The image of Walter Bott makes him the most famous
unknown man
from Indiana. Walter Bott was better known as Uncle Sam.
He was born and
raised in Jackson township in Sullivan County Indiana and died there in
1972. He was the son of Jennie F and Isaac N Bott. He lived most of his life in Sullivan
Indiana.
Indiana's State Bird
Indiana's state bird is the
Cardinal,
one of only three red birds living in North America. The cardinal's range has expanded northward in the last 100 years,
but originally the
cardinal was a bird of the southeastern states and not indigenous to Indiana. The
cardinal's range has
gradually
expanded north and northwest along the Mississippi River and its
tributaries.
In 1886 the cardinal was found only
occasionally north of the Ohio River, but by 1895 it had reached the Great
Lakes, and by 1910, it was found in southern Ontario.
Since the 1950s the Cardinals expansion to the northeast has increased
whereas dispersal to the northwest has slowed.
The first documented northern cardinal
nesting in Connecticut was in 1943; it reached Massachusetts in 1958, and
has since reached the southern Maritime provinces of Canada.
The cardinal is limited in the west to
areas where the annual precipitation is at least 16 inches. Nationally,
centers of abundance for this cardinal are along the Mississippi River and
along the Colorado and Guadalupe Rivers in Texas. Less-dense populations
occur in the valleys of the Ohio, Arkansas, Brazos, and Red rivers.
Now you can search the
Greene County,
the
Daviess County,
and the
Washington County
history books when you search our site.
Exclusively on the Millers of
Washington County web site.
The Miller Name
Miller is the 7th most common surname in America and
it has been since the first US Census in 1790. It is amazing that a name
could hold the same position for over 200 years of American
History, but then again, there are Millers still immigrating to the US.
Miller being such a common name, it is not always easy to locate your
Miller family roots. There were over 26,000 Millers in America in the
1990 US Census and most of them are believed to be descendents of about
200 European Miller families in the year 1700.
DNA Testing
DNA testing has made it possible to untangle
some of the Miller lines. Check out
Family Tree DNA, a website that is sorting out Millers by DNA testing.
If you believe that you may be related to our Miller
bloodline you can find out for certain by being tested at Family Tree DNA.
Our DNA is already listed there under Casper Miller of Salisbury, Rowan
County, North Carolina. They have a map on their website that indicates that
Casper's land is now part of the Salisbury Airport.
This Miller history is much like that of
other pioneers of Washington County. Many of Washington County's settlers
came from Rowan (pronounced like Rone or tone) County North Carolina the same as the Millers. So even if
you aren't a Miller, you may learn a lot about your own family's story if
your ancestors migrated from the same area. Much of what is contained in
these pages is general history and pertains to all those who lived in
Washington County Indiana and migrated from Salisbury North Carolina. The
History of Washington County published in 1884 can be read in its entirety
by clicking on the local history button. The Links page offers a plethora
of other sources for your research, and I believe most of it to be free.
The Washington County Millers were pioneers of Washington County Indiana.
In 1824 they moved from Salisbury North Carolina to Beck's Mill Indiana. They have spelled their
name Miller at least as long as they have been in America and maybe longer.
This line of Millers have been in America since
1732, first in Pennsylvania, then
Virginia, then North Carolina, and then to Washington County Indiana.
October 17, 1732 was the date the Millers were officially in the New World,
documented by their oath of allegiance to England.
Click Here to view a map of Miller migration in the United States.
To follow the Miller migration read the
Casper Miller page first, and then his son Adam Miller's
page.
The
Miller bloodline has lived in Washington County Indiana for over 180
years spanning 7 generations, in fact, some land there has never been
owned by anybody but the Millers. There are many people living in
Washington County now that are not Miller by name, but Washington County
Millers by blood. They are descendents of the Miller family buried at
the Smith Miller Pioneer Cemetery
near Beck's Mill, Indiana.
Click the map for a larger View.
The Millers have spread and multiplied from coast to coast, holding high
political offices, running numerous businesses, and becoming doctors,
lawyers, stock brokers, social workers, preachers, teachers,
carpenters, psychic mediums, professors, farmers, multi-million
dollar lottery winners, and even redneck country folk
who like "drinkin' 'n fightin'" (most of them out grew that before
they turned 70). With 278 years of being on American soil,
the Millers have many American success stories and tragedies.
The Conrads and Maucks of Harrison County Indiana Database
This database contains the
Conrad and Mauck
families of my "Great Grandma Lizzie's" bloodline. Lizzie is
also known as Sarah Elizabeth Shewmaker - DeWeese - Ireland and lived in
Plainville Indiana before moving to White Hall Indiana, and then to the Odon
- Burns city area.
Carol Pyatt has compiled this information
over many, many years and has been gracious enough to share it on the
Millers of Washington County web site.
This is the same Mauck family that put the
first ferry across the Ohio River at Mauckport Indiana. Some of Washington
County's settlers from the southern states crossed the Ohio River at
Mauckport, others at the falls on the Ohio River and following the Buffalo
Trace. Mauckport is for that reason, partly responsible for Indiana
gaining statehood in 1816. When Salem Indiana was captured by 2400 rebel
soldiers in 1863, they had crossed the Ohio at Mauckport - that's how
important the Mauckport ferry was even up to the Civil War.
It is this bloodline that has rumors of Native American descent, as does the Shewmaker bloodline. They had to be
able to get along with both the natives and the settlers to operate a ferry.
