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MILLER Family History, Part IV

Stephen William MILLER^Δ (1775-1851)

11HBA. Stephen William Miller^Δ was born on March 7, 1775 in Washington/Frederick County, Maryland. He married Anna Barbara Coleman/Bohlman about 1796 and had four children:

The Millers started their family in Kentucky, probably Campbell County where Stephen's parents and family had moved in 1795. Around the time that Ohio gained statehood in 1803, the Millers, as well as Stephen's parents and siblings, moved across the Ohio River into Ohio.

Stephen purchased 137¾ acres "on the head waters of O'Bannon Creek" from Ohio land magnates William and Eliza N. Lytle on June 9, 1809, for $276.^{[Deed 1809]} The lot measured 160 by 130 perches or poles (2,640' by 2,145') with an additional 53 by 24 perches/poles (874.5' by 396') along the northwest corner.^{[Deed 1809]} This tract is identified with Virginia Military Surveys 4240 and 4244 (unlocated) in Clermont County tax records^{[Tax 1816]} and later as part of Survey 7091^{[Tax 1822-1824]} about 2½ miles southeast of Goshen in the area of modern-day Moler and Manila roads.

Anna (Coleman/Bohlman) Miller died on January 26, 1810 or 1813, in Clermont County, Ohio. She was only 36 or 41 years old.

Sometime after Anna's death, Stephen moved north to the area of Montgomery and Preble counties, Ohio. There Stephen remarried to Emma (or Anna) Lesh, the widow of Peter Deardorff, in Preble County. She was nine years his junior.

Stephen purchased 100 acres in the southwest corner of Township 3, Range 4 East (German Township), Section 4, from Philip and Eve (Kumler) Swartzel on June 13, 1814, for $300.^{[Deed 1814]} This land correlates to a tract starting at the intersection of modern-day Kiefer Road and Shimp Road and running east 161 poles (2,657') to Boomershine Road and north 99-18/25 poles (1,645').

Stephen and Anna, then residing in Montgomery County, sold the 137.75-acre property to "John Brunser" (Brunson) on October 9, 1816, for $1,100. Curiously they reacquired this same lot from John and Hannah Brunson seven weeks later on December 2, 1816, for $777.48. The transaction was witnessed by Daniel Miller, ostensibly his father or son.^{[Deed 1816]} At some point they sold it and then on January 24, 1820, again reacquired the same property from Jesse and Elisabeth Wood for $2,100.^{[Deed 1820]} They retained the property through at least 1823.^{[Tax 1822]}

Stephen William Miller died on January 13, 1851, in Montgomery County, Ohio, and is buried at Sugar Hill German Baptist Cemetery near West Alexandria in Preble County, Ohio. He was 75 years old.

His widow Emma lived another 13 years and died on September 3, 1864. She was just a few weeks shy of her 80th birthday.

Jacob A. MILLER, Sr.^Δ (1776-1858)

11HBB. Jacob A. Miller, Sr.^Δ was born on November 20, 1776, in Washington County, Maryland. He married Elizabeth Metzger in 1798 and had seven children. Elizabeth died in February 1832 at the age of 60. After Elizabeth's death, Jacob remarried to Catherine (Zimmerman) Stutsman, who had been previously married to Abraham Stutsman, by 1836 and had another five children; he was approaching 60 and Catherine about 31 at the time. All 12 children were born in Montgomery County, southwestern Ohio:

Jacob A. Miller, Sr. died in 1858 in Montgomery County, Ohio. He was about 81 years old.

Catherine (Zimmerman Stutsman) Miller lived on another 25 years in Montgomery County. She died on March 16, 1883, at about the age of 77 years old.

Daniel MILLER (Jr.) (1779-<1822)

11HBC. Daniel Miller (Jr.) was born on July 30, 1779. He is believed to have had five children but little is known of him.

Daniel Miller died sometime prior to his father's death in 1822. He was therefore in his late 30's or early 40's at the time of his death.

