The story does not begin here, but I will begin it here because, honestly, going back any farther than this is too much trouble. In the year 1655, a boy was born in Zollikofen, Canton Bern, Switzerland, whose name was Johann Michael Müller. The accounts that make the most sense (not all of them) have him marrying a woman named Irene Charitas in 1684. Irene was apparently born around 1670 in what is now the Rhineland-Pfalz federal state of Germany.
Johann Michael (or Michael as he probably would have been called by anyone he knew; his first name was the name of his patron saint and so in a sense his given name was his middle name, not his first name) and Irene had six children. What must have been truly heartbreaking to the couple was that four of their first five children did not live to be over a year in age, and their daughter Katarina Barbara only lived to be three years old. There could not have been much cause for optimism when their sixth child, Johann Michael Müller, Jr., was born on 5 October 1692 in Steinwenden in what is now Germany.
And initially things must have gone badly. I don't know whether Irene died in childbirth from delivering Michael Jr. or if she died shortly thereafter, but the records indicate that she died before the year 1692 was over. I don't know who cared for Michael Jr. in the interim, but his father remarried, this time to a woman whose name was Anna Loysa Regina. And well it was for Michael Jr. that his father remarried and left him in capable hands because within a year and a few months' time of Irene's death, Michael Sr. himself was dead.
Anna remarried the year after Michael Sr's death, to a man named Hans Jacob Stutzman. Either Anna and Hans Jacob both died in 1727 or died by 1727 after raising a family of their own children as well as Michael Jr. That same year Michael Jr., who had married and was raising a (quite substantial) family of his own, left Europe and arrived in the New World, taking up residence in Pennsylvania along with many other German-speaking people who had followed the same path. Michael Jr. died in 1771 in northern Maryland after having firmly planted his family on what would soon be American soil.
Much of the Müller family stayed in northern Maryland and eastern Pennsylvania. The most reliable records of this branch of the family come from the Brethren or Old German Baptist Brethren Church records of the time. The Brethren were an Anabaptist Christian sect that had fled the persecutions of the Old World and the rigid church hierarchies they saw as corrupt and immoral.
The Brethren Church still exists, by the way, although it has split into at least two major branches in the USA, the Church of the Brethren and the Old German Baptist Brethren Church. One interesting coincidence (at least to me) is that when I first moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s, I met a Brethren minister named Frank Ramirez through a mutual friend, and actually attended some of his church services in the Ladera Church of the Brethren on Slauson Avenue in Los Angeles. At the time, I knew nothing about the Brethren and didn't learn of my own family connection to the church until 2009. As a result of my research I tracked down Frank, he is still with the church but he is now in Pennsylvania in one of the counties some of my Miller ancestors were born in. Frank has written a number of articles and some books on the history of the church. Back when I actually met him I seem to recall him also writing mystery fiction but I have no idea if he's still doing that.
Getting back to the Müller family, at some point in time, most of the family anglicized their last name from Müller to Miller. And so it was that a little over a century after Michael Jr's arrival in the British colonies that would one day become the United States, his great-great grandson David Miller was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1834. David's parents, Andrew and Anna Stern Miller, apparently had thirteen children. David was the oldest son. I don't know if the house was too crowded for his liking with all the siblings, but, in any event, David headed west. He married a woman named Sarah Blough from Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in 1857; her family were also Brethren with German roots. At that time Sarah had just turned nineteen. By the time we find them in the 1860 census in Marshall County in north central Indiana, they had a daughter Rebecca who was two years old.
While in Kansas, two more children were added to the family: twin girls, named Martha Jane and Sarah Ann, who were born in 1871 in Sycamore township, Montgomery County.
On 31 August 1872, tragedy struck. It is not recorded in the family records exactly what happened, but David died. Other than the information in the family bible, the only written record of his passing seems to be an obituary published in the Christian Family Companion and Gospel Visitor published by the Brethren Church. In the 24 February 1874 issue a brief mention was made by one Sidney Hodgdon. Despite a great deal of research by Don Miller, no one knows where David Miller's remains came to rest. It is possible that he was buried in Wilson County, Don has spoken to people who live in the area who maintain that in 1872 no white people who died in Sycamore township were buried there, and that the bodies of those unfortunate enough to die there that early were taken elsewhere for burial.
With seven children ranging in age from 14 to less than a year old, who knows what resources Sarah and the family had to draw on to survive? But survive they did, for the most part. Sarah remarried in 1874, to a colorful character named John Wolf, who had been in the Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War. Rebecca, the oldest daughter, married a man named John Gilbert Ross in 1875, but then died seven months later in early 1876.
