BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT MILLER
By
His son Robert Miller of
Beloit, Kansas written in 1913
I have taken the liberty of
adding informaiton where I had come across it in my research, to this biography.
It is in this color purple. This was
not the complete bio. but was edited by the Hoosier Journal. If anyone
has more on this family please let me
know.
The subject of this biography was
born in Rutherford Co., North Carolina, October 18, 1777. He grew to manhood in
the neighborhood where he was born and married a lady by the name of Condrey.
They lived in that County a few years and after there had been born two or three
children they determined to find a location in another part of the country.
Their folks tried to persuade them to stay where they were but Robert, (as his
name means a rambler) true to the meaning could not be overcome by any
persuasion and they both wanted the experience of frontier life. Having
accumulated some money and property, Robert saddled his horse, put his money in
his saddle bags took his gun and tomahawk to mark the trai, bid his family
good-bye and took the trail to the Ohio River for Western Ohio. He struck the
river below Cincinnati...not finding what he was looking for after crossing the
river, he followed down the river to what was then Western Ohio, but now Eastern
Indiana. When about 100 miles below Cincinnati, after encountering many
hardships through rain and swollen streams along the way, and killing
several bear and panthers, seeing plenty of other game of turkeys, deer and
kinds that inhabited the woods, he seemed to be in the element he had been
looking for.
Down the river he came to a little settlement of
two families where the old town of Madison now stands (the place where they sell
their 'terbacker). They had built double log cabins of Buckeye logs as that was
a very soft wood and they could chop it easy. One of the men was named Madison.
He had his family in one room and his blacksmith shop in the other room. The
town took its name from this man. The other man's house was of the same kind,
his family in one room and a grocery store in the other room. He had for his
stock of goods, whiskey, tea, sugar, tobacco, coffee (and it was not browned as
it is now), powder, lead, and gun-flints. They did not have gun caps but
used the flints to fire their guns. This man's name was Vawter, I think. The two
families consisted of ten or twelve, mostly boys and girls. The land was still
government land at $1.25 per acre. The land was covered with a heavy growth of
timber. Some of the walnut timber in the State the largest Sycamore of any along
the river.
But Miller did not like the situation nor the looks
of the Hill and thinking it might be sickly with the river on one side and the
hill on the other, he climbed the hill and took a northwest course and after
wandering through the woods, cutting his way with Tomahawk and butcher knife and
after a few days and nights in the woods, his horse living on the grass in the
wood and Miller on game of the kinds he chose to eat, but mostly bear meat for
it agreed with him better than any other kind of wild mean..I have heard him say
he could eat all of the bear meat he could hold and drink a pint of the oil and
not make him a bit sick.
After looking over the country for a
few days he located a place for a home in what afterward was Jefferson County
(then Ohio) and marking out land and a place to build a home on the hill across
the creek north of where the Indian wigwam poles were still standing. Mr. Miller
then took his course on horseback to the land office. I think at Columbus, Ohio,
and paid for his land in gold and silver (we had no paper money then), and
headed for his home in the tar-heel state and after a hard ride of over 200
miles through rain and mud and swolen streams and after several days arrived
home to give an account of his adventures. After his yeas crop was matured and
he made arrangements for his wife and children, he took his leave again for the
fall and winter. Full of life and vim, he took the road for his home in the
woods, where he arrived sometime the last of November, 1811. He immediately
began to make signs of a settlement, cutting down the timber and keeping both
ears open for anything that might happen and one eye open for danger from wild
animals or Indiana. He worked with might and main to open his place of
habitation. One night a light snow fell and the next night more snow, but
nothing discouraged Miller. Not knowing there was anyone closer than the ones at
the river, supposed to be 20 miles or more away, a man hailed from a short
distance in the timber. He said there were eight families of them away across
through the woods that settled close together and had builded a block house for
protection. He could not tell how far it was going----missing page
here.
His load consisted of his wife, one girl, and one boy, a
few clothes (all homemade), limited bedding, provisions, two good rifle guns,
plenty of powder and lead and a camp kettle full of sprouts from his neighbors
orchards for his first orchard. He hung them on the coupling pole on his wagon
in front of the tar bucket. Then after a long and wearisone journey through mud,
rain and swollen creeks, hills, rooks, he arrived at what they called home
in the far west. Weary, worn and tired, but full of life, energy and grit they
went to work to make the home attractive in the woods.