David (B.) MILLER^Δ (1781-1851)

11HBD. David (B.) Miller^Δ was born on July 30, 1781, in Washington County, Maryland^{[Cen 1850]} (his next elder brother's second birthday unless I've flubbed one of the dates). He married Mrs. Catherine (Schaeffer) Gephart, the widow of Johannes Peter Gebhart/Gephart (Jr.), in 1806. Catherine had two young children from her first marriage and gave David seven children. Catherine died in 1826 in Montgomery County, Ohio, around the age of 41. David later remarried to a woman named Martha, a native of New Jersey, about 1837 and fathered three more children^{[Cen 1850]}:

Peter Gebhart and George Moyer (Möyer) had property in Township 2, Range 5 East, Sections 9 and 10 (Miami Township). It ran between modern-day Upper Miamisburg Road and Lower Miamisburg Road from Jamaica Road east to the Great Miami River, across the river from Miamisburg. An irregular strip comprising a northern third of nearly 448 acres was allotted to George Moyer. Peter Gebhart was alloted the middle third of over 445 acres. The southern third was arranged to be sold to Johannes "John" Shuppert (Shüppart), Christopher Shuppert, and Daniel Mannbeck, in three 106-3/8-acre parcels for $200 each, but Peter Gebhart died prior to concluding the transactions. Catherine and Daniel Miller (presumably David's brother or father) petitioned the Court of Common Pleas in 1810 to complete the transactions as administrators of Gebhart's estate and to recognize David as acting on behalf of Peter and Catherine's minor children, Elizabeth and John Gebhart. Christopher and Hannah Shuppert turned around and sold their tract, the south-central tract, to Peter's cousins, Heinrich "Henry" Gebhart, Sr., for $300.^{[Deed 1810]}

Catharine served as executor for the estate of Peter's uncle, Valentine Gebhart (1751-1810) in 1811. She and Peter's cousin, Philip Gebhart sold three 160-acres tracts in Township 3, Range 5 East, Section 2 (Jefferson Township) around the town of Drexel.^{[Deed 1811]}

After Catharine's death in 1826, David moved to Indiana, probably in the 1830s, and remarried to Martha by about 1839.

David Miller died on December 1, 1851, in Elkhart County, Indiana. He was 70 years old.

After David's death, Martha remarried to Joel Applin and continued to reside in Elkhart Township with her three children.^{[Cen 1860]}

Martha (Miller) Applin died on September 11, 1860, at the age of 60. She is buried at Baintertown Cemetery in Jackson Township, Elkhart County.^[Grave]

Samuel B. MILLER (1785-1867)

11HBE. Samuel B. Miller was born on March 17, 1785, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He was born mentally deficient (legally declared as such in 1832 by a jury of seven in Montgomery County, Ohio) but lived into his early 80's in the care of his family.

Samuel lived with his nephew Abraham Miller in 1850^{[Cen 1850]} in Madison Township (Trotwood), Montgomery County, Ohio. After this he is variously recorded as having lived with John B.'s sons, his nephews, Jacob Y., David Y., and John J. Miller.

Samuel Miller died on November 27, 1867, in Elkhart County, Indiana, at the age of 82 years. He is buried at the Hoke-Miller Cemetery in Harrison Township, Elkhart County, as was his brother John.

John B. MILLER^Δ (1787-1856)

11HBF. John B. Miller^Δ was born on December 15, 1787, in Morrison's Cove, Woodbury Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. John's family moved from Pennsylvania to Campbell County, Kentucky, in 1795 and then about the time of Ohio statehood in 1803, the family moved north from Kentucky to the area of Montgomery and Preble counties near Dayton in western Ohio. It was in Montgombery County that John married Esther Miller^Δ (11HC3), his first cousin and daughter of his uncle David Miller⁴, around 1807. They raised 10 children and perhaps as many as 13:

John was a traveling German Baptist Brethren elder and a farmer. He was elected to the ministry in the Wolf Creek congregation in Randolph Township, Montgomery County. They remained in Randolph Township until 1829 when they moved north into adjacent Miami County where his ministry was with the Upper Stillwater congregation.

In 1835 the Millers moved northwest to Elkhart Township, Elkhart County, Indiana, just south of Goshen. There he helped organize the Turkey Creek (1837 or 1838) and Rock Run congregations (1853).

John and Esther lived next to suspected son Solomon, his wife Barbary and infant son Josephus, along with likely brother Noah and sister Catherine; and their uncle Elder David Cripe and cousin Emanuel Cripe in 1850.^{[Cen 1850]}

In 1854 John, Esther, and John's elder brother Samuel, moved out to the farm of their son Jacob in neighboring Harrison Township to the west. Jacob's property lies north of county road 38 between county roads 9 and 11. There, as elder-in-charge, he organized the Yellow Creek congregation in 1856.

John B. Miller died in Harrison Township, Elkhart County, Indiana, on June 11, 1856, at the age of 68. He is buried at the Hoke-Miller Cemetery, which is located on son Jacob's property.