Indulge me in a short digression on John Wolf. Though not a blood relative to the Millers, he was definitely an interesting personality. He was supposedly born in Pennsylvania but I don't know any more than that in terms of what county he may have been from, his birth date or who his parents were. I don't even know if he belonged to the Brethren Church or not. One fact that Don Miller uncovered about John was that while living in Osage County, Kansas he was distilling and selling alcohol. The actual process involved the customers going to a location known only to them and to John, where they could transfer the liquor from John's barrels to their own containers. The money for the merchandise never technically "changed hands" as the customers were told to place it in a drop location that was referred to as the "Blind Tiger". All of these precautions notwithstanding, John eventually ran afoul of the law (Osage County was at that time a "dry" or liquor-free county, as was most of Kansas) and for this infraction was sentenced to some prison time and a $1,000 fine. A thousand dollars may not seem like much now but at the time that was a serious fine, obviously intended to cause transgressors to think twice before doing it again.
Between 1875 and 1880 Sarah had three more children with John Wolf: Samuel, born in 1875; Rilla Elisabeth, born in 1877; and Ida May, born in 1880. The 1880 census finds the remaining family all together, in Chautauqua County, Kansas, with the exception of Andrew, who was probably out on his own by then and who married a woman named Nancy Michael in 1882.
Andrew and Nancy's children were: Lydia Effie Miller Armstrong (1883-1970), Mary M. Miller Teghtmeyer (1884-1944), David Miller, (1885-1911), Sarah Jane Miller Clearwater (1888-1962), Jesse William Miller (1889-1987), Dorothy E. Miller (1891-1981), Clarence Edwin Miller (1893-1989), Noah Gilbert Miller (1895-1978), Josiah Reed Miller (1897-1975), Infant (1899-1899), Levi Leroy Miller (1900-1901), Florence Elnora Miller (1902-1953), Marvin Oliver Miller (1904-1967). Andrew and Nancy settled in Franklin County, Kansas. Nancy died in 1939 and Andrew died in 1946. They are buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Franklin County, along with Lydia and her husband Arthur, as well as Lydia's siblings Levi, Florence and the unnamed infant. David's wife Mary Cripe and her parents are also buried there. Mary and her husband Frank are buried in the Old German Baptist Brethren Cemetery, North Manchester, Wabash County, Indiana. Dorothy, David, Jesse and his wife Lucy are all buried in Pleasant View Cemetery, Sawyer, Pratt County, Kansas. Clarence and his wife Nellie Mabel Teghtmeyer Miller are buried in Bethel Cemetery, Anderson County, Kansas. Noah and his wife Orpha are buried in Wood Colony Cemetery, Stanislaus County, California. Josiah and his wife Susie are buried in Maple Lawn Cemetery, Carroll County, Indiana.
David and Sarah's second son, Amos, married Mary Martindale on Christmas Day in 1888, probably in Osage County (the 1885 Kansas census shows the Wolf-Miller family now living in Osage County, not far south of Topeka). Mark and Mary's first child, Emma, was born in 1890 in Scranton, Kansas, followed shortly thereafter in 1891 by a son, Mark David, and another daughter in 1899, Geneva. Amos was a farmer and a businessman and apparently did quite well for himself and his family. A picture I have seen of Amos and Christopher and their wives (both the Marys) from what looks like the early 1920s shows Amos wearing a business suit that is strikingly modern. Amos's wife Mary had asthma and that probably played a big part in their decision to move to Colorado in 1905; the drier air of the high plains of Colorado made it easier for her to breathe. Emma's life was cut short when she died suddenly while attending college. Mark became a quite successful photographer in Fort Collins, Colorado, click here for the Wikipedia article with more information on his career and on a book that was published on Fort Collins history that contains a number of his pictures, along with some family history. Mark married Effie Hall and had a family, one son and one daughter are still living: Beth Schieck of Cheyenne, Wyoming; and John Miller who is living in Pennsylvania. Mark died in 1970 and his wife Effie Hall Miller died in 1974. Mark's sister Geneva married William Harry Wadsworth; he died in 1977 and she died in 1999. Going back up one generation, Amos died in Fort Collins in 1942 and Mary Martindale Miller died in Longmont, Colorado in 1956. Amos, Mary, Emma, Mark and Mary are all buried in Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins. Geneva and her husband are buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Longmont.Christopher Miller married Mary McQuiston in Osage County in 1891. Christopher and Mary both attended medical school at Kansas Medical College (now part of Washburn University) and became doctors. I have been told that Mary was the first woman doctor in Kansas but I have no idea if this is true or not. Christopher and Mary lived at various times in Osage, Douglas, and Shawnee counties. They had two sons and a daughter. Clarence was born in 1894, Cyril in 1902, and Genevieve in 1906. All three married and had families, Clarence to Alice "Lafie" Cherrie (or Cherry, I have seen the family name rendered both ways), Cyril to Mildred Brown of Douglas County, and Genevieve to Ralph Thorniley. Genevieve died in 1968, Cyril in 1978, and Clarence in 1983. All three have living grandchildren and (I believe) great grandchildren. Backing up a generation, Christopher died in Topeka in late 1942 and Mary died two months later in early 1943. They are both buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Topeka along with their son Clarence and most of Clarence's children.
