Miller Family of Arkansas--John Miller of Polk County ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Submitted by: Cynthia Forde Email: Cynthia.forde@worldnet.att.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free Information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Files may be printed or copied for Personal use only. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JOHN MILLER - Source: Western Arkansas Autobiographies: George R. Miller John Miller was born to James Miller in Tennessee in the year of our Lord, 1803. His father, James was Scotch Irish and a Staunch Presbyterian whose immigrant father settled near Charleston, SC in 1758 . In 1826, John Miller married Nancy Mary Wilson, of Tennessee, the daughter of Joseph Wilson, a farmer and a trader. Nancy Mary and John are listed in the 1830 Federal Census of Monroe County, Tennessee. In 1835, the Millers and their children purchased $3000.00 worth of land in Dade County, GA., Dist. No. 21, near Rising Fawn. John Miller was a county and probate judge as well as a substantial farmer according to a biography by his son, George R. Miller, of Polk County, AR. Early records show they were of the Presbyterian Denomination who later embraced the Methodist Episcopal church. Five of the sons served the Confederacy; Joseph died in a prison camp. A daughter, Elizabeth, died giving birth to her first daughter. She is the only Miller buried in the beautiful Miller Cemetery located on the plantation. Elizabeth was married to Casper Tatum. The daughter of Elizabeth and Casper, Nancy Tatum, was raised by the Tatums initially, but is buried in Arkansas near her Miller grandparents. Four of the sons married women from Dade County: George R. Miller married Martha Davis, Joseph married her sister, Sarah Davis. James married Elizabeth Killian; John Thornton Miller married Sara L Russell. Federal Census page 125, TN599343463 1850 US Census, Dade County, GA; page 13 A- District No. 21, August 25, 1850 by Stephen L. Pace 169-169 John MILLER, 46, m. farmer, value of real estate owned: $3000.00 born: TN Married within the year (this must be an error... or it refers to one of the children) Mary, 44, f, b. TN - cannot read or write Mary, 13, f, b. GA John, 10, m. b: GA William, 8, m, b: GA Columbus, 5, m b: GA Hiram, 3, m. b: GA James, 22, m. Farmer, b: TN Joseph 20, m. Farmer, b. TN George, 16, m, Farmer, b: TN page 22 A Dist. No. 21 , September 21, 1850 lists possible relatives Census of 1870 - Polk county, AR - Fulton Township Miller, John 64 bn. TN Hiram Douglas, 22, GA James' children: Quillan, 18 - GA Nancy E. 14 - GA Nelson, 10, GA Robert M., 6, AR Stafford, Nathan 64 TN Mary Jane, 33, GA Census of 1880 - Polk County, AR, Fulton Township (Board Camp) Stafford, Mary 43 GA. TN TN Stafford, Georgiann 8 AR, TN GA Miller, Hiram Douglas, 32 GA. TN TN W. M. Randolph and Mary married May 15, 1884, They had no children. Mary died November 10, 1899., She is buried at Board Camp with a Grave Marker. No grave marker found for W. M. Randolph. But believe he lived until the 1900's. No information is available on Nathan Stafford before or after their marriage. Notice that John Miller says he is born in Tennessee... on 1850 and 1870 Census... 1860 Census saying KY is obviously an error. Question arises about the George Russell Millers biography stating that James Miller was born in SC... born and died in SC??? How was John born in TN unless the family moved to TN after 1800 and before 1803. JOHN AND NANCY MARY MILLER'S STORY The story of the Millers really begins elsewhere with information that is yet to be discovered. Most of our Miller information comes to us from family historian, Dorothy Ellison Miller, and her late husband Aaron Miller, a grandson of William Anderson Miller, John Miller's son. Dorothy lives in Mena, Arkansas. Other sources researched are the Historical Society of Dade County, the Federal Census Records, obituaries, newspaper articles, land and deed records, wills, and some autobiographies of the sons of John Miller. We know from family history and census records that John was born either in Tennessee as one census indicates or in South Carolina according to the biography of George Miller. John's father was James Miller who was described as "an Irishman by descent" in George's biography, Western Arkansas Biographies. The article states that James Miller was born and died in South Carolina. We do not know of any siblings of John Miller. Another son, Joseph Miller's descedant, Joseph Jr. understood that James Miller emigrated from County Antrim, Ireland at the age of 16 with his father, James Miller, Sr. We do not know the name of John's mother. It is suspected that her name was 'Ruthie' from the 1830 Federal Census Records in Monroe County, Tennessee where "Ruthie Miller" lives next door to John Miller and his bride of four years. Ruthie was about the right age to be John's mother and to be 'neighbors' usually signifies some relationship. In 1826, John married Nancy Mary Wilson. Until very recently, the name attached to Nancy Mary's father was Joseph Wilson, a farmer and a trader, who is buried in Macon, GA. This information also comes to us from the biography of George R. Miller, a son of John and Nancy Mary's. In 1830, we find a Joseph Wilson listed in Monroe County, Tennessee as well. The census shows his age to be about right for Nancy's father. He is listed with a much younger woman and several young children. This could be a second marriage... or it could be Joseph living with a widowed daughter. It is believed that Joseph Wilson died in Bibb County, GA. An obituary for a neighboring county shows a Joseph Wilson, Jr. and his mother, Sarah, who died within a few years of each other. This is a possible wife's name for Joseph. In the year 1835, John Miller (GA Abstract Records Office) purchased 420 Acres of land in District # 21 near Rising Fawn, Georgia for $3000.00. That was a large sum of money in those days. A moving autobiograpy written by his son, John Thornton Miller, describes life on this plantation as well as the philosophies, hopes, and dreams of a pioneer family in rural Georgia. Life was difficult in Dade County. The time was not so far past the exodus of the American Indian from Dade County in 1838. John Miller and his wife, Nancy Mary, were amongst the first white settlers in Dade County to struggle