Miller

Sam Miller b. 1883

/ Kirstin Miller

Sam Miller great uncle of Faber Miller who married Gladys Cable.

Sam Miller was born February 20, 1883 in Lafayette, Bremer County, Iowa. This person is new  to the Miller side of the family tree, just recently added when he was mentioned in his sister Lola’s obituary. He doesn’t have a lot of records and went by both Sam and Ira, his name may have benn Ira Samuel Miller. On the 1885 Iowa census he is Ira age 12 living with his family the 5th of 7 kids. Next record is the 1900 US census he is Samuel Miller, a boarder in the home of Avery and Maude Chambers. His next record is the 1930 US Census, he is Sam, married to Gladys living in Amery Wisconsin (same place his parents and brother Frank had lived). Sam is a barber and Gladys is a telephone operator and like most of their city neighbors they own a radio set. In the WW 2 draft registration April 27, 1942, his name is Ira Sam, a barber, living in Amery, Wisconsin, his wife Gladys is next of kin.

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The Old Man’s Draft required all US men between 45 to 64 to register not for a military draft but to get information on labor skills of the workforce in 1942. A long questionnaire was part of the registration but wasn’t kept, only the cards. More info here. 

Pleasant Miller b. 1835

/ Kirstin Miller

Pleasant Miller, 2nd great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Pleasant was born December 7, 1835 in Indiana, the second child of Jacob and Sarah Davis Miller probably both of Virginia. Pleasant was named after his mom’s dad: Pleasant Davis. In 1850 Pleasant was 15 and attended school with his 4 brothers and 2 sisters. By 1860, age 25 Pleasant was in northern California and almost surely part of the Gold Rush. By 1870 he was in Montana. He mined in Cedar Junction, Deer Lodge, then finally in Butte, Silver Bow, Montana. Butte was a boom town and long ago known as ‘the richest hill in the world’ because of it’s minerals, especially copper in the 1880s. Pleasant worked at the Dakota, Colorado and Ophir Mines.He lived the longest stretch in a cabin south of the city in Butte. Pleasant lived to age 75 and stayed single. Red Leggat, friend, probably also a miner, is the informant on Pleasant’s death record of September 19, 1910. Pleasant is buried at Moriah Cemetery in Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana.

An 1884 map at Library of Congress shows Butte  on one of the cutest maps ever created, Bird’s eye view of Butte-City, Montana, county seat of Silver Bow Co..

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Sources

  • Montana county births and deaths 1840 – 2004 at FamilySearch
  • Bird’s eye view of Butte-City, Montana, county seat of Silver Bow Co., 1884 at Library of Congress
  • U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 at Ancestry
  • 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900 US Census at Ancestry

William L. Miller b. 1852

/ Kirstin Miller
William L. Miller, my 2nd great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.
William was born in August 1852 in Stark Ohio, his middle name may be Louis. William was the oldest of 7 children of Peter and Esther Young Miller. His family farmed in Ohio and by 1870 when William was 18 they were living on a farm in Bremer County, Iowa.
William kept in touch with Fianna Druckenbrod of Stark Ohio, and they were married on September 5, 1875 in Stark, Ohio.  The newlyweds settled in Bremer County, Iowa, had 7 children and farmed. On the  1880 Iowa agricultural census William’s farm had: 230 tilled acres, 10 acres of meadow, 30 acres of forest, 60 acres of hay, 3 horses, 2 cows, 2 calves, 21 pigs, 15 chickens, 40 acres of Indian corn, 20 acres of oats, 85 acres of wheat, half acre of potatoes.
By 1905 William and Fiana lived in Amery, Wisconsin. William was a teamster and a truck gardener. When Fiana died in 1923 William lived with his son Frank and family in Amery, Wisconsin.
William and Fiana are buried in Andrews Cemetery near Waverly, Iowa. I visited the cemetery in summer, 2017. William and Fiana’s headstone is surrounded by 5’ day lilies.
Headstone Miller, William and Fiana Druckenbrod
Sources at FamilySearch.org
  • Ohio, County Marriages 1789-2013
  • US census records
  • 1880 Iowa agricultural census

Lewis and Clark Expo James Davis and Mary Ella Gaines Miller 1905

/ Kirstin Miller

Portland Fair 1905James Davis Miller and Mary Ella Gaines Miller (2nd great grandparents) , in 1905 left Butler County, Iowa for the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon. Mary Ella’s sisters Florence and Jeanette and maybe a brother were living in Oregon at that time.

PDX History documents the Exposition with photos, postcards, links. The Lewis and Clark Expo on Flickr contains 26 photos one of them the Agricultural Palace which I’m sure JD and Mary Ella visited.

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Agricultural Palace 1905 Lewis and Clark Expo in Portland.

 

In June of 1922, Mary Ella and James’s son William with wife Lola (great grandparents), son Faber (grandfather) and daughter Florence (great aunt)  took an auto vacation to Northern Wisconsin. In the 1920s auto travel for the common man was just beginning so this auto trip was pretty big news.

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