I’m challenging myself this year with the #52Ancestors project, where I tell a story about a different ancestor each week, for 52 weeks, based on prompts set by professional genealogist and host of the “Generations Café” podcast, Amy Johnson Crow.
Charles Henry Miller, ca. 1870s, St. Lawrence County, New York or Boone County, Iowa.
Week 1: Beginnings
If there’s one subject in my ancestral tree who knows about starting fresh, it’s Charles Henry Miller. Charles was born circa 1798 in Ireland. Though considered a native of Belfast, it’s thought the family originated in Ballinasloe and were uprooted to Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, not much is known of his time there. It’s claimed he was married with three children, two boys and a girl, whom, as of yet, have gone unidentified. The reason for the mystery relates to his religious, and somewhat controversial, affiliation.
Those familiar with Ireland’s history, are well aware of a tense and torrid relationship between the Protestant and Catholic population. While in Ballinasloe, the Millers had once been of the Catholic faith, but because of troubles there, circumstances changed for them in the North. Not only did Charles identify as Protestant, he went a step further and joined the Orange Order, an international fraternity named for the Protestant King William III of Great Britain, otherwise known as William of Orange, who defeated the Catholic King James II. Local Catholics would not have been on friendly terms with Charles, especially due to his organization’s ideals swinging into the political realm. This association is what sparked a drastic change in Charles’ entire existence.
According to family legend, it’s unclear when Charles’ problems escalated, but it’s thought to be around the 1830s. Charles was walking into town one day, when a man on horseback approached and offered him a ride into the village. Charles accepted, and they rode in tandem into the village square where a crowd of men were gathered. The stranger rode directly into the lot and suddenly pushed Charles off the horse, saying, “Now, you dirty Orangeman, you are going to get what you deserve.” The group dragged him over to a nearby tree, looped a rope around his neck, and started to haul him up! Luckily for Charles, friends of his noticed the commotion and came to his rescue, getting him away from the mob.
It was clear that someone had revealed his secret affiliation with the Orange Society. He wouldn’t be safe at home. He had to get out of the country to avoid being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and hung. So, the story goes, his friends took him to a seaport and booked him on the first ship to America. His wife either could not, or would not, travel with him, so she stayed behind in Ireland with the children. There’s been no luck in recovering the rest of their life stories. She was reportedly last seen on the streets of Belfast by a woman who was related to the Millers only be marriage. She didn’t speak to her, supposedly because the woman was Catholic. This woman was in some relation to the Banford family.
William Andrew Banford, the son of Louisa Olive Taylor and Thomas Hudson Banford, married Esther Anna Miller, granddaughter to Charles Miller. William Banford mentioned this sighting to his granddaughter, Geraldine “Gerry” Pringle Neveaux, who passed the tale on to the husband of descendant Carolyn Miller of Ames, Iowa, Thomas Cleaver Massy, who then retold it to me.
Neveaux told Massy her grandfather always said, “Charles Henry ran from a hanging offence in Ireland,” but he would never explain what the official charge was. He also said the Banfords knew Charles Henry Miller and his family back in Ireland. Gerry claimed the woman who saw Charles’ wife in the streets of Belfast was her grandfather’s mother. However, I think it’s likely Gerry misspoke, as her grandfather’s mother, Louisa Taylor, was born and raised in the U.S. I think it’s more likely her great grandfather’s mother was the woman in question.
Gerry remembers asking her grandmother, Esther Anna (Miller) Banford, about Charles Henry Miller, but Esther never said a word except to go and see Aunt “Gen” who had the family history. Aunt Gen was Esther’s sister, Jennie Ethel (Miller) Morgan. She wouldn’t let Gerry touch the family history, but allowed her to read it from a distance. According to Gerry, Aunt Gen was horrified by the Miller history and especially by the Catholic aspect.
Gerry then solicited the help of the Bamfords/Banfords in Ireland to learn more about Charles Henry Miller and the family he left behind. However, they were tight-lipped, so she believed them all to be secret keepers. A funny coincidence in her research though, happened to be that she was in touch with a man named William Andrew Bamford in Ireland – the same name as her grandfather! The last thing she learned from her grandfather about the Millers was that he remembered his father, Thomas, would not speak to Charles Miller or his son, John, over what had happened in Ireland.
To sum up, Charles left his entire family back in Ireland, and had to begin anew in another country. A passenger manifest for his voyage has also not surfaced, perchance lending credence to the idea that he was smuggled aboard a ship in a hurry. It seems likely he sailed into a Canadian port, rather than one in the United States, as he settled in St. Lawrence County, New York, which is situated upstate, on the border of the Quebec province near the cities of Ottawa and Montreal.
The first definitive record, known to date, to chronicle a moment in Charles’ life was the 1840 United States census enumeration. Charles was living alone in Lisbon, New York. He was listed as a free white male between the ages of 30 through 39, employed in the manufacturing and trade industry. Judging by his mature age, it is entirely likely he did indeed leave behind a family in Ireland. But in 1842, he remarried, and it’s unknown whether an official divorce was ever granted from the first wife, if she existed.
Charles Henry Miller and Agnes Nancy Geddes, ca. 1860s, St. Lawrence County, New York or Boone County, Iowa. Photo belongs to Patricia Walling.
According to the Geddes family bible, which is assumed to be in the hands of Patricia Miller, Charles’ great granddaughter through his daughter Matilda, Charles Miller married Ageness (Nancy) Geddes [sic] on January 12th, 1842 in Lisbon Center, St. Lawrence County, New York at the age of 44. The bible originally was said to belong to Elizabeth Geddes. It’s unknown which Elizabeth, as both Nancy’s mother and sister carried that same name, though it was Nancy’s brother, Joseph Geddes, who recorded the names and births of Nancy’s children in the bible on July 9th, 1860. Patricia Miller sent the inscribed page to another cousin, Jeffery Alan Miller, a descendant of Charles and Nancy’s son, John Miller, who then sent me a copy.
Charles and Nancy gave birth to their first child, Elizabeth Miller, on January 24th, 1843, in Lisbon. In a very short time frame, spanning just a tad over a decade, the couple had ten children, the remaining being Sarah, Samuel, Matilda, John, William, James, Margaret, Mary, and Agnes. This was possible, as Nancy was significantly younger than Charles. She was also a native of Belfast, but born in 1815. Despite being from the same area, common belief is they were not familiar with each other back in Ireland due to the age difference.
By 1870, the Millers moved to Boone County, Iowa, marking another new “beginning” for Charles. It’s admirable the risks this man took at different points in his life. He remained in Boone as a farmer, harnessmaker, and the oldest member of the Freemasons fraternity until his death on April 10th, 1886. It’s said he didn’t belong to any of the local lodges, as he had passed the 32nd degree years prior and had since resigned. His children must have also respected him and his bold decisions very much, as they erected a beautiful monument for him at his grave in Linwood Park Cemetery. Nancy outlived him by about three years, and was buried alongside him in Boone.
Agnes Nancy Geddes, ca. 1880s, Boone County, Iowa.
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