Frank Nelson MILLER (1858 – 1903) is Alex’s Great Great Grandfather; one of eight in this generation of his line.

Frank Nelson Miller was born on 18 June 1858 in Utica, Dane, Wisconsin. His parents were George MILLER and Mary ESTEY.  Frank married Agnes Genevieve HENRY on 4 Jan 1896 in Fresno, Calif.  Frank died on 29 Dec 1903 in Willows, Glenn, California of pneumonia.

Frank Miller c. 1900

Agnes Genevieve Henry was born on 26 May 1863 in Linden, San Joaquin, California.  Her parents were John HENRY and Hannah LARKIN. She graduated in the 28th class of the California State Normal School (future San Jose State) in 1885.  After Frank died, Agnes married John Neale 22 Feb 1911.  Agnes died 10 Jun 1931 in San Francisco.

Agnes Genevieve Henry Miller

John Neale was born about 1850 in Massachusetts.  He was 14 years Agnes’ senior.

Children:

Mary (Estey) Miller Oshkosh 1880

Dear Son, Let virtue be your aim.

Wedding Announcement Fresno Republican 5 Jan 1896

The Two Popular Teachers Married in This City

F.N. Miler and Miss Agnes Henry were united in wedlock yesterday noon at the residence of Lester E. Walker on East Ventura Street.  Rev. I.D. Wood performed the ceremony.  Only the relatives of the contracting paries were present.  The ceremony took place in the parlor which had been tastily decorated with trailing vines for the occasion.  The bride was attended by her sister Miss. Kathryn Henry.  Afer the brief, but impressive ceremony had been performed all sat down to a wedding dinner.

Those present were Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Walker, Miss Kathryn Henry, Miss. Alice Miller of Santa Rose, Miss Florence Puffer, Miss Mabel Morris and Ira A. Miller of San Jose.

Mr. and Mrs. Miller left on last evening’s train for San Diego where they will make their home.  Miss. Agnes Henry has been a teacher in the schools of this county for the past ten years, six in the schools of this city.  During this time she has gained a wide circle of friends besides establishing a reputation as a successful teacher.

Mr. Miller is well known in pedagogical circles in the state having been elected vice president of the State Teacher’s Association which is in session in Oakland.  He at present occupies a position as teacher in the polytechnic department of the San Diego high school.  He was formerly principal of the Fresno colon school in this county.  The Republican joins with the many friends of the happy couple in extending its best wishes to them,

Frank was Principal at the San Diego Commercial High School in 1897 when his son Henry was born.  According to family legend, he held a contest at school to pick Henry’s middle name.  Guess what name the kids chose?   —  Commercial!  The commercial department was in the Montezuma building on F street.  It was merged with the old Russ High School (future San Diego High School) in 1902.

F. N. Miller Educational Work

Wisconsin

Student, Oshkosh State Normal 1878-80
Received Educational Diploma, 5 yr State Certificate
Teacher country school 9 mos. 1880-81
Teacher country school 9 mos. 1881-82
Teacher Oconto City school, 10 mo. 1882-83 (there was an Indian scare while George was teaching there)
Principal Chippewa County High School 1883-85
Graduated from Oshkosh Business College 1885
Student, Oshkosh State Normal 1885-87
Received Diploma – State High School Life Certificate
Principal South Kaukanna Schools 1887-88
Superindent of Schools Winnebago County 1889-90
Principal Milwaukee County High School 1891

California

Principal Fresno County 1891-95
Chairman of all Committees of arrangement for entertainment of State Teachers’ Association at Fresno Holidays of 1892.  Toastmaster at the banquet.  Personally prepared all toasts, quotations and banquet and souvenir cards
Member of Committee on Resolutions at Stockton Holidays, 1893 S.T.A.
Vice President S.T.A. 1896
Principal, Commercial High School San Diego 1895-1902
Principal, Willows High School 1902 – 1903

20 May 1898 – F. N. Miller of the commercial high school started a movement to establish a Red Cross society in San Diego.  The only authorized society on the West Coast at that time was in San Francisco.  Twenty Red Cross nurses accompanied the first Philippine expedition.  Frank was a member of the Royal Arcanum and of the Fraternal Aid.

His outstanding characteristics were love of children,  considerate, persevering, capable and thorough.

Agnes attended high school in a convent.  was a normal school graduate from San Jose Normal School. and was a teacher before she married.

