Miller family information submitted
by Betty Houghton
For questions or additions please contact Betty at:
houg@dnet.net
Source of the following information is from The Genealogy of the Descendants
of Frederick and Mary Elizabeth Peery Miller compiled by their grandson John
Peery Miller, Professor of History, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio
in 1913.
In 1818 Frederick and Elizabeth Peery Miller left their home in Botetourt County, Virginia to make a new home in Clark County, Ohio. Frederick bought a quarter section, containing forty acres of cleared land, located in Bethel township, six miles west of Springfield. A cabin on that land was their home until 1822 when the above pictured building of hewn logs was erected. It was built two stories, with a central hall and four rooms. By records dated 1823, Peter Minnich and Peter Marquart did the carpenter work. Beaded mantles, partitions, joists and paneled doors, unusual in log houses in primitive settlements, gave beauty of finish to the structure. Its broad faced poplar logs with the white stripes of lime mortar between made an impressive view.
Frederick Miller 1760-1822 died during the erection of this house. As a widow then Elizabeth was to have a separate room in the new house. She chose as her own the east room on the first floor with its huge fireplace.
In later years other occupants of this house would build around the original structure making it a part of their home. It is still being used.
Seven children had been born to Frederick and Elizabeth. They were Mary, Henry, Elizabeth, John, Daniel, David and Delilah, all born in Botetourt County, Virginia. The following lineage is of their son Daniel 1802-1878.
....... 2 Mary Miller 1823 - 1845 b: 15 January 1823 d: 26 September 1845
....... 2 Sarah Miller 1825 - 1835 b: 28 March 1825 d: 09 March 1835
....... 2 Delilah Miller 1827 - 1894 b: 24 March 1827 d: 08 December 1894 in McLean, IL
....... 2 Leah Miller 1829 - 1918 b: 28 August 1829 d: 05 July 1918 in Clark CO, OH
.......... +John V Purssell 1829 - 1880 b: 22 January 1829 d: 12 October 1880 in Clark CO, OH
....... 2 Benjamin Miller 1831 - 1912 b: 26 October 1831 d: 05 May 1912 in Fremont, NE
.......... +Sabina Lucinda Weaver
....... 2 Emaline Miller 1833 - 1863 b: 05 December 1833 d: 11 November 1863 in Anderson, IN
....... 2 [1] Henrietta Miller 1838 - 1897 b: 05 April 1838 d: 09 November 1897 in Bethany, MO
....... *2nd Husband of [1] Henrietta Miller:
....... 2 John Tyler Miller 1841 - 1899 b: 28 June 1841 d: 14 May 1899 in Champaign CO, IL
.......... +Nancy Ellen Wallace 1844 - 1927 b: 09 April 1844 d: 07 February 1927 in Champaign CO, IL
................ 3 Thomas S Miller 1868 - b: 23 October 1868
................ 3 John Wallace Miller 1870 - b: 12 February 1870
................ 3 Frank A Miller 1872 - b: 16 June 1872
................ 3 Calvin Pursell Miller 1875 - b: 1875
................ 3 Jessie May Miller 1876 - b: 03 May 1876
....... 2 Eliza Miller 1844 - 1911 b: 03 May 1844 d: 18 June 1911 Fact 1: burial Yellow Springs, OH
....... 2 Clara Miller 1846 - 1908 b: 13 July 1846 d: 19 October 1908 in Springfield, OH
Will of Daniel
Miller
Samuel S Miller. This gentleman is one of those who, born in Clark County
in an early day, have grown to maturity amid pioneer surroundings, and in
boyhood and youth taken such a part as their advancing strength would allow
in the work and development which was going on around them. In looking back
upon the labors and privations by which the wilderness was made to blossom
as the rose, we should not forget that to the class represented by our subject
scarcely less gratitude is due than to their progenitors, the pioneers of
this country. Mr. Miller is a man of intelligence, well posted regarding
events which are transpiring in various parts of the world, and the improvements
which are being made in various departments of labor. In 1887 he published
a pamphlet entitled “Early Times on Donnel’s Creek”, an
interesting volume which shows much care in it’s compilation.
Mr. Miller is of German lineage, his grandfather, Frederick Miller, having either been born in Germany or was the son of German parents. While a resident of Botetourt County, Va., in which he lived prior to 1818, he was a farmer. In that year he removed to Ohio, accompanied by his wife and seven children, the entire journey being made overland with teams. He located in Clark County, buying a tract of timber land in what is now Bethel Township, in which but little improvement had been made at that date, the county seat being but a small village. A cabin of round logs had been built on the land and a clearing of forty acres made, this being one of the largest clearings in the vicinity. His purchase was a quarter-section, for which he paid $1,000.
