Solomon Miller (1854-1946)

Solomon Miller (1854-1946)

F22 Solomon Miller, was born June 24, 1854 in Montgomery County, Ohio, died September 23, 1946 New Lebanon, Montgomery County. Solomon Miller is buried in Mote Cemetery, Monroe Township, Darke Co, Ohio. Solomon Miller was the youngest of 22 children of Michael Miller. Michael was married twice. Solomon comes from Michael's second wife.

Solomon married (1) Christina King on May 9, 1875. Christina was born in 1856, and died on June 20, 1884.

He then married (2) Susan Heckathorn, on December 12, 1887. Susan was born on June 7, 1854, Montgomery County Ohio, died on July 10, 1915, in Miami County Ohio.

He finally married (3) Mary Margaret Beckner on March 13, 1916. Mary was born April 1, 1873 in Roanoke County Virginia, died November 1949, in New Lebanon, Montgomery County, Ohio. Mary is also buried Mote Cemetery Monroe Township, Darke County Ohio.

Solomon was a minister and Elder in the German Baptist Brethren church and died in 1946, 162 years after the birth of his father in 1784, which may be some sort of a record. A fraktur recording the birth of this family was written in an elaborate German hand and translated to English, the whereabouts of which is now not known. Some 30 years ago (ca. 1972) it was in the West Milton, Ohio area and copied by the late Mary Helen Pemberton whose sister in law was a descendant of this Miller family. The fraktur was not in her sister in law's po session.

The Sunday Journal-Herald Spotlight (Dayton, Ohio)
June 29, 1941

Darke County Family Can Boast
Of Unusual Longevity Record

"My father lived in George Washington's day."

Few living persons today can make that statement, and few within the memory of living persons could have said it, but Solomon Miller, living three miles west of Laura, in Darke County, can say it truthfully. Behind his statement lies one of the most remarkable tales of family longevity and late-life paternity ever to come from the Miami valley.

Solomon Miller, celebrated his eighty-seventh birthday last Tuesday. There are older living persons of course, but Miller was born, the youngest of 22 children, when his father was 70 years of age. Miller's grandfather emigrated from Holland to the United States in about 1775 [sic], the year before the Revolution. He lived for a time in Pennsylvania, then moved to Cincinnati. Miller's father was born in 1784, and was about 15 years of age when George Washington died.

Moved Near New Lebanon
The family moved into what is now Montgomery county in 1817, and homesteaded a quarter-section of land lying west and north of what is now the village of Englewood. The patent granted to the Millers for the land was written on sheepskin, and bears the signature of President James Monroe. Solomon was born on the Montgomery county farm in 1855, His father died when Solomon was two and one-half years of age. The family moved to near New Lebanon, where Solomon and his brothers and sisters attended country school.

In 1885, Solomon, then a young married man, moved to Missouri, where he lived for 18 years. During these years, his first wife died, and he remarried. In 1904, he returned to Ohio, settling in Darke county on his present farm. His second wife passed away shortly after his return to Ohio, and he married his present wife in 1916.

One daughter, Fannie, now an employee of the NCR company, was born to Miller and his third wife, when Miller was 63. Fannie is now 24, and a modern miss in every sense of the word. Her father, who never learned to drive a car, enjoys occasional rides in his daughter's automobile.

Unable to do the heavy farm work, Miller nonetheless carried on gardening and yard chores on his farm until two years ago, when failing eyesight forced him to give up nearly all outdoor activity. Always in rugged health, Miller underwent a major operation two years ago. At the time physicians described his general condition as "excellent", and discovered that he had a strong and steady heart that would be the envy of many persons his junior.

A chat with "Uncle Sol," as he is known to friends and neighbors, makes the beginnings of our country's independent existence seem only yesterday, instead of ancient history.

"Yes," says Miller, easing back in his rocker and turning his dimming eyes over the placid fields surrounding his modest home, "we Millers live a lon-g-g time."

Children of Solomon Miller and Christina King:

G1 Henry Elmer Miller, born July 7, 1877 near Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, died March 31, 1961 Fairview, Missouri; married (1) Feb 5, 1899, Fronda Lucinda Hancock, born March 9, 1879 Carthage Missouri, died Aug 4, 1949 Carl Junction Missouri; married (2) Aug 20, 1950, Myrtle Hamm, born June 2, 1889 Cerro Gordo Illinois, died Apr 21, 1963 Brookville Ohio; d/o Michael & Mary Buckingham. Myrtle married (1) Henry Franklin Reece, married (3) Archie Bayer. Elmer and Fronda are buried Carl Junction Cemetery. According to his obit, the family moved to Newton County Missouri; when he was young and he grew up there.

G2 Ida Miller, died 1909.

G3 Alice Miller, was married to a Mr. Davis and living in Cathage Missouri at the time of her father's death.

G4 David Matthias Larcher, born March 7, 1876, near Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio; died October 3, 1964, Fairview, Newton County, Missouri. He married (1) April 7, 1907, Anna Mary Garber, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Filbrun) Garber. She was born Sep 11, 1884, and died May 15, 1911 in Fairview, Newton County, Missouri He married (2) September 14, 1924, Mary Ellen Flory . She was born January 7, 1891, and died June 21, 1925. Mary Ellen was the widow of William Landes. David and Anna are buried in Dice Cemetery, Fairview, Missouri. He was elected to the ministry Oct 31, 1913 and ordained an elder Nov 4, 1938 in the Old German Baptist Brethren Church.

G5 John Wesley Miller, born November 30, 1879, Dayton, Ohio, Montgomery Ohio; married G8 Bertha Lurena Larcher, born May 23, 1884; died May 30, 1950, daughter of F21 Esther "Hettie" Miller and David Larcher, Sr.

G6 Fannie Miller, born ca. 1917; married a Mr. Bennett.