8/10/2019 Miller Name Dominates an Era and a Section in History of Carolinas

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Miller Name Dominates An Era and A Section in History of Carolinas

By Doris E (Beth) LaneyBeth Laney-Smith is also the author of the book, The Voices of Pageland.

As illustration of how one man came to the new Carolina area and began both

a dynasty and an economic spiral, the family of Miller from e!erson has beenselected for in"estigation. #t is also interesting to note the rami$cations of kinshipde"eloping from marriages among the "arious families through the years.

%eorge Miller, the $rst Miller in the Carolinas, had come down from &enepec,&ennsyl"ania somewhere around '()*. By ancestry he was Black +utch, but likemost of the +utch in America, the family had come by way of ngland.

n Sept. *, '()*, %eorge Miller bought land lying on both sides of Lynches/i"er from ames McManus. 0he deed co"ering this transaction is recorded at thecourt house in 1adesboro, and it lists the land as lying in Anson County, witness tothe fact that the boundary line between 2orth and South Carolina was not yetsettled. 3#ndeed, dispute o"er this boundary line continued until after '4**56 %eorgeMiller made his home in Lancaster County between Lynches /i"er and 0a7ahaw. 8emarried li9abeth Singleton and had three sons---%eorge ##, 1illiam, and Michael--and

three daughters--Sarah ane, Millie, and Barbara. %eorge ## li"ed and died inLancaster County, beginning a branch of the Miller family in that area. 1illiammo"ed to Alabama, &erry County, where he died about '4:'. Michael li"ed in the

e!erson area and began the branch of the family from which descended the presentgroup of Millers.

Between '4'* and '4'; there was a Miller and twodaughters---Mosley, who married Ale7ander McMillan, and 8arriett, who married ohn

/. 1elsh. By a second wife, mily Cook, who li"ed until ';'?, he had two daughters,Mary, who married ohn Lowery, and Laura who married Sandy Baker of near

e!erson.

2ames of these four sons are still echoing down to us in present day. 0hemost celebrated probably was ames, who was captured and killed by the @ankees

ust a few weeks before Lee surrendered, and after whom the ames M. Miller chapterof the .+.C. was named. =ollowing his death, his entire family mo"ed 1est, wherehis descendants are to be found today.

Maor ohn S. Miller, born in '4'4 and dying in '444, ser"ed in the Ci"il 1arunder %eneral 1ade 8ampton, and carried his title with him until his death. MaorMiller amassed a fortune in his lifetime and left se"eral monuments to hisachie"ements in the form of gracious homes. 8is own house stands today as thesecond oldest in e!erson and is still celebrated as a noteworthy e7ample of the Low

Country Colonial school of architecture. #t was designed and built at sometime priorto the Ci"il 1ar by 1illiam Crow from nion County, whose grandson, Maor 1.C.8eath, li"es in Monroe today. 0he Maor Miller home is occupied by Mrs. .1. Miller,widow of one of the Maor

8/10/2019 Miller Name Dominates an Era and a Section in History of Carolinas

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in the Confederate Army. f his two daughters, Louisa married +r. #.8. Blair ofMonroe, and ane married 0homas McMillan.

/eturning to the Miller Store begun by Michael in the early '4** and three daughters--Mary =rances, who became Mrs. Bud"ans> li9abeth ane who became Mrs. Cal"in "ans> and Susan Alice, who becameMrs. Lewis %ardner, wife of the man whose diary is spoken of elsewhere in thisedition.

ohn =letcher, who was born in '4) and died in '4;4, married =lora %arland,producing two sons, Carroll and "erett, who li"e today in e!erson. 8is daughterswere /osa, Charlotte and Mildred. 1illiam Michael, known locally as Billy, marriedSarah Barrier, and their children wereD 1illiam 1alter, who died Euite young> Maude,Mamie, /uth, and Margaret. ames married 8attie %regory and had no children.

0he name of Miller is continued today in e!erson