Anna Garber

Family/Spouse: Daniel Miller. Daniel (son of Lewis Miller) was born on 13 May 1752. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Samuel Miller was born on 17 Dec 1793 in Rockingham County, Virginia; died on 7 Sep 1861 in Allen County, Ohio; was buried in Smith Miller Cemetery, Lima, Allen, Ohio.

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]