Martin Miller

Notes:

Following the 1845 marriage of Martin Miller and Mary Riggle, they settled on a farm about seven miles northeast of Lima, Ohio, where they lived for a year, and then moved to a farm about four miles northeast of Lima. In February 1866 they moved to Elkhart County, Indiana and settled on a farm near Goshen. Following Martin's death Mary returned to Allen County to live with her children. They were both members of the Brethren church.

Martin married Mary M. Riggle on 20 Feb 1845. Mary was born in 1828; died in 1908; was buried in Smith Miller Cemetery, Lima, Allen, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Barbara Ann Miller was born on 6 Sep 1847 in Allen County, Ohio; died on 18 Apr 1925; was buried in Sugar Creek Cemetery, Lima, Allen, Ohio.

Notes:

According to Isaac Miller's A Short History of Barbara and Samuel Miller (citation details below), he was a son of Daniel Miller (b. 1752) and Barbara Long (b. 6 Mar 1757). However, according to James Landes on Wikitree, specifically addressing Isaac Miller's work, Barbara Long died on 31 Jan 1784, two weeks after the birth of their second son Daniel Miller (Jr.), and Samuel Miller was a son of Daniel Miller and his second wife, Anna Garber, who he married in 1784 in Forestville, Rockingham, Virginia.

(Landes says that Daniel Miller and his second wife Anna Garber were cousins, but this would appear to depend on ttwo propositions, neither proved. First of these is the idea that Anna Garber's mother Barbara Miller was a daughter of early Brethren immigrants John Michael Miller/Mueller and Agnes Susanna Berchtoll, which, as Roberta Estes points out here, is plausible but unproved. Second is the idea that Daniel Miller's father, given as "Lewis Miller" by Isaac Miller (citation details below) was the Lodowich Miller known to have been a son of John Michael Miller/Mueller and Agnes Susanna Berchtoll, and the evidence for this seems to us similarly hazy.)

"After Samuel and Barbara were married, they settled on a farm about two miles, southwest of Harrisonburg, Va., along what is known as the Warm Springs pike. They were both members of the Brethren church. [...] They continued to reside on the above mentioned farm until the fall of 1839, when they, with their entire family, moved in Allen county, Ohio, and settled on the farm now occupied by Samuel R. Jacobs, where they lived until the time of their death." [A Short History of Barbara and Samuel Miller, citation details below]

Samuel married Barbara Sanger on 19 Mar 1816 in Rockingham County, Virginia. Barbara (daughter of Conrad Sanger) was born on 27 Aug 1791 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; died on 9 May 1875 in Allen County, Ohio; was buried in Smith Miller Cemetery, Lima, Allen, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"She, with her parents, moved from Lancaster county, Pa., to Rockingham county, Va., in the year 1813, and settled on a farm about six miles soutn of Harrisonburg, where she became acquainted with the young man to whom she was married three years later." [A Short History of Barbara and Samuel Miller, citation details below]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1769

Notes:

According to James Landes on Wikitree, who appears to have collected several generations of family writing and lore on "the Landes, Byerly, Rusmisel, Andrew, Miller, Brower, Sanger, Garber, Leedy, Cupp, Reeves and Eichenberg families", Daniel Miller died 16 Mar 1819 in Rockingham County, Virginia,

Daniel married Anna Garber. Anna (daughter of Johannes H. Garber and Barbara Miller) was born in 1776. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to House of Sänger: History of Descendants of Conrad Sanger, Son of John Singer by Nettie M. Senger (Nashville, 1956), he was a son of John and Barbara Singer of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; this John Singer's will, probated in 1790, names sons Daniel and Conrad, and a Daniel Singer's will, probated in 1794, names among seven brothers a Conrad. Which does leave us wondering why, if the Daniel of these two wills is the same man, the earlier will of the father omits mention of five of his seven sons.

We have not found a copy of Ms. Senger's book, but a review of it by Francis Coleman Rosenberger (The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 65:243, Apr 1957) notes a general lack of evidence throughout the, and specifically underlines that "evidence that Conrad Sanger of Rockingham County was the Conrad who was the son of John Singer is not provided."

Notes:

Possibly the Lodowich Miller who was a son of early Brethren immigrants John Michael Miller/Mueller and Agnes Susanna Berchtol.