Agnes was very gentle, easy to get along with, but had strong likes and dislikes.  Thrifty, very generous.  Full of energy. A very agreeable companion.  Keen sense of humor.   Member OES Amaranth

After Frank died young (he was a principal in Willows CA at the time), Agnes took her two young children, Genevieve and Henry, and went to Sebastopol, California were there were Miller relatives.  Eugene Edgar Miller was living in the North Sebastobol Precinct in the Analy Township, Somona County in the 1900 census.. Analy has been Sebastopol’s high school name since 1908. Eugene was married to Lillian M Horton and they had nine children living at home at the time. Lillian was born 1857 in Minnesota.

Eugene’s family arrived in Sebastopol, CA in 1891. Eugene’s widow Lillian, in her old age, said that one spring after a particularly hard winter in Wisconsin. Eugene threw down the snow shovel and said he was never going to shovel any more ****** snow.

Eugene’s son surmised he and his brother Frank Miller (Genevieve’s father) decided to buy the 40 acres that their brother Ira had cleared and planted to orchard. Neighbors who knew of the tremendous effort he made to develop the place said he was a powerful and vigorous man. [from a letter to Genevieve Miller from her cousin Clarence]

Eugene was seven years older than Frank and my guess is he tried to be in charge of Agnes’  affairs.   Agnes was probably eager to be on her own again.  She was 33 when she got married and had been on her own for a long time before she married.

Genevieve was fond of Uncle Gene and Aunt Lillian. Their daughter Etta married Edward Nelson, and she and mother corresponded. Genevieve always went to visit Etta when she was in Northern California. My mother remembers driving down a dirt road to a ranch house to visit them when her family went on the famous trip to Victoria in the summer of 1941.

Sebastapol House 1908 This house was shaken off its foundation in the 1906 earthquake. Much of Agnes’ wedding china was broken

In the 1930 census, Frank’s son Henry Commercial was an Insurance Comptroller in San Francisco for the Worker’s Compensation Fund living as a single man with his widowed mother.  came came to Genevieve’s funeral in 1965, and later came out to the house to meet me.   My mom has a sweet memory of him holding me on his lap and reading a story. He was very close to my grandmother , particularly after their  mother died, and he spent time in San Diego on vacations.  He always sent my mom  birthday present—an Oz book. Obviously my grandmother’s suggestion.  My mom used to look at the titles listed in order and figure out how old she  would have to be to get them all.  When they family went to San Francisco, they would meet him for lunch for a visit.

Children of Eugene and Lillian

i. Alice Esther Miller (8 Mar 1878 Lincoln, Worth, Iowa – 11 Mar 1955) m. [__?__] Stubbs By the 1910 census, Alice was divorced and living with her parents and four year old son Richard Stubbs in Ashland, Oregon.

ii. George Raymond Miller (17 Dec 1879 Lincoln, Worth, Iowa – 20 Feb 1956 ) m. Caroline L. [__?__] (1882 California – ) Caroline’s parents were born in Germany. S Emma [__?__] In the 1910 census George and Caroline were living in Hydesville, Humboldt, California where George was working as a millright. In the 1920 census, George and Caroline had moved to Idaho Falls, Bonneville, Idaho. In his 1918 World War I Draft Registration, George was working as a millright machinist at the Pacific Lumber Company in Scotia, Humboldt, California. He was married to Caroline L. [__?__] His form showed the loss of his left leg below the knee. In his 1942 Draft Regislation, he his closest contact was Mrs. Isabelle W. Miller and he was working at the Klammath Falls Machine and Locomotive Shop in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

iii. Clarence Arthur Miller (9 Jul 1881 Worth County, Iowa – 09 Mar 1974  Sebastopol, Sonoma, California) m. 18 Nov 1903 to Edith Brewster Palmer (18 Nov 1878  Ferndale, Humboldt, California –  16 Dec 1956 in Sonoma, California) Edith’s parents were Thomas Brewster Palmer and Mary Elizabeth Wiley.Clarence and Edith had five children  Marie Miller (1905 – 1998), Gladys Miller (1907 – 1955), Rodney Miller (1910 – ), Effie Marjorie Miller (1911 – 1988), and Clarence Miller (1918 – )

Edith and Clarence Miller

Edith’s father Thomas Brewster Palmer (1843 – 1909)

Edith’s mother Mary Elizabeth Wiley (1848 – )

In his 1942 draft registration Clarence and Edith were living at 564 North Main Street in Sebastopol, California and he was working for Rooney T. Miller’s Miller Trucking Service in Sebestopol.

