Adam Miller (abt. 1765 - 1831)

Born about 1765 in Antrim, Ireland

Husband of Eleanora Nicholson — married 17 Feb 1789 (to Mar 1816) in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Pennsylvania

Husband of Deliverance (Foster) Miller — married about 1817 in Clifford Township, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, United States

Descendants

Died Apr 1831 at about age 66 in Clifford, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Leslie Newell [send private message]

Biography

Adam Miller was born in Ireland in 1765. He died in Clifford Township, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania in April 1831.^{[1] [2]}

Adam emigrated to the United States, possibly with brothers, at the close of the Revolutionary War.^[3] Adam arrived in in Phildelphia at the age of 17 (about 1782) and began living with the Honorable Samuel Meredith. Adam quickly learned the trade of manufacturing leather.^[4]

Excursus: Samuel Meredith was an important figure in American history. A wealthy Philadelphia merchant, he and his brother-in-law George Clymer, contributed large sums of money toward financing the Revolution. Clymer signed the Declaration of Independence. Meredith served as an officer (1776-78), was promoted to Brigadier General (1778), served two terms in the Pennsylvania legislature, a term in the Contiental Congress and was the first Treasurer of the United States (1789-1801).^[5]

Marriages and Children

Adam Miller married Eleanor Nicholson on 17 February 1789 at the Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[6][7] Eleanor, ten years older than Adam, was related to John Nicholson,^[8] Comptroller of Pennsylvania and a massive land speculator.^[9] Nicholson owned enormous tracts of land in Northeast Pennsylvania and began selling them to settlers.^[10] He gave his cousin, Eleanor, a tract of land with the stipulation that she and Adam live on it.^[11] The tract was located in what is now Brooklyn Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Prior to 1825 the area had several different names. From 1795-1806 it was known as Nicholson Township.^[12] It should not be confused with present day Nicholson Township, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania. The land was deeded to Eleanor, but "an error with reference to recording the deed caused the land given to Eleanor Nicholson to be nearly lost to her family."^[13]

Marriages and Children

Adam Miller married, first, Eleanor Nicholson, 17 February 1789, in Philadelphia. They had four children.

Children of Adam Miller and Eleanor Nicholson

1. Mary Polly Miller, b. 15 Sep 1788, Philadelphia, PA; d. 2 Dec 1869, Genesee Co., MI
2. William Miller, b.15 Oct 1789, Luzerne Co., PA; d. ca 1866, Susquehanna Co., PA
3. Charles Miller, b. 20 Mar 1793, Nicholson, PA; d. 1865, Clifford, PA
4. Anna Maria Miller, b. 12 Jun 1796, Luzerne Co., PA; d. 4 May 1875

After the death of Eleanor in 1816, Adam married, second, Deliverance "Dilly" Foster, about 1817.

Children of Adam Miller and Deliverance Foster

1. Emily Miller, 1818-1851
2. Redmond C. Miller, 1820-1864
3. John Miller, 1822-1866
4. Merrick A Miller, 1824-1886
5. Samuel R. Miller, b. about 1827
6. Gould Phinney Miller, 1828-1903

Rhamanthus M. Stocker, in his 1887 Centennial History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, includes an account of Adam Miller and his family in the section on Clifford Township.^[14]

The family of Adam Miller was the first to retain a permanent residence in the township [Clifford]. In the spring of 1800 he came with his wife and four children and settled in the flat a short distance west from Clifford village. He was one of the first settlers in Brooklyn township, but had immigrated to Ohio, with his family, in 1799. “All were on horseback—four horses transporting the family and baggage—the two younger children, Charles and Anna, being carried in baskets placed over one of the horses. The baskets were made in the shape of cradles, so the children could sit or lie down, as suited them. A journey of six weeks through a wilderness, such as the country exhibited in 1799, was far from agreeable to any of the party. Before they reached their destination, Mrs. M. fell and broker her collar-bone, and they were detained three weeks at the wigwam of a hospitable Indian family. When they gained the promised land, Mr. M. could not suit himself in regard to location, and after a few days he broached the subject of a return to Pennsylvania. His wife, who had secretly longed for this, was soon ready to resume journeying, and the same season found them in the vicinity of Tunkhannock, and in the following spring they followed up the east branch of the creek to the flat at Clifford Corners. Here they lived ten years, when they removed to Thorn Hill, where Elder William A. Miller, their grandson, now resides. While clearing at the latter place, Mr. M. had the use of the flat two years” [Miss Blackman].^[15] The house on Thorn Hill was at that time the largest in Clifford, being a two-story frame. Ebenezer Baker, who had married the oldest daughter, Polly, several years before, was the carpenter. After some time Baker removed to the Lake region in New York. Of the other three children of the family—William, the oldest son, after living a number of years on the homestead, on Thorn Hill, removed to Lenox, where he died. His children were Goerge Miller, of that township; William, of Carbondale; and Mrs. Lyman Bell. The youngest son, Elder Charles Miller, died on Thorn Hill in 1865, aged seventy-two years. He was the father of the Revs. William A., S. Eliakim and of Joseph S. Miller, Esq., all living on Thorn Hill. The youngest daughter, Anna, became the wife of John W. Wells, of Elkdale. The wife of Adam Miller died in 1816, but he survived until 1831, when he departed this life nearly sixty-six years old. Both belong to the Free-Communion Baptists, to whom Elder Epaphras Thompson preached as early as 1802, and left that sect, two years later, to join the Abington Church of Regular Baptists. Their son, Charles, was for many years the pastor of the present Clifford Baptist Church.

