Miller Family of Arkansas--James Monroe 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- James Monroe Miller - born January 26, 1827 in Monroe County, TN to John Miller and Nancy Mary Wilson Miller; He died October 1, 1864 at Johnson's Island Prison Camp as a 3rd Lieut. with an Ark. cavalry unit. James was married to Elizabeth Killian from Dade County, GA. Elizabeth Catherine, the youngest child of William and Elizabeth Killian, married James Monroe Miller on July 24, 1851. They left Dade County about 1860, with their children, William Samuel, Nancy Elizabeth, and their newborn baby, John 'Nelson" and James' parents and other relatives The Miller families were heading to Texas but settled in Polk county, Arkansas in the town of Mena. James was fighting in the Civil War when Eizabeth gave birth to their fourth child, Robert Morgan. In the winter of 1864-65, elizabeth left her children with her father-in-law, John Miller, and went to lok for James. accompanying her was Mary Jane, James' sister. After traveling by horseback during the harsh winter, Elizabeth returned to Mena where she soon died of pnuemonia apparently never knowing that James had died the previous October in a prisoner-of-war camp at Johnson Island, Ohio. Excerpt from THE DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM THOMAS KILLIAN 8/14/1996 M. LUTHER KILLIAN 1155 SIMMS HTS. RD. KINGSTON SP. TENNESSEE 37082 Died in Civil War on Johnson Island as a prisoner of war.From: "David Bush" To: "Cynthia Forde" Subject: Johnson's Island POW-James Monroe Miller Date: Monday, February 05, 2001 11:29 AM Dear Cynthia Forde, I want to thank you for writing to me about James Monroe Miller, who died at Johnson's Island. We do have a record of his death at the island, but unfortunately there is no marker to his grave. we did not have much information about him, and am glad that you can provide us with more. I suspect that one day we will be able to provide you with additional information as well. He did die on October 1, 1864, as you noted. We had him listed as being a 3rd Lieut. with an Arkansas cavalry unit. At the time of death, it was noted that he was buried on the island. My students will be conducting additional research for James Monroe and will formulate part of the response, which will be by snail mail. I am always interested to obtain copies of any records, letters, diaries, maps, etc. that related specifically to the experience your relative had at Johnson's Island. If you have any records like these, I would certainly appreciate receiving copies of them, and of course would be glad to reimburse you for the expense. Also, if you have a photograph of him, I would certainly like a copy of that as well. It is always great to have a face with the name of the prisoner. I will do what I can to find out what more we can find out about James Miller. Many times the records that others provide also have references to other prisoners, which then I can pass along to those relatives as well. There is no charge for this service. In the near future, we will be fundraising for the preservation of a portion of Johnson's Island. We will certainly ask for your support at that time. You might be interested in the fact that we have been researching the cemetery for about 3 years now, and have a fairly complete map of the grave sites and at least the names of those that died here. We are intending to place another marker at the site with all the POW names on it that died at Johnson's Island. We have about 300 names of prisoners that died, much more than the 152 that are currently marked in the cemetery. certainly one of the Unknown markers is placed at Miller's grave site. Thank you for your interest in Johnson's Island, and I look forward to hearing from you again soon. sincerely, Dave Bush ********************************************************************* David R. Bush, Ph.D Center for Historic and Military Archaeology Heidelberg College 310 E. Market Street Tiffin, Ohio 44883 (419) 448-2327 FAX (419) 448-2236 mailto:dbush@mail.heidelberg.edu http://www.johnsonsisland.com (Johnson's Island WEBpage) http://www.heidelberg.edu/offices/chma (Center's WEBpage) http://www.archaeology.org (Archaeology Magazine's Webpage-follow the link to Online and then hit Features to see what they have that is new from Johnson's Island) ******************************************************************* Cynthia Forde wrote: Dear David, I failed to make a note of the source of this obituary. I am cc this message to Dorothy Miller who gave me the obituary information. I will see if she has this Newspaper name and date. I will see if Dorothy has the names and addresses of living descendants. OBITUARIES; Robert Morgan Miller was born at Dallas, Arkansas, March 14, 1863. His father, a soldier in the confederate army, died a year later, and his mother died from hardships of the Civil War. He came to Montana in 1884 with a trail herd from Texas and he engaged in ranching which occupation he followed nearly all his life except for a few years when he worked on construction work for the Great Northern Railway, and at lumbering near Helena. He was married to Josephine Evans of Highwood in 1901, and to this union were born three children, Robert, Nelson, and Gladys now Mrs. Wm. Harmon, these with 10 grandchildren survive. They came to Blanville in 1902. and lived on a ranch at Red Banks Creek most of the time, and part of the time in town. He was esteemed by all who knew him, and he devoted much attention to the education of his children. Of an active disposition, he kept busy even with the adancing years and never considered himself retired. During the past month his health failed rapidly and just before the final crisis he went to Helena to the home of his son Robert for the medical attention where he passed away June 30, 1937, aged 75 years three months and 16 days. His passing comes as a distinct loss to his family and also to the larger circle of his friends and acquaintances by whom he was universally loved and respected. He was a regular attendant of the Methodist church and was deeply interested in Bible Study and the things of the spiritual life. Funeral Services were held at the Harmon Home on Sunday afternoon, conducted by Rev. F. W. Age of the Methodist Church who spoke on the subject, "Light at Evening." A quartette composed of Mrs. Chas. Johnson, and others. At his personal request he was laid to rest in a private burial lot on the Harmon Ranch SE of town where he was laid to rest beside the body of his grandchild, Lauren Harmon who died of drowning three years to the day of his funeral. BOB MILLER DIES IN HELENA AT HOME OF SON: Mr. Miller was known and esteemed by a great many friends, not only in Roosevelt County but in all parts of the state where he had resided during the last half century. The Rev. Cynthia Forde, D. Min. 25487 Old Howth Road Hempstead, Texas 77445