iv. Mabel Lenora Miller (13 Mar 1883 Iowa – ); 20 Sep 1909 to William C. Maas (1878 Wisconsin – ) William’s father was born in Germany and mother in Wisconsin. In the 1910 census, Mabel and William were farming in Entiat, Chelan, Washington. By the 1920 census, Mabel was divorced and working as an nurse assistant in the home of Albert Pratten in Wenatchee Ward 2, Chelan, Washington. Mabel and William had three children: Albert, Ula Maas (1910 – ), and Edward (1911 – ) Maas

v. Etta Maud Miller (13 Jul 1884 Iowa – 1 Jun 1977 Santa Cruz CA buried 7 Mar 1977 Sebastopol evergreen lawn cemetery Sebastopol, CA) m. 1915-1921 in Jackson County, Oregon to Edward O. Nelson

In the 1930 census, Etta had married Adolph J Asmann (b. 16 Jun 1875California – d. 9 Mar 1956 San Francisco) Adolph had no occupation and Etta was managing her apple farm in Analy Township, Sonoma, California. By the 1940 census, Adolph was living with his brother-in-law in San Francisco and claimed he was widowed. Etta’s sister-in-law Kittie Nelson (b. 1882 Norway) was living with the family.

In the 1940 census, Etta, her daughter Virginia and her mother Lillian were living at Guerneville River No 12 Route 2, Sonoma County, California where she operated an apple farm.

My grandmother  Genevieve was fond of Uncle Gene and Aunt Lillian. Their daughter Etta married Edward Nelson, and she and my grandmother corresponded. Genevieve always went to visit Etta when she was in Northern California. My mother remembers driving down a dirt road to a ranch house to visit them when her family went on the famous trip to Victoria in the summer of 1941.

vi. Frank Horton Miller (10 Apr 1887 Plymouth, Iowa – Oct 1975 Solano, California) m. before 1910 census probably in Analy, Sonoma, California to Eva May Hunt (1880 Illinois – 1953 Solano, California). Eva’s mother came from Denmark. In his World War I draft registration, Frank was living in Rio Vista, California and working as a ranch foreman on Tyler Island. Frank was a farm manager in Burnett, Santa Clara, California in the 1930 census. In his World War II Draft Registration, Frank and Eva were living in Vacaville, California. Frank and Eva are buried at Rio Vista Masonic & Odd Fellow Cemetery, Solano County in plot 1188.

vii. Mary Eliza Miller (6 Jun 1889 in Iowa – 27 Dec 1968 in Grants Pass, Josephine, Oregon); m. 12 Apr 1911 Oakland, California to Clyde Milton Hamilton (18 Nov 1886 Kansas – 30 Jun 1969 Los Angeles). Clyde’s parents were from Ireland. Clyde was tenant farmer a in Belleview, Jackson, Oregon in the 1930 census when Mary and Clyde had seven children living with them.

According to  Bernard W. Houston,  Mary Eliza Miller had three grand-daughters born in Queensland:Alma Mary Hamilton/Houston and Juanita Hamilton/Goodland,daughters of Clyde Frank Hamilton,ex US Army. Another daughter Barbara Bethea Hamilton died soon after birth.

viii. Kathryn “Katie” Rachel Miller (3 Nov 1893 Sonoma Califonia – After 1920 Census) In 1919, Kathryn sailed to Hawaii on the Sachem. In the 1920 Census when she was living with her parents in Ashland Oregon and working as a public school teacher.

ix. William Henry Miller (24 Sep 1896 Sonoma Califonia – 15 Jan 1911)

The home Nancy Blair was born in was built by her Grandmother Agnes in 1908 and was something of an architectural center piece, designed by an architect named Irving Gill who went opn the achieve personal recognition in Los Angeles

Frank is listed as Franklin Miller age 2 in the 1860 census Utica, Wisconsin

Frank was 22 and living with his mother in Oshkosh, Winnebago, Wisconsin in the 1880 census.

Children

1. Henry Commercial Miller

Henry’s wife Dorothea Carr was born 13 Mar 1910 in Oak Park, Illinois.  Her parents were Peter G. Carr and Caroline Francis “Carrie” Taft (Sep. 1845 Pennsylvania – 6 Dec 1919, Cook County Illinois) Peter married Blanche E Simpson, daughter of William Simpson & 1st wife, Eliza A. (Summers), on 1 September 1908 in Berrien, Michigan.  Dorothea died 7 Apr 1991 in Alameda County, California .