Martha Jane Miller died suddenly at home in Carbondale, Kansas, in 1890, at the age of 18. She is buried in the Carbondale Cemetery near her mother and twin sister Sarah Ann Miller Miles.
Sarah Ann Miller married Willard Burton Miles in Osage County in 1891. Thirteen children were born to the couple: Gilbert Henry Miles (1891 - 1924), Arthur Leroy Miles (1892 - 1961), Harry Burton Miles (1894 - 1948), Nora May Miles Moore (1896 - 1965), Emma Miles Swisher (1898 - 1986), Jesse William Miles (1900 - Unknown), Alta F. Miles Heider (1902 - 1996), Edna D. Miles Punches (1904 - 1990), Arlene Dorothy Miles Michael Devaney (1906 - 1999), Lucille Pearl Miles Briggs (1909 - 1997), Orlin Miles (1911 - 1978), Vernice Earl Miles (1914 - 1978), and Lester Clarence Miles (1917 - 1982). Sarah died in 1949 and Willard died in 1937. They are buried in Carbondale Cemetery, along with their children Gilbert, Arthur, Harry, Nora, Edna, Lucille, Vernice, Lester and some of their grandchildren. Alta and her husband Henry Heider are buried in the Scranton City Cemetery, along with her brother Orlin. Arlene is buried in Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas, but the specific cemetery is unknown to me. Emma died in Wichita but I don't know where she is buried. Jesse William dropped out of sight after 1937 (he is listed as living in his father's obituary) and I would guess that he has passed away by now.
As for Sarah Blough Miller Wolf, she lived until 1920, when she died at the age of 82. Curiously, I could not find a headstone for her in the Carbondale Cemetery, even though the records indicate she is there. I did notice that the spire which has Mary Jane's name listed is quite large and would be something I would normally associate with the center of a family plot. My guess would be that Sarah, her mother, is buried quite close to the marker for daughter Mary Jane, which is also quite near the marker for Sarah Ann and her family.
John Wolf was in and out of old soldiers' homes by the time of Sarah's death. His son Sam lived in Osage County for a time, showing up in at least one census living with his half-brother Amos. After that Sam seems to have married someone named Martha (maiden name unknown) and lived in Wichita for most of the rest of his life. He and Martha were still in Wichita when his half-brother Christopher died in 1942. Sam died in Los Angeles, California, in February 1953. I don't know if he was wintering there, on a trip, or had actually moved there, nor do I know where he is buried. Sam's sisters Rilla (or "Lizzie") and Ida May both seem to have gotten married and moved to Washington State. Rilla married a William Clark and died in 1956 in Yakima County. Ida May married one Ben Oswald but I have no other information about her or him.
I am guessing that the move of Ida and Rilla to Washington influenced John Wolf's last choice of address, because he ended his days at the Washington State Soldiers' Home in Pierce County, where he died in 1928. He is buried in the cemetery there, with no dates but with the inscription "Company E, 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry".
I would like to thank Beth Schieck, Don & Shirley Miller, Steve Mason, Gwynn Figgs, Troy Goss, Bob Thorniley, and Nancy, the Find A Grave county keeper for Shawnee County Kansas. All of them have helped in one way or another with the research that led to my acquiring this information. I would also like to thank the staff of the Fort Collins Local History Archives for their help in looking through some of Mark Miller's photographs, which were donated to the archives after his death. Any errors are solely my own, and I would appreciate being informed of any errors I may have made. I will be adding more pictures to the site as I get them formatted and writing articles about other branches of the family, the ones I am putting on the site now are just the highest quality ones I have access to which required the least amount of work to post. I have had some of the pictures for over a year but there was no urgency with fiddling with them until I got the website up and running, something that has only happened in the last three weeks.
If you have anything on the family or your branch of the family you would like to have published on the site just let me know, I would love to have more content here, both written and images.