Ester Miller died five years later in Harrison Township on April 21, 1861, at the age of 73. She and two of their sons, David and Jacob, are also buried with John at the Hoke-Miller Cemetery in Harrison Township.

John is said to be the last practicing German Baptist Brethren of his line.

Isaac MILLER⁵ (1789-1822)

11HBG. Isaac Miller⁵ was born on December 8, 1789, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He married his first cousin, Elizabeth "Betsy" H. Miller⁵ (11HC4), in either Miami or Montgomery County, Ohio on July 2, 1812. They had five children before Isaac's early death at the age of 32. Betsy soon after remarried to Valentine Fackler and had eight more children:

Isaac Miller died in Montgomery County, Ohio, in August 1822. He was only 32 years old. They had only been married 10 years.

Betsy remarried to Valentine Fackler soon after Isaac's death and had eight more children. They later moved northwest to Elkhart County, Indiana, west to Linn County, Iowa, and eventually to Big Grove Township, Johnson County, Iowa, by 1840 where the area later became known as Fackler's Grove.

Elizabeth "Betsy" (Miller) Fackler died in Big Grove Township, Johnson County, Iowa, on April 4, 1865. She is buried at Fackler's Grove Cemetery in Johnson County.

Continue to
Betsy (Miller) Fackler Family

Abraham MILLER (1794-1855)

11HBI. Abraham Miller was born on either May 5 or 16, 1794, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Lasure on March 21, 1827, in Montgomery County, Ohio. They eventually moved to Polk Township, Marshall County, Indiana, by 1850.

Elizabeth (Lasure) Miller died on August 15, 1851, at about the age of 71. She was buried in Blissville Cemetery, Polk Township, Marshall County, Indiana.^[Grave]

Abraham Miller died on May 19, 1855, at the age of 61. He was buried with Elizabeth in Blissville Cemetery.^[Grave]

Elizabeth Poe (MILLER) BOOKER (1796-1871)

11HBJ. Elizabeth Poe Miller was born on April 8, 1796, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. She married John Booker (Bucher/Boogher) on either September 29, 1813 or October 10, 1815 in Montgomery County, Ohio. They had 12 children, all born in Montgomery County, Ohio:

The family settled on a 160-acre homestead in the southeast quarter of Section 18, Township 5 North, Range 5 East (West of the Great Miami), later known as Randolph Towship in Montgomery County, Ohio.

John Booker died on January 24, 1861, in Montgomery County, Ohio, at the age of 71. He was buried at the Warner Cemetery in Randolph Township, Montgomery County, Ohio.

Elizabeth Poe (Miller) Booker died on November 8, 1871, in Miami County, Ohio. She was 75 years old. She was buried at the Old Harris Creek Cemetery in Darke County, Ohio.

Michael MILLER (1784-1856)

11HC1. Michael Miller was born on May 10, 1784, in either Washington County, Maryland, or Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and appears to have been named after his great-grandfather, Johann Michael Miller². He married his cousin, Salome "Sarah" Creamer, about 1806 in Montgomery County, Ohio. After about 30 years of marriage and 12 children, Sarah died in 1836. Michael remarried the following year to Elizabeth Brumbaugh and had another 10 children!

Michael likely moved with his parents to Randolph, Montgomery County, Ohio, by 1800 as a teenager. All of his 22 children were born in Montgomery County.

Salome "Sarah" (Cramer) Miller died on February 26, 1836. She was 49 years old.

Michael Miller died on December 18, 1856, in Montgomery County. He is buried at his father's old homestead at present-day 9476 Haber Road in Randolph, along with his father and several descendants who make up a family cemetery of 20 graves. Michael was 72 years old.

After Michael died, Elizabeth remarried to David Hull and moved southwest from Randolph to Perry Township in Montgomery County.

Elizabeth (Brumbaugh Miller) Hull, died on March 6, 1901, in Montgomery County, Ohio. She was 89 years old.

Lydia (MILLER) SHIVELY^Δ (~1785-~1805)

11HC2. Lydia Miller^Δ was born about 1785, likely in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. She reportedly married Isaac David Shively (Sr.), in Clermont County, Ohio, about 1801; she was about 16 years old and he about 42 years old. He was a widower with eight children between the ages of about 2 and 18 and had lived near her family in Woodbury Township, in modern-day Bedford and Blair counties, Pennsylvania when she was young.^{[Tax 1788, Cen 1790]} They had two sons together before her untimely death and then Isaac remarried again and had two more sons:

Lydia (Miller) Shively died about 1805, perhaps related to giving birth to son John. She wa only about 20 years old.