Mr. Miller was a man for the occasion. He
could make anything he needed. In his business his tools consisted of a broad
and narrow ax, a hand and cross cut saw, three augers, 1/2, 1/3 and inch, the
same number and size chisels, two gauges, one pack and printer plane, a
coopers pointer, cross and round share. He stocked the first cradle and made the
first hayrake in the country except one old Abraham Walton brought from Ohio. He
could make anything for the farm or shoes for the family, as well as tan the
leather they were made of and even make the last to make the shoe over, and make
a very neat powder horn from a cow's horn, then make the powder to fill
it. He was quite a horse doctor...always ready to trade horses on a
barter...never knowed him to get beat in a trade but once. He kept the best of
horses for them times, and would always tell the truth in a trade or any other
line. Mr. Miller had a limited education, could read, write and calculate.
He was a Methodist of the John Wesley stripe, his house was the preaching place
of that part of the curcuit which was a very large one. People coming 20 miles
or more to meeting, camping around his house in their wagons, always bringing
their guns with them. They never fired a gun in those days unless it was really
necessary for protection or meat.
Mr. Miller had chopped off a
small piece of timber of an acre or more for his house, stable, orchard and
garden, and then began clearing the farm and to make a home for the rest of
his life. His family consisted of his wife, two girls and one boy. John the
oldest boy, Mary the oldest child died at about the age of 10
years.
I call to mind some things I heard him relate in early
settling of his farm. There had been a very large poplar tree blown over in the
clearing and he hired his daughter Mary to burn it, so she went out with her
father after dinner. They worked the rest of the day and there lay the largest
rattlesnake she ever saw. She called her father to come and kill it, and upon
doing so counted 28 rattles, it was the largest rattler he ever saw and the last
one he ever killed.
John got to be quite an expert with his gun.
He could not reach the trigger without putting the breach of the gun under his
arm and could not load his gun unless he got on a log or stump, but he was a
dead shot at deer or turkey. John enlisted for the Mexican war and was
elected Captain of his company. They were not called into the service so he did
not have to go to war.
Mr. Robert Miller had several narrow
chances for his life from wild animals. One I will relate as I have heard him
relate on several occasions. He was going after his horses along the path that
lead to where they were grazing in the woods. There had been a storm that
twisted a hickory down and it lay on the ground and the stump was about 10-12
feet high. He was 40 steps from the stump and up towards the top and there lay a
very large yellow panther looking straight at him and patting its tail on the
log. Being a man of steady nerve and used to the woods and always looking
for somehting to happen, he drew his gun off his shoulder, took aim, and brought
down a dead panther. Many other dangers with wild animals were encountered while
the country was new and setting up.
On the north of his place
about 2 miles was a piece of very heavy timber and a small creek running through
that was kept running by the springs that came out of the cliffs and banks. For
miles along its course the forest was full of game and abounded with bears and
was where Mr. Miller and others went to get their bear meat, so that they called
it Bear Creek. About the first settler on the creek was a man named
Nolton. He built the first brick in that country. The old brick house is in good
shape yet. One of his neighbors was named Nichols, two others who built brick
houses were Dixon and McCaslin, Byfield lived in the neighborhood. Then there
were the Halls and Stidmans, and Moses Wilson, his father and a few others that
had settled along the creek. Neils Creek was not behind in
settling.
It was not long until Mr. Miller was wanting a place
educate the children so leader as he was, it was not long till there there was a
schoolhouse built of logs, near a spring, for that was where their houses was
all built in pioneer days. For miles around the boys and girls came to
school. School was held for 60 or 90 days in the winter. They had only a limited
amount of books but they knew all that was in them beofre they got any
more.
Mr.
Millers family consisted of 5 boys and 4 girls by his first...(wife). Mary
the oldest died at the age of 18 (elsewhere in this story is says age 10). Jane
lived to be about 40 years old and died after raising a family of 1 girl and 5
boys, she married a man by the name of Thomas. Sarah married a man by the name
of Zenor(Marriage
records show Sally Sarah Miller married Edward Zenor, 15 Oct.
1829, he was a son of Mathias Zenor/Zener and brother of David Zenor/Zener.
Edward moved from the area first to LaPorte, Indiana then to Caldwell County
Missouri. Sally is buried in LaPorte.)
Rhoda helped to raise Jane's children.
John married a girl by the name of Whitsitt. They raised a family of 5 girls and
4 boys. (John Miller m. Polly Whitsett 1 July
1824).
There was a man by the name of Henry
Miller (no relation) bought 80 acres of land. He was a German. Two of his
nephews named Zener came with him. One was a married man (David Zener). The other married Sally
Miller. Then Mr. Millers wifes brother (Mr.
Gerringer) came and bought the land where Mr. Neil froze to death. Then a
Mr. Winchester bought and settled on the farm joining him on the east.
Then over south there was another small creek that two brothers settled on by
the name of Walton, so of course that was called Walton's Creek. Then the
McClanahans came and settled there and built a horse mill and a still house to
make Whiskey, but it soon went down. A Wells family came in. Away over north
there was two brothers by the name of Graham settled on another creek, so that
is Graham Creek. Then south of him there was another creek that ran clear across
the county and they called that Big Creek on account of its length and size.
