Hi Jim
Thanks for the GI article. It is clear that T H Rigg Miller was a real person and not Wendell Miller in error. I googled him after you posted that article and found out the following, also a photograph of him as well. It appears he was English or possibly Irish, as I found evidence that the Rigg Miller family were from Nenagh in Ireland. He was a greenkeeper who obviously was into course construction as well. Like Tom, I wonder if he was related to Wendell Miller. And how did he come to know and work with Mackenzie? A mystery.
THOMAS HENRY RIGGS-MILLER
Mr Thomas H Riggs-Miller was a passenger aboard the S.S.Penguin when it was wrecked on 12 February 1909 in Cook Strait, off the Wellington Coast of New Zealand. With a death toll of 72, it was the greatest New Zealand maritime disaster of the 20th century. He and Sylvester Edward Holcroft, a friend he was travelling with, were washed off the keel of the boat they had boarded by a large wave. He survived because he swam for half an hour or more holding on with one arm to a spar drifting in the water. With his other arm he held on to the arm of his friend in an attempt to save him, but his friend eventually drowned. In the extensive account of the tragedy which he gave to a local newspaper, he is described as "a well-built and well-groomed young man, who carries about his 13st 4lbs of avoirdupois as if it didn't worry him in the least."
Thomas Henry Riggs-Miller arrived in New York on 6th July 1913 on the S.S.Philadelphia from the port of Southampton, England. He is listed as being English, with his last permanent residence being Johannesburg, South Africa and his occupation is shown as a Theatrical Agent. The ship's manifest describes him as 5'11" tall with a brown complexion, brown hair and brown eyes, age 26 and born in Vanoua(?) Fiji - his marital status is not quoted. He was travelling from African Theatrical Trust Ltd, Johannesburg, South Africa, and going to visit a friend J.H.Allen at 500 Astor Theatre Building, 1531 Broadway, New York.
'Tomas'(sic) H Riggs Miller also arrived in New York 24 June 1914, on the S.S.Saratoga from the port of Havana, Cuba. He is listed as being Irish, with his last permanent residence being New York, and his occupation is shown as a salesman. The ship's manifest describes him as a single man 5'10" tall with a fair complexion, brown hair and brown eyes, age 28 and born in the Fiji Islands. He was travelling from Hotel Telegrafi Havana, and going to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, New York.
On 2nd December 1930, Thomas Henry Riggs-Miller became a naturalised citizen of the United States. He was then age 43 and living in the New Dorp neighbourhood of Staten Island, New York.
T. H. RIGGS MILLER, 123 Bache Ave., New Dorp, Staten Island
In January 1932 Miller was recorded in The National Greenkeeper magazine as a District Vice-president of the National Association of Greenkeepers of America, and he was based at Richmond County Country Club, Staten Island, New York.