After Lydia's death, Isaac remarried to Catherine Raysor (Raser) about 1808. They had two more children:

Isaac David Shively (Sr.) died in Montgomery County, Ohio on September 25, 1823. He was 63 years old.

Catherine (Raysor) Shively died eight years later in 1831. She was about 62 years old.

Esther MILLER^Δ (1787-1861)

11HC3. Esther Miller^Δ was born on May 30, 1787, in Morrison's Cove, Woodbury Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Her family moved from Pennsylvania to Clermont, Montgomery and Preble counties near Dayton in western Ohio, probably by way of Campbell County, Kentucky. It was in Montgombery County that Esther married John B. Miller^Δ (11HBF), her first cousin and son of her paternal uncle Daniel Miller⁴, around 1807. They raised five sons.

Continue to John B. Miller Family

Catharine (MILLER) OVERHOLSER^• (~1791->1860)

11HC4. Catharine "Katie" Miller^• was born about 1791, likely in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. She married Abraham Overholser on August 11, 1811. They had at least three daughters:

Abraham Overholser died on November 9, 1819, in Darke County, Ohio, north-northwest of Dayton. He was about 32 years old and left Catherine pregnant with their third daughter.

Catherine remarried to a Jacob Overholser, Abraham's widower uncle or cousin, on October 9, 1821, in Montgomery County, Ohio. Jacob had five children from his prior marriage.

Jacob Overholser died on March 15, 1850, in Montgomery County, Ohio, just days after his 80th birthday.

Catherine (Miller) Overholser died sometime after the 1860 census where she is last noted in Jefferson Post Office, Neave Township, Darke County, Ohio, with her daughter Susannah (Overholser) Cable's family.

Elizabeth H. (MILLER) FACKLER⁵ (1793-1865)

11HC5. Elizabeth "Betsy" H. Miller⁵ was born in 1793 in Morrison's Cove, Woodbury Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Her family moved from Pennsylvania to Clermont, Montgomery and Preble counties near Dayton in western Ohio, probably by way of Campbell County, Kentucky. She married her first cousin, Isaac Miller⁵ (11HBG), in either Miami or Montgomery County, Ohio, on July 2, 1812. They had five children before Isaac's early death at the age of 32. Betsy soon after remarried to Valentine Fackler and had eight more children:

Isaac Miller died in Montgomery County, Ohio, in August 1822. He was only 32 years old. They had only been married 10 years.

Betsy remarried to Valentine Fackler soon after Isaac's death and went on to have eight more children.

Betsy & Valentine Fackler
Photo courtesy of Historic Ely, Iowa

The Facklers have yet to be located in the 1830 census, but they reportedly stayed on in Ohio until about 1833 when they moved west into Indiana, likely in Elkhart, Elkhart County. In 1837 they picked up again, crossed Illinois and the Mississippi River, and resettled in Ely, Linn County, Iowa Territory, before shifting slightly south across the county line into Big Grove Township (Township 81 North, Range 6 West), Johnson County, Iowa Territory, by 1839, where the area later became known as Fackler's Grove (estimated to be roughly the NW quarter of Section 3 and about 70 acres NE quarter of Section 4). Son George died in 1839 and was buried at the Fackler's Grove Cemetery. In 1840, the family was enumerated with five boys, fitting the ages of the five Fackler boys, and three girls, fitting the ages of the two Fackler girls and Elizabeth Miller. Son David Miller and his young family were enumerated adjacent to the Facklers.^{[Cen 1840]}

The Facklers continued on at Big Grove Township through 1850, and in that year an 8-year old boy, Henry Devantt, was counted with their family. Nearby lived Rudolph Startzer, the widower of daughter Mary Ann who had died three months prior. The following January daughter Sarah Ann married Rudolph.^{[Cen 1850]}

In 1856, the Devantt boy, recorded as "S. H. Devantt," was living with son Martin and his wife Mary on the Fackler farm. That year Valentine and sons Samuel and Martin netted 254 bushels of spring wheet from 25 acres; 1,878 bushels of corn from 25 acres; 227 bushels of oats from 10 acres; 25 bushels of potatoes from a half acre; had 5 acres in hay and another 5 acres in meadow; and sold 27 hogs valued at $216. They also manfactured 150 pounds of butter.^{[Cen 1856]}

In 1860, the Fackler family included grown sons Jacob, John, and Samuel; and Jacob's wife Elizabeth and their first four children. Their farm in Big Grove Township was valued at $3,000.^{[Cen 1860]}

Valentine (and Elizabeth) Fackler
Photo courtesy of C. Vokoun

Valentine Fackler died on April 29, 1862, in Johnson County, at the age of 72, and was buried at Fackler's Grove Cemetery in Big Grove Township.^{[Grave, Will 1862]} He and Betsy were married about 40 years.

