McNear: James Milliken was one of few doctors on Mendocino Coast in late 1800s

Born in Surry, Maine in November, 1850, James Wallace Milliken became a long-practicing doctor on the Mendocino coast. He graduated from New York Medical College in 1876 before returning to Maine to practice. Two years later James married Lizzie Sarah Farrington, and the couple had two children. In 1882, James visited his brother Horace, who had lived in Mendocino since 1874. He must have liked the coast, because James headed west the following year. Lizzie and their two children followed in 1884, giving James time to settle in and prepare their home.

The family initially lived on Ukiah Street, but they soon moved to the “McCornack Home” on Main Street. The house is sometimes referred to as the “House of Doctors,” because several of Mendocino’s physicians lived there. The couple would have four more children.