with the wilderness of northwest Georgia. To compound the trouble of life in Dade, the county was also cut-off from the rest of the state of GA by Lookout Mountain. Appalachia was just a few miles north into Tennessee. Some traces of the history of the Millers are found in three places: John Thornton Miller's Diary gives us an excellent portrait of life for those who lived amidst the struggles of pioneering, and slavery; pieces of information are found in the Dade County Historical Book; in the history of the Methodist-Episcopal Church in Trenton, the name Miller is listed as one of the first settlers. One of the early school teachers was named, 'Miller'... but no other information is given. The information found in the Land Records Office was most revealing. Two sons, George and James began making land acquisitions in 1850. John Miller purchased more land as well. They continued to make purchases on a regular basis until 1859. In 1859, they started selling all of the land they owned and with several other families began an exodus from Dade County towards Texas but put down roots in Arkansas. Several issues had been converging. One of the most important issues was the threat of war. Dade County was the first county to secede in the South. It must have been a political hotbed. Dade County seceded from Georgia before Georgia seceded from the United States. Elizabeth Miller's father-in-law, Col. Tatum, was the senator that determined to secede... and drove his horse night and day back to Dade County to bring about the crucial vote to begin the process of separation from the state of GA. (Dade County, GA did not become a part of the State of GA or the US until 1948... because their separation had been forgotten.) Economics were also key to 'selling out' and moving West. Dade County was a challenge agriculturally. The fertile valley was just a mile wide at points. Fortunately, the Millers had the vision to sell before they were burned out of GA. The Miller Plantation was the site of the Battle of Chickamauga some three years later. "Where the Lookout Mountain Scenic Highway crosses the road which leads down through Johnson's Crook, the cross is marked by a large, flat stone with two or three other stones piled on top of it. (A deep well, forty feet deep). As you take the road to the right, it will lead you gently into Johnson's Crook, that won fame during the Civil War Days. You will travel over stones that were tramped on by more than 40,000 men a few days preceding the Battle of Chickamauga. Johnson's Crook on the west conspires with Steven's Gap on the Eastside to cut Lookout Mountain almost in two. This was an attractive shortcut to the Federal officers in choosing a route to get into McLemore Cove on the Eastside of the mountain. Major General George H. Thomas started his army through this crook on September 5, 1863. Hurricane Creek in Johnson's Crook joins Lookout Creek. It is here where General Thomas encamped on the night of September 6, and the following day, Negley reached the top of the mountain. According to General Thomas' report his immediate troops left the foot of the mountain at 10:00 A. M. and at noon they were atop the mountain, save the wagon train which leads across Lookout's narrowest breath" (See Rising Fawn: Johnson's Creek, History of Dade County, GA.) Five of the Miller sons served the Confederacy. Joseph enlisted in Dade County. William, James, Columbus, enlisted in Arkansas. James died in Johnson Island, a Prison Camp in Ohio. All were ranking officers at the time they were mustered out of service. James' wife, Elizabeth Killian, from Dade County, had just delivered their fourth child, Robert Morgan Miller, when word reached them the war was ending. Elizabeth set out on horseback with her sister-in-law, Mary Jane, James' sister, to find James. She left the children with her in-laws, the Millers in Arkansas. They spent the harsh winter searching for him, only to return home terribly ill. Elizabeth died not having learned that James died at the prison camp on Johnson's Island, Ohio the previous October. John and Nancy Mary Wilson Miller's sons went on to lead lives of service to God, family, and country through their many contributions to the Church as ministers, ordained deacons, holders of state and local political offices in the state of Arkansas. One of the sons was a gubernatorial candidate; most of them retained a high interest in farming and stewardship of the land. All of them remained staunch Democrats in their views, members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in the faith. In 1987, one hundred and thirty two years later, my husband, Stan, our son, Paul and I took a trip to see this plantation, to visit Dade County, and explore the historicity of the Miller family in Georgia. We found the plantation still intact, the slave quarters still standing; the foundation of a house is present but it is not known if this is the original house or not. The house had been burned to the ground. There were no crops planted... one could imagine the land as it must have looked in 1835 when John and Nancy Mary moved on to the property. Nearby, the Miller Cemetery stands, resplendent... beautifully landscaped in contrast to the ruins of the plantation. Tall steps lead up under a large arched entryway with the name of Miller in the ornate wrought iron. We stepped carefully walking in light rain... looking for headstones... looking for one headstone in particular: Elizabeth Miller Tatum who died giving birth to Nancy Tatum the first born of Casper and Elizabeth. But, it was not to be found. Engraved markers were not the common means of marking graves at that time and place. Simple boulders marked the graves. There were many of those. We had been told by the Historical Society that they were puzzled about the Miller Cemetery... because no one knew about the Millers... and there were no Millers buried there. We were able to tell them about the Millers and the fact that Elizabeth Miller is the only Miller buried in the cemetery. We were also able to provide them with the Miller History and the diary or book of John Thornton Miller's. This information will be published in the 2000 History Book of Dade County. We learned this information from the Historical Society of Dade County, The Rev. Cynthia Forde, D. Min. 25487 Old Howth Road Hempstead, Texas 77445