William Alexander Miller

The following is what I have found so far on the family of William Alexander Miller, father of my Charles Wesley.  The family lived in Mason County, West Virginia, except for the short period of time they spent in Illinois where several of Charles's siblings were born.  I believe they went to Illinois with Elizabeth's parents, Eli and Mary McGuire and her brother, John.   The McGuire's went on to live in Kansas while William and Elizabeth Miller decided to return to West Virginia.  If you would like to know the sources that I used, please let me know and I'll be happy to share them with you.

Name: William Alexander MILLER
--------------------------------------------------
Birth: 1844 Place: Virginia
Death: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Burial: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Father: William N. MILLER (1812-)
Mother: Elizabeth Wright (1825-1898)
Marriage: 1866 Place: Mason, Mason, West Virginia


Spouse: Elizabeth J. McGuire
--------------------------------------------------
Birth: 1846 Place: Virginia
Death: 20 Jul 1895 Place: Point Pleasant, Mason, West Virginia
Burial: 22 Jul 1895 Place: Point Pleasant, Mason, West Virginia
Father: Eli McGuire (1823-1901)
Mother: Mary Knapp (1826-1921)


Children
--------------------------------------------------
1 M: Charles Wesley MILLER
Birth: 1 Dec 1867 Place: Point Pleasant, West Virginia
Death: 21 Sep 1947 Place: Mason County, Kentucky
Spouse: Mary Elzeta COCHRAN
Marriage: 17 Oct 1892 Place: ...................................................


2 M: Richard A. MILLER
Birth: 23 Jul 1869 Place: Mason County, West Virginia
Death: 30 Aug 1924 Place: Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia
Spouse: Sarah Louise Kapp
Marriage: 1890 Place: Jackson, West Virginia


3 M: John M. MILLER
Birth: 1872 Place: Illinois
Death: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Spouse:
Marriage: ............................. Place: ...................................................


4 F: Mary MILLER
Birth: 1874 Place: Illinois
Death: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Spouse:
Marriage: ............................. Place: ...................................................


5 F: Alice MILLER
Birth: 1876 Place: Illinois
Death: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Spouse:
Marriage: ............................. Place: ...................................................


6 F: Rachel MILLER
Birth: 5 Jan 1878 Place: Mason, Mason, West Virginia
Death: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Spouse:
Marriage: ............................. Place: ...................................................


7 F: unknown MILLER
Birth: 24 May 1889 Place: Mason County, West Virginia
Death: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Spouse:
Marriage: ............................. Place: ...................................................


8 ?: unknown MILLER
Birth: bef 1889 Place: ...................................................
Death: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Spouse:
Marriage: ............................. Place: ...................................................
Status: ............................. Place: ...................................................


--------------------------------------------------
Last Modified: 11 Mar 2010
Created: 30 Mar 2010

Charles Miller's Father

I would love it if all my ancestors had unique names that stood out in census lists or that a search engine could really sink its teeth into, but...I don't.  Case in particular - the Miller's.  Do you have any idea how many Millers there must be out there?

I knew about Charles Miller, my great-great grandfather from my father.  He remembered visiting with him so he was able to give me some approximate dates and the names of his children.  Then Charles's granddaughter, Elzeta Mitchell Pfeffer, gave me more exact dates to go on, but no one seemed to be able to recall Charles's parents.  They only knew that they had lived in West Virginia.  Well, West Virginia is a big place with many Miller possibilities so I put Charles back in my file drawer where he stayed for a long time!

I brought Charles's file out the other day.  Since I no longer work, I have decided that it would be a good thing if I tried to organize all my family files into binders.  The Miller file was one of the first to be organized probably because it is so thin and the "overwhelm-factor" was low.  I guess Charles was tired of being cooped up in the drawer because, boy, has he led me down a fast road of discovery!

Using the West Virginia Vital Records Project, which wasn't available the last time I researched this family,  I found Charles Wesley Miller's birth record listed in the Mason County records!  Right there on the line next to his birth date of 1 December 1867 were his parent's names, William A. Miller and Lizzie Miller.   You will not guess what else was on that line!  Almost as a reward for my patience, the person listed as reporting the birth was Wm. Miller, grandfather!  Father, mother, grandfather, all in one minute of reading!  Then to top things off, as I looked further on the page, I noticed the same parents listed again!  Sure enough, there was Charles's brother, Richard A. Miller who was born two years later on July 23, 1869.  That explained who the Richard Miller was who lived next door to Charles and his wife in Dover, Kentucky in 1920!

Needless to say, I have taken my new found knowledge and added many names to my family tree which  I'll give you the details of in future postings.  In the meantime, take a lesson from me, sometimes that brick wall just needs to be put in a dark file drawer to rest while the Internet resources take time to grow!

