear or from memory. There is no music reading in the meet. And, the tunes must be the old-time vintage.
A Dedicated Fisherman, Too
From early days of spring, however, Miller is a dedicated Raccoon River fisherman.
Last spring, on Mar. 23, the first night-crawlers surfaced and Miller was fishing early the next morning. He caught his limit of channel catfish, 18 to 22 inches long.
Clint first married Dolly Garrison of Des Moines. After her death, he married Rose Bell, a widow with four children. She died in 1962.
When Mrs. Allen's son needed a home here, Clint converted his large garage into a comfortable, modern cottage and turned his home over to the nephew.
Miller always has been healthy, having been examined only twice in his life by doctors once at 8 for pleurisy and again as a young man for an aching shoulder, an ache he learned was caused by three ulcerated teeth.
Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines, Iowa
Fri, Jul 24, 1964
Contributor: Carmen Gardiner
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