In his will, Valentine bequeathed all to Elizabeth but shares to their six surviving children, with an extra $200 to son Michael, who, along with Samuel, were the designated executors of his will.^{[Will 1862]}

Elizabeth "Betsy" H. (Miller) Fackler died in Big Grove Township, Johnson County, Iowa, on April 4, 1865, 11 days before President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. She was about 72 years old and is buried at Fackler's Grove Cemetery with Valentine and son George.^[Grave]

In her will, Elizabeth divided her estate between four of her five childern from her first marriage (excepting Nancy, who had received hers during Elizabeth's life time) and to the children of her deceased daughter Mary Ann (Fackler) Startzer, whose widower had remarried to youngest daughter Sarah Ann.^{[Will 1865]}

Jacob MILLER^Δ (1795-1861)

11HC6. Jacob Miller^Δ was reportedly born on February 17, 1795 or 1796, in Campbell County, Kentucky. As early as 1801, he and his extended family moved north across the Ohio River to Clermont, Warren, and Montgomery counties. He married Mary "Polly" Michael on September 29, 1816, in Montgomery County^{[Mar 1816]}, and had 10 children:

11HC6A.	David C. MillerΔ	8 Jun 1817	25 Aug 1900	(83)
11HC6B.	Michael Miller	27 Aug 1819	7 May 1884	(64)
11HC6C.	John Jacob Miller	2 Feb 1823	3 Nov 1897	(74)
11HC6D.	Mary Miller	12 Mar 1825	14 Feb 1908	(82)
11HC6E.	Sarah MillerΔ	17 Jan 1827	7 May 1899	(72)
11HC6F.	Emanuel Charles MillerΔ	13 Feb 1829	13 May 1903	(74)
11HC6G.	Henry M. Miller	17 May 1831	5 Apr 1904	(72)
11HC6H.	Esther "Hetty" Miller	31 Mar 1833	18 Aug 1908	(75)
11HC6I.	Susannah Miller	(1835)	(> 1850)	(> 15)
11HC6J.	Martin John MillerΔ	6 Sep 1837	2 Jan 1909	(71)

War of 1812

With the British threatening Detroit and paying Native Americans for American scalps on the frontier, General William Hull took command of four regiments at Dayton and marched to Detroit where he surrendered to the British without a fight. The disaster prompted the Governor of Ohio to recruit all remaining able-bodied men in Dayton, and Jacob, despite the "non-associator" conviction of the German Baptist Brethren, joined as a private with Captain William Van Cleve's company of riflemen.^[Grave] "Van Cleve's Rifles" marched west of the Miami River (the "Ohio Frontier"), as far north as Darke County, to help settlers defend against Indian attacks from the Indiana Territory, guarded supply trains, and kept lines of communication open.

After the war, Jacob and Mary married and their first two sons were born in Montgomery County. Around 1819 they moved about 40 miles northwest to Adams Township, Darke County^{[Cen 1820]}, along the north side of Harris Creek, northwest of Bradford. The rest of their children were probably born there.

Mary "Polly" (Michael) Miller, reportedly died on March 27, 1842, in Adams Township, and was buried in Miller Cemetery. She was 42 years old.^[Grave]

Jacob remarried the next year to Mary (Rohrer) Waggoner, reportedly the widow of James Waggoner, on January 5, 1843, in Montgomery County.

In 1850, the family was enumerated next to daughter Sarah (Miller) Basore (Bashore) and her family, and not far from nephew David Shively and his family.^{[Cen 1850]}

Jacob Miller died on October 8, 1861, and was also buried in Miller Cemetery. His headstone reads that he was 65 years, 7 months, and 21 days old.^[Grave]

Mary (Rohrer) Miller, reportedly died on August 20, 1888, in Darke County, at the age of 75 years. She was also buried in Miller Cemetery.^[Grave]

Continue on to Part V