About 5 miles below Millers, Big Creek and Graham Creek came together and was
called Muscatatack. I think it was for some Indian tribe.
So
while the country was developing, Mr. Miller's family was doing the same. His
first child that was born in Indiana was Alexander and was born in the
Blockhouse that was afterward settled by Mr. Loyd, close to a cave and spring. I
saw
the cave and spring while visiting in Indiana in the latter part of 1911
where the block house stood. His next child, as were all the rest, was born in
the house of round logs 18 X 20 feet square. After the children began to help
with the duties of the home, sorrow and sadness came to the home in the sickness
and death of the wife and mother. There was 3 girls and 4 boys yet at home. They
stayed with the father until 2 or 3 of them were married. Then Mr. Miller
married a widow by the name of Patton. (Robert Miller
md. Sarah Patton 3 July 1832). She had two
girls of her own. She was not a very stout woman, she and her girls gave way to
the dread disease consumption and all died within a very short time, and again
his home was broken. After a few years living with the grown children, Aleck,
Samuel, Jane and Sally married leaving the three youngest children, James,
Dora?, and Rhoda with the father. Mr. Miller soon married again to a widow
by the name of Kinney. (Robert Miller married Hannah
Kinney, 7 Sept. 1835). She and her father
(both widowed) lived some 8 miles from Miller. Her fathers name was
Chapman. They being of the John Wesley Methodist order and Mr. Miller's house
was the place of preaching, Mr. Chapman and Mrs. Kinney were frequently at the
service of worship, he was one of the pioneers of Clark County and raised a
large family. Mr. Chapman and his boys helped dig the canal around the falls of
the Ohio River at New Albany, Ind. Mrs. Kinney's sister had died a few
years before and left a little boy baby by the name of Saunder. His father
had a large family and gave Mrs. Kinney the baby. When Miller married Mrs.
Kinney, her father and the baby also joined his household. Miller adopted
the boy for his own. Mr. Chapman had another daughter that lived a few
miles from Millers that he spent part of his time with, as well as with some of
his other children. He died at Millers in 1842 or 1843. He was the first
and last to be buried at the Old Bethel Church on Bear Creek on Grandaddy
Wilson's farm. (Moses Wilson's Father). His grave is marked with two cedar
trees. Mr. Miller's boys Jonathan and James and his daughter Rhoda and the new
mother lived happily together. The boys married sisters by the name of Thomas
and raised families of their own. (Jonathan Miller
md. Hettebel H. Thomas 29 Aug. 1844 and James B. Miller md. Jane Thomas 3
Mar. 1846). James died in the spring of the
latter part of the forties with lung fever after a severe cold. Jonathan lived
to a tolerable old age. He raised quite a large family. His children
are in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. He died in Missouri shortly after the war.
Rhoda never married, but lived with James until he died then stayed with James
children and made a very good mother to them. She died at a good old
age.
Mr. Miller's
family now began to increase by his last wife. The first was a pair of twin
boys, and as he did with the other boys, he gave them scripture names, calling
them Caleb and Joshua, Caleb died in infancy. Joshua is still living past the
allotted time of three score and ten years. The next was also a boy, named for
his father Robert. Next was a girl,named Mary Ann, I think for his first wife
the next another girl was named Harriet Hoyt for a friend and neighbor
Mr. Miller being now a cripple from the cut of an axe and being too old to
follow the plow very good, built a house on another part of the farm for his
youngest boy (Jonathan) and rented most all the cleared land to him. Things went
very well for two or three years, but Jonathan, being of unsettled disposition
moved away just as spring began to open and through his persuasion, he got the
adopted boy to come and live with him by telling his of a great many things that
sounded good to a boy of 14. Mr. Miller was left with two little boys and
a farm.
One of his sons Joshua served in the Civil War, 40th Indiana,
and after returning home married a girl by the name of Byfield(Martha Byfield daughter of Andrew G. Byfield
& Mary Bowner). They had four children but
only raised one a boy. Joshua and his father divided the farm after the
death of the wife and mother; and he married another lady (according to Ancestry.com the second wife was Asenith A.
Corya). He worked his part of the farm with the
help of the boy (John) for a few years. He then sold
out and moved to North Vernon and is spending his last days enjoying what he has
earned. He is in his 78th year and enjoying very good
health.
Robert, the youngest brother, was named for his
father to preserve the family name. It means rambler and surely the father
was a rambler and Robert was of the same disposition for he was always hunting
something new. He was called "Big". The boys were about 18 and 20 years
old when the father took a severe cold in March, 1857, and it terminated in lung
fever and not being a very stout old man, he gave up to the disease. Death
came to him in a few days. His grave is in the old Mt. Olive
Cemetery. The mother and children remained at home on the farm until all
were grown.