Dorothea’s father Peter George Carr was born 24 Dec 1881 in Chicago, Illinois.  His parents were George Patrick Carr (b. Feb 1848 in Scotland) and Carolyn (Carrie) S. Toff (b. Sep 1847 in Pennsylvania).  In his 1918 Draft Registation, Peter was an Importer for the US Navy at the Union Iron Works in San Francisco and living at the corner of Magee Ave and Summit Ave in Mill Valley.  In the 1920 census, Peter was living in Sausalito and working as an Electrical Engineer.  In the 1930 census, Peter, Blanche and Dorothea were living in Mill Valley. In the 1940 census, Peter and Blanche lived at 394 Magee Avenue in Mill Valley.  The home was built in 1915 since Peter was living there in 1918, I assume he was the original owner.   Zillow.com’s current market estimate is $2.2 M.    Peter died 14 May 1963 in San Francisco.

This 3255 square foot single family home has 3 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. It is located at 394 Magee Ave Mill Valley, California.

Dorothea’s mother Blanche Simpson was born 3 Apr 1881 in Michigan.  Her parents were William Simpson (b.Nov 1841 Indiana) and Lucy L. Farley  (b. Jul 1856 in Michigan)  (It’s possible I have her parents birth states wrong because her census records are inconsistent.  1910 shows Indiana and Michigan, 1920 shows Maryland and Michigan and 1930 shows Maryland and Maryland.  William and Lucy did live in Berrien, Michigan where Blanche is buried)    Blanche died 24 Oct 1945 in San Francisco and is buried  in Long Lake Cemetery, in Berrien, Berrien, Michigan.

In the 1930 census, Henry was living with his widowed mother in San Francisco and working as a Comptroller in an Insurance Company.   Agnes’ record states that her parents were from Northern Ireland, so maybe they weren’t Catholic after all.  Curiously, Agnes’ 1920 census report states her parents were from Massachusetts and in the 1900 census she said her father was from Massachusetts and her mother from Ireland.

Ancestry.com has indexed the California 1940 census.  Henry was a Comptroller at State Compensation.  Henry’s income was over $5,000  (a bit higher than his neighbors) Dorothea was a freelance magazine writer.  Note she was 13 years younger.  My grandmother discouraged his interest in a nice young woman that was a family friend because she was so much younger. She thought the final result was ironic.

The Millers lived at 35 Lower Crescent Ave  Sausalito.  Here’s the google maps street view

The house is listed on Zillow for $1.8 M
Built 1921
Valued in 1940 at $4,000
Last sold 1994 for $844,500

This 2840 square foot single family home has 2 bedrooms and 3.0 bathrooms. It is located at 35 Lower Crescent Ave Sausalito, California. The nearest schools are Bayside Elementary School, Del Mar Intermediate and Tamalpais High School

Ironically,  Henry Commercial received his Master’s Degree from UC Berkeley in 1923 in Commerce.  I found Henry’s  Master’s Thesis  – The possibilities of San Francisco as an export center for paints and varnishes, at World Cat

Dorothea wrote a letter to the UC Board of Regents in the 1960’s.

Letter from Mrs. Dorothea Carr Miller, Sausalito, objecting to the policy expressed by the President in refusing to take requested steps (1) to establish grievance procedures for complaints made by members of the general public against a University officer or employee, and (2) to permit volunteer groups to make surveys of the research activities of the University for public information purposes; and requesting The Regents to appoint an ad hoc committee to make improvements in grievance procedures.

Child of Henry and Dorothea

i. Henry Carr Miller b. 20 Jul 1936  Sausalito, Marin, California. m. Janice P [__?__]   Per US Public Records, he was living in Greenbelt, MD in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  Greenbelt is less than a mile outside of the DC Beltway, not too far from College Park.

In 1970 he published a book on nuclear physics.

Title	Low-energy Electromagnetic Processes in the 2[subscript]H System
Author	Henry Carr Miller
Publisher	American University (DC), 1970
Length	154 pages
Subjects	Nuclear physics

Henry and Janice are now living in Tazewell in western Virginia.  He and his wife are amateur radio operators call signs W3BWN and WB3KFA.

2. Genevieve MILLER (See Horace Horton BLAIR‘s page)

Genevieve Miller Age 15  1915

Sources:

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/i/l/Calvin-Miller/GENE1-0008.html

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/i/l/Calvin-Miller/GENE1-0034.html

Everett Miner writing project