    

Nora Wayson Moore

Nora Wayson Moore was the eighth child of William and Ada (Dean) Wayson.  She was born November 25, 1905 in West Virginia.  In 1920, at the age of fourteen, she lived with her parents in Pierce Township, Clermont County, Ohio.


In 1921, Nora could be found in Indiana which is where her sisters, Vannie and Haley were living.  While they were living in Fayette County, Nora did find herself in Grant County which is where she married Bradley Moore, brother to both Vannie and Haley's husbands.  It is not known whether she was actually living in Grant County, or only got married there.  


In 1922, while still in Indiana, Nora and Bradley became the parents of a son, Elmer.  The family left Indiana sometime after Elmer's birth and was living in Newport, Kentucky, not too far from Nora's parents, by 1930.  It was in Newport that Nora gave birth to her second child, Betty Moore in 1932.  


Like her sister Haley, the family moved to Elkhart, Indiana by 1947.  In 1950, Bradley died making Nora a widow.  She continued to live in Elkhart until her death in 1970.   She is buried in Prairie Street Cemetery, Elkhart.

This obituary was published in The Elkhart Truth June 25, 1970.

Haley Wayson Moore

Haley Wayson was born September 1, 1902 in Cabell County, West Virginia.  She was the seventh child of William and Ada (Dean) Wayson.  By age seventeen, Haley had joined her sister, Vannie, in Connersville, Indiana where she worked in a factory.  In the same year, Haley married Ethel Moore who was the brother of Vannie's husband, Martin.  


Ethel and Haley became the parents of two boys, Olin, born in 1921, and Michael.  By 1930, Haley and Ethel moved to Cincinnati, Ohio near her parents who lived in across the Ohio River in Campbell county, Kentucky.  In the 1940's, the family moved back to Indiana, settling in Elkhart, and in 1955, they located to a warmer climate, Bradenton, Florida. 


Haley became a widow in 1964 upon Ethel's death.  She continued to live in Bradenton until her death in 1991.

Guss Wayson

Guss Wayson, son of William and Ada (Dean) Wayson was born June 4, 1900 in Cabell County, West Virginia.  He was the fifth child born to Ada.  He spent his childhood in Clermont County, Ohio and then in the small town of California, Kentucky.  According to his mother's obituary, Guss was in Washington by 1947.  It is not known why he made his way to Yakima from northern Kentucky.

Samuel Nower Murder

Samuel J. Nower was only 22 years old when he was shot and killed in July 1836. Born in about 1814, Samuel was a son of Alexander Nower and Martha Morrison. At the time of his death, he was married to Sarah R. Judd, a daughter of Daniel Judd and Rachel Nower. The couple lived in Mason County, Kentucky.

In 1836, the Ohio River town of Dover, Kentucky had just been chartered. At that time, it was a bustling little town with boats stopping on their journey up the Ohio. On Saturday, July 9, Samuel, for reasons unknown, was in Dover. According to a newspaper article found in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Thomas Reeder shot Samuel. Reeder claimed it was in self-defense and was later acquitted of the crime.

Samuel did not die immediately as the newspaper article states that on Monday, July 11, he was still alive and that there was some hope for recovery. We now know that he did not live. Sarah was left a widow and her son, Samuel Jackson Nower, who was born in October of that year, never had a chance to know his father.

William M. Wayson

William M. Wayson is one of those ancestors that helps build brick walls in the pursuit of genealogy! Sure, I have been able to find plenty of information that helped me discover his contributions to my family tree such as being listed as the father in his children's birth records, and there is even a record of his marriage to Ada Catherine Dean in 1889. It's not that I'm not appreciative of all that I have found, but I want more!

William's part in building the previously mentioned brick wall comes from the fact that he is absolutely unable to be located in the 1870 census which would help me establish another generation of Wayson's. From later census information and his death certificate, I can almost say with some degree of certainty that he was born around the year 1863. If I rely completely on the death certificate, I can even go as far to say his birthday was on April 29 of that year, but then I would have to forget all the discrepancies in the census data and the fact that I have no other source for his birth. Not good genealogical practice!

Where William was born is an even bigger question. Some census years lead me to believe Ohio. Other years, Kentucky is the place! His daughter, Haley, for her father's death certificate, seemed to think that it was Campbell County, West Virginia which can be ruled out since there is no such county in West Virginia!

Without any solid clues for a location, I have searched the 1870 census for any mention of a William Wayson born about 1863 using all imaginable variations of the name. No luck! I have found a few remote possibilities, but none that seem plausible, but that's okay. I'll just keep hunting and trying all sorts of things until one day, out of the blue, some little piece of information or clue will appear that will be, without a doubt, what I have been looking for. It always happens that way. Until then, there are plenty of other leaves on the tree to shake!