For some time after the removal of Frederick Miller to this county, wild game of various kinds abounded here, deer, wild turkeys and bear being especially numerous. In 1822 Mr. Miller breathed his last, and there being no cemeteries here, his remains were deposited on his own farm. The place has since been set apart as a burial ground, and is called Bethel Cemetery.
The maiden name of Mrs. Miller was Elizabeth Peery. She was born either in Germany or Pennsylvania, and spent her last years on the home farm, dying in 1844.
In the family of the couple above mentioned was a son, John, who was born in Augusta County, Va., in November, 1798. He was twenty years old when he accompanied his parents to the Buckeye State, and here he resided with his father until the latter’s death. He then bought the interest of the other heirs in the homestead and enlarged the farm by purchase, on which he continued to reside until called hence, in April, 1863, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He married miss Johanna Smith in 1824, who was born on her father’s farm in the same township, December 27, 1806. she is still living, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. She has reared eight children, named respectively: Harrison, Elizabeth, Samuel S., Milton J., Catherine, Charity, John Peery and Clinton.
In the maternal line the subject of this sketch derives his descent from the Rev. Peter Smith, who was born in Wales in 1753, and in early life came to America, settling in New Jersey, where he married Catherine Stout, whence he afterward removed to Georgia. In one of these states his son Samuel, grandfather of our subject, was born. Peter Smith practiced medicine and preached the Gospel, leaving his Southern home on account of his dislike to the institution of slavery. Turning his footsteps northward he located in Kentucky, the removal being made with pack horses. Mrs. Smith had three small children, the youngest of whom she carried in her arms, the others (twins) traveling in baskets tied together and placed before her. After spending a short time in Kentucky they came into the Northwest Territory, in 1794-95, locating in Hamilton County. The records of the old Baptist Church at Duck Creek, Columbia Station, near Cincinnati, show that the Rev. Peter Smith and his wife Catherine united with that church by letter in 1795, and that the husband was ordained minister in 1801. In an account of the Centennial Celebration held June 21, 1890, of this the first Baptist Church in the Northwest Territory, the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette says, “In 1801, under Elder Peter Smith’s preaching, a great revival came, and in a few months over one hundred and fifty members were added to the church”. In 1805 they came to Clark County, and near the present site of Donnelsville bought nine hundred and sixty acres of land, which Mr. Smith afterward divided among his children. He was one of the early ministers of the county, and at his home, where religious meetings were frequently held, he organized a society of Christian believers. There he died in 1816, his remains being buried on his own farm, the place afterward becoming Donnelsville Cemetery.
Samuel Smith married Elizabeth McCleave, a lady of Scotch-Irish descent and a native of the United States. He settled on the tract of land given him by his father, and followed farming there during his entire life. He died in 1856.
The natal day of Samuel S. Miller was July 20, 1829, and his birthplace his father’s farm in Bethel Township. In the early schools, which did not include instruction in the varied branches taught today, with a couple of terms in Wittenberg College, he received his education, and as soon as his strength would permit he began to assist his father on the farm. When seventeen years old he began teaching, his first term being in the home district, and the labor of a pedagogue was pursued by him several terms. He afterward turned his attention exclusively to farming, locating on a part of the homestead, which he subsequently sold, buying and building on the tract which he now occupies, near Springfield. On May 13, 1856, he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Palmer, who has proved to be an efficient and loving helpmate, a devoted mother and a true Christian, for “lo, these many years”. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have four children-Orion P.; Cyrus I., who married Mamie Judson: Bertha A. and Milton. Both parents belong to the Christian Church. Mr. Miller was formerly a Whig, but has been a Republican since the formation of the party.
Mrs. Miller was born in Miami County, being a daughter of John and Margaret (Hance) Palmer. Her father was born in Bristol, England, September 19, 1791, and her grandfather, Robert Palmer, was also an Englishman. The latter came to America in 1807, accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, and two children, and locating near Fishkill, N. Y., remained there two or three years. He then made an overland journey to Ohio, locating near Dayton, but after a short sojourn removing to Miami County, and settling in Lost Creek Township. He bought a tract of land, which was partially cleared, and upon which a log cabin stood, residing there until his death. The father of Mrs. Miller was sixteen years old when his parents brought him to America, and he resided with them until his marriage, in 1819. His wife was born in Kentucky March 11, 1800, and was a daughter of William and Margaret (Northcutt) Hance, who located on a farm in Lost Creek Township, Miami County, at which home William died in 1833, aged eighty-four years. John and Margaret Palmer inherited the farm of Robert Palmer, remaining there until 1857. They then sold, and until August, 1881, made their home at Troy. They then came to Springfield, residing with Mr. and Mrs. Miller during the remainder of their lives. Mr. Palmer breathed his last December 11, 1882, aged ninety-one, his wife surviving until June, 1884, aged eighty-four.
source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green and Clark Counties,
Ohio
Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
page 584
copyright Jo Hubbard 1999