Will Miller 3rd great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Will was born February 2, 1850 in Elkhart, Indiana, the 8th of 10 children of Jacob and Sarah Davis Miller. On the 1850 census, the Miller family was living on a farm, Will was just born. The 1860 census shows Sarah as a widow with her youngest 6 children living with her, an older daughter has married and moved to Iowa. By 1870 William was in Black Hawk County, Iowa with his mom and siblings. Will worked on a farm, was 20 years old and attended school sometime during the year. In 1880 Will lived with his mom age 66 and his niece Ellen Mitchell age 21. The next record for Will is not until 1920 when he was in Seattle Washington, 70 years old, a night watchman.

This move across the country seems a stretch but a residence source and then a death record in Seattle in 1930 confirm his move to the west coast. Will was born during the creation of the western states. When he lived in Iowa in 1870 the state was 20 years old. When he was in Seattle, Washington the state was about 20 years old with a population of 300,000. If his missing years 30 from 1890 to 1920 were spent moving west, he saw the country created and maybe lived in new states and kept moving further west.

Will didn’t marry and lived to age 80, he died in 1930. He died of heart disease his parent’s names are on his death record and he was cremated.

Sources

• Florence Miller’s notes, grand niece of Will Miller
• List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union, animated map
• 1860 United States Federal Census at Ancestry
• Will Miller photo, public photo shared on Ancestry
• Washington death certificates 1907-1960 database at FamilySearch