Harry S. Miller
American lyricist
Harry S. Miller (born 1867 – January 5, 1934) was an American lyricist, composer, and sometimes playwright who lived in New York and Chicago in the 19th and early 20th centuries and is best known for his song "The Cat Came Back", published in 1893.
Life
Born in Philadelphia on April 4, 1860 and died in Brooklyn New York on January 5, 1934. He moved to New York City in 1896 to further his career as a lyricist.
Miller's songs were part of Tin Pan Alley, and were sold to various TPA entertainers (for example, vaudeville entertainer Tony Pastor popularized The Cat Came Back, Dan W. Quinn recorded He's Got Feathers in his Hat for the North American Phonograph Company around 1895, and Edward M. Favor popularized I'll Not Go Out with Reilly Any More). He specialized in quatrains and often wrote using a Georgian Black dialect, though Miller was white. His contemporaries credited him with the popularization of the terms of endearment "honey" and "baby" in African-American English and the spread of coon songs, as well as the phrase, "Got troubles of my own".
In 1898, Miller wrote The Insurance Agent: An Eccentric Character and Comedy Sketch, a two-man play.
Harry married Mary Agnes Marlborough in Philadelphia in 1891 She was also born in Philadelphia. They had four children: Mabel, born in 1893, the year The Cat Came Back was published, Harry Somers Miller, Jr., born in 1894 but died in 1900; Jessie Irene was born in 1898 and died the next year; Louis George, born in 1896 and died in 1970. Louis had three children, Harold, Evelyn and Shirley, who died in infancy.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Harry S. Miller” is american lyricist. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Harry, Miller and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american lyricist” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2119367. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1867, 1934, 1893 and 1860.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Harry S. Miller”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Harry S. Miller primary sources, Harry S. Miller archive and Harry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Harry S. Miller”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Harry S. Miller” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.