The natives weren't too happy about the white man moving into Indiana. At that time there were many mixed blood
families in Harrison County and the Shewmakers, Maucks and Conrads may not
have been an exception.
Ye Opera House
and the
Musical Miller Story
There are
five generations of Millers who have played
country/traditional music in Southern Indiana, spanning over 150 years. Read about the
Millers and their country music stage show, Ye Opera House. Listen to a few MP3
files and see the fiddle Edgar Miller built from an orange crate in 1931, a
year before he died at age 22.
Click Here!
Odon Indiana Millers
In the early 1940's, Adam Miller's GG Grandson, Arthur
Jason Miller, moved a branch of
the family to Daviess County Indiana, between Odon and Burns City. For that
reason there is a lot information on this web site pertaining to the Odon
Indiana area.
Our roots run deep in several areas of Southern
Indiana, but primarily in Washington County and Harrison County. Frederick
Mauck of Mauckport fame, is our ancestor. Many of the Becks of Beck's Mill
fame have the same Miller blood as my family, that making us blood
relatives. We are also descendents of The Hardin family of Washington
County, Jenora Evaline Hardin being our ancestor.
###
I
personally have lived in Raglesville and Odon most of my life and many of my
maternal relatives have gained local notoriety. John Hastings, the man who
owned Clarksburg, and had it platted out, is the son of my ancestor Joseph
Hastings. Joe Dunn Laughlin, the man who re-named the town Odon, is also my
ancestors son. My uncle and also distant cousin through the Chestnut
bloodline, Everett Beasley, was Daviess County Sheriff four terms, a
candidate for Indiana State Senate, and the former President of the Indiana
Sheriffs Association. John Myers, owner/editor of The Odon Journal, also
shares this Chestnut bloodline; he is my first cousin once removed. Joe
Dearmin, owner of the Odon First National Bank, is my 4th cousin once removed through the Laughlin bloodline.
Did You Know?...
Did you know that Washington County was
first owned by France in 1621 and known as the District of Illinois?
Then in 1763 it was
ceded to Great Britain who made it a part of Canada in 1774.
Washington County was then captured in
1779 from the British by Virginia and renamed Illinois County.
In 1784 Washington County became a
part of the United States of America..
Read the
Walam Olum, the first known writings of
Indiana; translated it means "The Red Score".
The Delaware Indians had a
written language when the white man came to Indiana. The Walam Olum was
discovered among the Indians living along the White River.
The Walam Olum
is the Delaware Indian's story of the beginning of mankind and their
traveling to North America by way of the Bering Strait.
It's been compared to the
Bible's Book of Genesis.
1. At first, in that place,
at all times, above the earth,
1. Sayewi talli wemiguma
wokgetaki,
2. On the earth, [was] an
extended fog, and there the great Manito was.
Beck's Mill is the Miller
family's first Indiana home town. Adam Miller brought the family here in
1824 from Salisbury NC. Go to the Beck's Mill page via the link below.
With tourism booming in French Lick, Southern Indiana should try to get
in on some of the action via the
Buffalo Trace.
History spreads across Southern Indiana from Vincennes to Clarksville.
If each community were to capitalize on this tourism opportunity, Southern
Indiana could become a major place to vacation in the US. Indiana doesn't
have the Grand Canyon, or Mount Rushmore, it has the much forgotten Buffalo
Trace. It is time for "the land of the Indians" to claim what predates
history and share it with the world.
The Buffalo Trace was
patrolled by the Militia and this document, scanned in from an
actual document printed nearly 200 years ago, speaks of the US
Mail service between the Blue River and Vincennes.
This is not available
anywhere else on the internet!!
It's found exclusively on
the Millers of Washington County web site.
There is no land passage way in Indiana older than the
Buffalo Trace. Its general path
went from New Albany to Vincennes. The Indians
and early settlers used it and the buffalo did for thousands of years.
All of the areas around the Buffalo Trace were prime hunting grounds
for the Indians and artifacts are everywhere. Twice a year southern
Indiana became a spiritual hunting ground. The buffalo, the elk, the deer
and the bear were the largest animals hunted in Indiana, but the panther was
the most dangerous. The Buffalo Trace saw as many panther attacks as it did
Indian attacks.
According to Joseph Campbell,,
the Indians considered killing the buffalo to be a spiritual
event and held large ceremonies. They drank its blood and ate its flesh to purify their themselves in
a communion like ritual. These ceremonies were performed to honor and
thank the buffalo for its sacrifice. It was believed that the buffalo's
spirit would rejoin the herd via the birth of another buffalo.
"Indiana doesn't have the Grand
Canyon, or Mount Rushmore, it has the much forgotten Buffalo Trace."
Other county histories
in the works: Knox, Sullivan, Greene, Gibson, Posey, and eventually
Crawford Counties.
This information
is the research of many people across the United States and may contain
errors. It is presented as the best information to date. Like all of those
whose work I have incorporated herein, my research is a work in progress
and subject to change without notice. A special thanks to Marlene Ricci of
CA, Dwayne Meyer of CA, Jacqueline Bean of TX, Debbie Dick of IN, Milus
Miller of IL, Carol Hendricks Miller of IN, Clarence Miller of IN, and
Harold Glen Miller of IN. There are numerous others too; many of which are
unknown, but their findings and stories are still much appreciated.
Much of this would not have been possible with out their information. Also
this website includes historical facts gathered from Washington County
History, Indiana History, Rowan County and Salisbury North Carolina
Historical sources and other US Historical sources.
James A. Miller- Great -Great -Great -Great Grandson of Adam Miller
and Hannah Sheets.