At 23 years of age "Big" took a notion to see
some of the country. He bid the folks good-bye and started to his uncle's
in the western part of the state. Walking all the way through to see the
country, which was a wonder in a great many ways. He finally got to the
end of the way in Green County, IN. He hired to his uncle and stayed
3 years, making several visits home. He then worked for an old farmer
during the summer of 1861 and went to school in the winter, worked for the same
man until Aug. then enlisted for the War in Co. A 62nd Ind.
Regt., W.Y. Monroe, Captain. After the war he returned home
until April 12, 1866 when he married Miss Hulday Nay. She being of the
Baptist faith, her father and mother died during the War (Harrison B. Nay and Rhoda Thomas were her parents) leaving
the children
alone or under the care of the oldest girls and boys. We
settled in the old neighborhood for a few years until in Sept. 1870 moved
to Appeinoose Co., Southern Iowa. After the usual course of sickness
and farming among chitz bugs, wet weather and the loss of two children, we gave
up the struggle and started for Kansas to live live in the sunshine. We were all
pleased with the change so things went well for a few years til crops began to
fail, dry weather, chintz-bugs, hot winds, potatoe bugs, sickness, etc., but we
stayed with the rest, we got along and lived through. After ot
was over how glad we was that we had to stay. We raised our family of
nine children.
After several years we gave up the farm and
retired to Beloit Kansas to enjoy the followship and communion of the Saints in
the Free Methodist church that we took an active part in erecting. After
about 3 years of retired life, on the 20th of March 1911 death claimed the wife
and mother, leaving the father and husband and youngest girl alone.
after a few months we broke up the home and the girl went to live with her
sister, north of Omaha, Nebraska, and the father lives with the oldest girl
in Beloit, Kansas.
August 29, 1913
I am 75 years old now
and enjoying the best of health and expect to live the few days or
years that I live in the Service of Him that came to save his people from
their sins. Amen. So hoping you will endeavor to all enter through the
gates into the City whose builder and maker is God. I leave it with
you.
Yours Affectionately Robert
Miller
There were two girls in the family. Sisters of
the two boys, younger than the boys. The oldest Mary Ann was not very
stout when in her girlhood, being afflicted with the phtisic until she was
about 10 or 12 years old. The old family doctor (Dr. Gerrish) told our
father & mother if she could learn to smoke he thought it would cure
her of the phthisic, so she learned to smoke and it cured her of the
tisic. She did not marry till about thirty year old when
she married a widower by the name of Hill with three children. He was a
carpenter. I think he lived in Johnson Co. She married in a hurry
and repented at her leisure. They did not live together very
long. They raised one little girl. Mary Ann left him and went
home and lived with our mother until she died, then Mary Ann lived around
among the neighbors and different ways and not having very stout lungs and
having heavy colds at different times consumption set in and she only lasted a
few months and died at her brother Joshua's near where she was born at
Neil's Creek. She was buried in the Bear Creek Cemetery beside our
mother. Her little girl drifted away, no one knows where.
Harriet the youngest of the family was the first of the family to marry.
She married a man named Newkirk who was a cooper by trade, never owned any
land of his own so they moved around a great deal to different localities.
Finally his health failed and he depended on the boys to do the farming, but it
was poor quality ground in a poor country and they finally moved back to the
house he first built in the wood on his brother-in-law's place. After
a few short years he died and a few years Harriet died. Two boys and
two girls were left, the girls soon married as did one boy. One of the
girls married a very industrious young man by the name of Stout. Bill is
an old batchelor who lived with his sisters. There were 8 or 9 children in
the Newkirk family, 3 boys and 3 girls still live, but are somewhat
scattered.
There could be much more said about Mr. Miller's
family that has come to mind since beginning this sketch and if you
will bear with me a little longer, I will say a little more.
Mr.
Miller was a true and devoted Methodist. They believed in those days in
being led by the Spirit to do and say things. So in naming his children he
cose Scripture names. His oldest he called John. Then there was Alexander
who was named after the copper-smith. Then there was Samuel, James,
Jonathan, Caleb (who died in childhood) and Joshua. But the youngest boy
he named for himself to preserve the family name. His name was just
Robert. He named the girls Scripture names as well. The
oldest was Mary, then Sarah, Elizabeth Jane and Rhoda. Then Mary Ann and
Harriet, the last being named for one of his
friends.
signed--Sincerely your loving and
true friend with well wishes. Robert Miller, Beloit, Kansas aged 76 years
old and two months. With malice toward none but Charity for
all.
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