Jesse and Anna Miller

Below on the left is a real find sent to me by Joyce Ramsey Jackson who has been a tremendous help to me in Miller family fact finding and historical details. It is the obituary of Anna Mickels Miller, wife of Jesse E. Miller. Anna died on May 20, 1945 and her obituary was printed in the Cedar County News on May 24, 1945. Her name in this obit is spelled "Michels" but on a recorded NE 1880 census, when she is age 10 living with her parents, the name is spelled "Mickels". Twenty years later, in 1900 her mother, Dora "Mickels", is listed again on a Cedar County census, as a widow age 64, living in Hartington city with her daughter, Agnes and son-in-law, Irwin Patrick.

Anna's obituary mentions some other interesting details about the family. Her son Ralph is apparently serving in the US Military somewhere in the South Pacific near the end of WWII. Two other sons live in Washington DC, a long ways away from Hartington, NE. The obit gives more clues as to where the other children live at the time and they seem to have scattered near and wide. Our common great "Uncle Art" is mentioned as her brother-in-law. Apparently Anna, as a widow, first lives with her eldest daughter, Maud and her husband Col. Robert O'Toole in DC before she goes to Cincinnati to live with her daughter, Alma Barger, before she succumbs to cancer. I believe that Alma was married before to a Jacob Minnear and her name is mentioned as Mrs. J.H. Minnear in the last lines of W. B. Miller's obituary . She and Jacob have two children, Melba and Jack. On the 1920 Census they are living in Liberty Twp, Cass Co., NE and in 1930 (their last name spelled Minnier) they live in Tippecanoe Twp., Lafayette Co., Indiana. We do not know what happened to Jacob, whether they have divorced or he has died. (This new information concerning Alma and her two marriages was confirmed by Laverne Miller Ramsey via Bill Ramsey, her son, in an email message on Feb. 28, 2010)
Among the pall bearers, this obituary mentions George Burney, who lived just east and across the intersection from the Miller family farm and Will Ewing who my father's "Uncle Will", a brother to his mother, Bessie. This again shows how inextricably linked these families were over the decades.

The Obituary states that Anna is survived by 3 daughters and 7 sons. One daughter, Margaret, is missing from the survivor list plus 2 sons, Frank and Oswyn.

The following is from Daniel Everette Miller, son of Leslie and Mina Miler and Grandson of Anna and Jesse Miller. "My grandfather, Jesse Miller, lost two children when they were quite young. One from drinking lye from under the kitchen sink, (This would be Frank who was born 1907 and died 1909. These dates are according to cemetery records) and one from placing her mouth over the tea kettle when is was boiling. (This would be Margaret, born about 1906. No death date given but here death must have occurred before the 1910 census was taken). They are both buried next to Jesse and Anna in Hartington. I also knew my great-uncle Art and aunt Myrtle, and visited their home many times. Uncle Art always had a stick of black-jack gum when I visited."

I have yet to uncover any information about Anna and Jesse's son, "Oswyn" who was age 1 at the time of the 1910 census taken at Magnet, Neb. He is not mentioned again on either the 1920 or 1930 census so I assume he also died young.

Below is an extract from the 1880 Cedar Co. NE, census, Precinct 5 taken on 11 Jun 1880. Anna is spelled Anne (pronounced the same in those days) and the age looks like a 7 but it must be a 10 as children were usually listed in order of birth (eldest first). Also, age 10 matches the birth date on her obituary. Her father is Matthias Mickels, age 45 and her mother is Dorthea, age 44. Both her parents were born in Prussia.