My Miller Ancestors

"A Condensed History of Our Miller Family In America" is a document written by some unknown Miller ancestor or a sibling of. Also, there were no sources listed. See my Millers-in-Maine page at the link above.

Update: The Miller surname appears to be of Scottish origin, which helps explain why Ancestry says my DNA is 56% Scottish.

My paternal grandmother Ruth Mary Miller was born 2 June 1885 in Stanton, MI, to Frank Augustus Miller and Cora Adaline Fenn. She married Alphonsus Edward Ward on 8 July 1908, in Stanton. She outlived her husband "Phon" and her children, passing away at the age of 102 years, 10 months, and 13 days, on 15 April 1988. Their first child, unnamed, was stillborn in 1912. Their second child was Alphonsus Edward Jr., born in 1913. Their third child was a girl, Elinor, born in 1915. She died of misdiagnosed diphtheria in 1922. Their fourth and final child was my father, Robert Hudson Ward, born in 1921. Both A. Edward Jr. and Robert H. Ward passed away in 1980. Grandma Ruth had many photos of her relatives, some of which include the Christmas 1890 Miller Family photo and one of Frank & Cora Miller's family from 1893.

Frank Augustus Miller was a long-time public servant in Stanton, holding public office for many years. The following is from John W. Dasef's "History of Montcalm County," Volume 1, page 483, published in 1916.

"Frank A. Miller was admitted to practice on October 4, 1880, and soon afterward was elected a justice of the peace, which office he held for four years.  He was the son of Reverend C.C. Miller, a Baptist minister.  He studied law in the office of Palmer & Garbutt, and held the office of Circuit Court Commissioner from 1881 to 1885.  In 1888, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the county and served for four years. In 1898, he was again elected Prosecuting Attorney and served eight years continuously. Again in in 1914 he was elected to that office, which he now holds (1916)." During the years he did not hold public office, he was an attorney in Stanton." My mother recently recalled having been told by Grandma Ruth that his office was on the second floor, which bothered him somewhat that he had to go downstairs to do his "duty." He had a 2-story outhouse erected at the rear of the building to solve the problem!

I'm reviewing a document written by some unknown Miller decades ago titled "A Condensed Record of Our Branch of The Miller Family In America." Most of the facts and dates are correct or close, but some are requiring more research. I have decided to dedicate a new HTML document to that record and note the few mistakes.That will update the known ancestors of my Grandma Ruth, Ruth Mary Miller Ward.

Great Grandfather Frank A. Miller's first wife, great grandmother Cora Adaline Fenn, died one day after giving birth to son Frank C. Miller. Grandpa Frank's second wife was Nellie Conklin. His parents were Reverend Charles Carroll Miller and Miriam Cross Dyer.

Links

• Just added - A pic of Frank Augustus & Cora Adaline Fenn Miller's four girls taken about 1898, before Hazel's death 5 April 1899, from meningitis. I scanned it and tweaked it with Skylum's Aurora HDR software.
• Miller photos.
• Pedigree chart of The Reverend Charles Carroll Miller.
• Miriam Cross Dyer Miller's ancestor tree.
• Grandma Ruth's "Uncle Ashley," Ashley Grant Miller, Baptist minister in MI, and an attorney in NV. An odd change of professions! He was known as A. Grant Miller in NV.
• A chart of Grandma Ruth's ancestors.
• My Uncle Charles, Charles E. Miller, of Stanton, MI.

Sources

• Family records, including Bibles, photos and birth/death certificates.

The following pages all relate to my Miller line: Millers, Millers2, Fenn, Dyer, Wilson, Stickney, Cleveland.

Miller Family photo from 1890.

Frank A and Cora Fenn Miller and their girls, about December, 1893.

A photo of sisters Nona Frances Miller Eisenlord and Ruth Mary Miller Ward taken July 4, 1980.

My Flickr site "album" with pictures of my Miller ancestors from the Kennebunkport, Maine, area.