Sources

Citations

1. ↑ #Stocker, p. 789
2. ↑ #Blackman, p. 386.
3. ↑ #J_S_Miller, Primer Second, p. 4. J. S. Miller relates family tradition that Adam "was the youngest of five brothers, who were living in Ireland at the time of the American Revolution." The tradition claims the five brothers went to Philadelphia at the close of the war. Three were not pleased with the country and returned to Ireland. Adam and brother John remained. After a time they separated and Adam lost contact with John. "Adam maintained through most of his life a resolution to attempt to find John, but the hurry of business ... prevented him from doing so" (pp. 4-5). There are many such stories about brothers coming to America. There may be something to the account of brother, John. Joseph Seward Miller was 11 years of age when his grandfather died. He lived in the same compound as his brothers William and Eliakim, and Joseph was 45 when his father, Charles, died.
4. ↑ #J_S_Miller, p. 5
5. ↑ *Wikipedia.org [Samuel Meredith (Amerian politician)]
6. ↑ Ancestry.com, "Pennsylvania, U.S., Compiled Marriage Records, 1700-1821"; citing marriage records of Third Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 1785-1799, Adam Miller and Eleanor Nicholson, 17 Feb 1789.
7. ↑ Note: there is some discrepancy between the recorded date of this marriage and the accounts of the birth of Adam and Eleanor's oldest children and arrival in Luzerne (later Susquehanna) County, Pennsylvania. Either they married in 1787, or Adam and Eleanor did not move to Luzerne County until 1790.
8. ↑ probably a cousin (#Blackman, p. 112, #J_S_Miller, Primer Second', p. 5), rather than a sister (#Stocker, p. 650).
9. ↑ Nicholson was another important figure in American history. See the introduction to the [Sequestered John Nicholson Papers]; [George Washington's letter to John Nicholson on 23 January 1787]; [Alexander Hamilton's letter to John Nicholson on 19 April 1791]
10. ↑ Paul Benjamin Moyer, ["Wild Yankees, Settlement, conflict, and localism along Pennsylvania's northeast frontier, 1760-1820,"] (Ph.D. diss., College of William and Mary, 1999), p. 171. Moyer, citing Norman B. Wilkinson, Land Policy and Speculation in Pennsylvania, 1779-1800: A Test of the New Democracy (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1958), p.75, states " Nicholson gained title to 12,000 acres along Tunkhannock Creek as well as large tracts of land elsewhere in northeast Pennsylvania" (p. 141, n. 13).
11. ↑ #J_S_Miller, Primer Second, p. 5 Joseph S. Miller stated family tradition put the size of the tract at either 80 or 160 acres.
12. ↑ #Stocker, [page 649]
13. ↑ #J_S_Miller, Primer Second, p. 6.
14. ↑ #Stocker: p. 789.
15. ↑ Source: #Blackman, pp. 385-86. Much of Stocker's account is taken directly from Emily C. Blackman's 1873 history of the county.

Source List

• "United States Census, 1800", , FamilySearch :7 March 2024, Adam Miller, Nicholson Township, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, United States; citing image page 383, line 5. NARA microfilm publication M32: roll 39 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• "United States Census, 1810", , FamilySearch :9 Mar 2024, Adam Miller, Clifford Township, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, United States; citing image page 775, line 2. NARA microfilm publication M252: roll 49 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• "United States Census, 1830", , FamilySearch :8 Mar 2024 Adam Miller, Clifford Township, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, United States; citing page 21, line 6. NARA microfilm publication M19: roll 162 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• Blackman, Emily C. History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Claxton Remsen & Haffelfinger, 1873.

• Miller, Joseph Seward. