NOSHIE M. "ZOO" MILLER (1883 - 1988) was born in Fannin County, Texas.  She was also known by the name "Tex". Her father was a Cherokee Indian.  Her mother was born in France. Tex was raised outside Bonham, adjacent to Sam Rayburn's farm.  She claimed her father was psychic and a man of very few words. He worked his farm and never drew attention to himself. The mother, in contrast, taught a school of dramatic arts for girls in Bonham.

John Urquhart was born Missouri to Scottish parents, William Smith Urquhart and Jane Sangster.  John Urquhart (1872 - 1942) was the yardmaster at Ray Yards. He inherited the Urquhart Castle in Scotland and donated it to the local town in Scotland for tourism.

Zoo Miller Cotton married John S. Urquhart June 21, 1921 in Denison, Texas. 
John Urquhart first married at the age of 19 to Ida Eyer in 1898.  They had one daughter, Evelyn.  Zoo Miller first married at the
age of 18 to William E. Cotton in 1910.

Zoo was highly educated by correspondence, with seven different diplomas in the period around 1900. In her earlier days, before marriage, she was the planetarium director at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California.  "I observed
her draw astrology charts without any reference books. I also observed her tell accurate time without a clock or watch or wearing her glasses.  She lived on the east side of Crockett Avenue in a pink house." (Doug Hoover).

"Steps to Nowhere"
This is at, or near, the former home of "Zoo" Urquhart
307 E. Texas Street
Photo by Mavis Anne Bryant, ca. 2000

In Denison, she was on the first library board, before there was a public library here. She also was one of the charter members of the Texas Humane Society.  Her occupations included sales lady, bank employee, and astrologer. "She was a noted psychic". (Vivian Spears)

Tex only started giving “readings” after her husband died during the Great Depression and the life insurance company went bankrupt without paying on his policy. She hated being called “the fortune teller” but was unable to support herself otherwise.

She gave credit to “God's Angels” for all the information that she was given as a reader. Oftentimes the answers she gave were in a cryptic message that only the individual involved would understand. She also would qualify her readings, saying that the future was controllable by the individual and that her predictions were relevant to the path that was being followed at the time, subject to altered directions in one’s life.

She never used cards, but she did use personal items to track missing persons. She again would credit to “God's Angels” for her ability to help find missing people and also to help law enforcement find dangerous criminals. The more dangerous the criminal, the more accurate was her ability to locate their whereabouts. I know for a fact that she helped the FBI track very dangerous individuals over the course of her career. I also know personally that she made Woody Blanton (former Grayson County sheriff) famous for his ability to find criminals hiding in Grayson County. (Doug Hoover)

She would say she had God-given psychic abilities and had studied the science of astrology her entire life. But she would physically run you off her property (usually with her broom) if you called her a fortune-teller. (Dana Blackwell)

This aspect of her work was kept very secret for fear of retaliation. For her, the only positive aspect of being called a fortune teller was the camouflage it provided for the more dangerous work. This part of her story could have never been revealed while she was alive.