Notes:

He arrived at Philadelphia on the Phoenix (John Mason, master) on 28 Aug 1750, aged 33 years. According to Clark M. Garber (citation details below), on his arrival in America Johannes Garber went immediately to the home of Michael Garber in York County, Pennsylvania, which certainly suggests a close relationship. Originally from Switzerland, Michael Garber and his wife Anna arrived at Philadelphia on 23 Sep 1734 on the Hope Galley out of Rotterdam by way of Cowes, England. While living in York County, Johannes Garber worked as a cobbler and trained for the ministry of the Church of the Brethren. He and his family settled in the Shenandoah Valley in 1775, where he was the first Brethren minister in the area and where, it is said, he and his sons refused, out of their religious beliefs, to take up arms in favor of either side in the Revolution. Also according to Clark M. Garber, this Johannes Garber's original tombstone read "'17 - '87", which does line up with him being 33 years old on arrival in 1750.

His Find a Grave page gives four generations of his alleged paternal ancestry in Switzerland, but the claimed line breaks at step one: it claims that his father was Niclaus Garber who was born in 1698 and died in 1748. But the family and forebears of this early Brethren immigrant to Pennsylvania were exhaustively researched by Raymond C. Lantz in "European Origins and Ancestors of Nicholas Gerber ca. 1698-1748, Immigrant and Early Resident of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania" (Mennonite Family History 37:56, April 2018), and it's clear that Johannes Garber was not among this Niclaus/Nicholas's children.

Wayne Diehl's online essay Selected Garber Family Branches of Augusta and Shenandoah Counties, Virginia – Their Pennsylvania & European Origins, dated June 2019, makes a good and carefully-sourced, but not clinching, case for the idea that this Johannes Garber's father was Johannes Gerber, born Oct 1694 in Schwarzenegg, Bern, Switzerland, died 1748 in Heidelberg Township, York, Pennsylvania.

From the Find a Grave page for "Elder John H. Garber" (citation details below):

Johannes H. Garber, later changed to John H. Garber, was the first permanent Church of the Brethren minister in the Shenandoah Valley. He and wife Barbara Miller were married in York County, PA, and lived in Frederick County, MD for a time where he was instrumental in helping establish the Beaver Dam Brethren congregation in the Beaver Dam-Israel Creek vicinity. He brought his family to the Flat Rock area in 1775. He and his wife were eventually blessed with seven sons and three daughters. With such a large family to share the work of home, John H. Garber had the means as well as the inclination to make himself useful to his neighbors. He traveled extensively on horseback to bring the Gospel to scattered settlers. He cobbled shoes for his neighbors and his own family. He developed friendly relationships with the Indians and demonstrated what intelligent industry and good management could do in building a home in the wilderness. News of his success soon spread to Maryland and Pennsylvania, which started a tide of migration to the Valley.

His death in 1787 was the first recorded death in the Flat Rock settlement. He was loved and admired both by those with the Flat Rock area as well as the native Indians and scattered settlers. Legend still persists that several Indians witnessed his death and stood watch over his burial. The exact date of death is not known, however he made his will September 3. When it was admitted to probate in Woodstock December 27, the preamble stated that he was sick and in a low state of bodily health, but of a perfect mind and memory. The division of his estate was to be made as directed, but only after giving his widow "her bed, her cupboard, a cow, a good spinning wheel, and the choice of two sheep so that she may have not just cause or reason to complain."

He was survived by his wife, and children John, Samuel, Martin, Anna, Abraham, Jacob, Daniel, Catherine, Joseph, and Magdalene. Of his seven sons, six became ministers and the other a deacon. Of the three daughters, two became wives of leading ministers of the Brethren Church. The Garber family was typical of the zeal and activity that characterized the Brethren Church in the early days. Although they gave their faith first place in their lives, they did not lack the materials things of life, being very substantial men of business as well as leaders in the church.

Johannes married Barbara Miller between 1750 and 1752 in York County, Pennsylvania. Barbara was born on 15 Aug 1733 in York County, Pennsylvania; died on 15 Jan 1808 in Forestville, Shenandoah, Virginia; was buried in Lydia Garber Cemetery, Forestville, Shenandoah, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her birthdate is extrapolated from her original gravestone, now nearly illegible, which (in German) states that she died 15 Jan 1808, ages 75 years and five months.

Her Find a Grave page identifies her as a daughter of early Brethren immigrants John Michael Miller/Mueller and Agnes Susanna Berchtoll, but this exhaustively researched essay about that couple by Roberta Estes states that while this is entirely plausible, it is also entirely unproved. (Those interested in this couple might also want to consult this further essay about them, also by Roberta Estes.)

"The story is told that Barbara Garber walked to Maryland and Pennsylvania and back again on two different occasions to visit relatives. The round-trip distance for each visit was nearly 400 miles." [Find a Grave page for Barbara Miller Garber, citation details below]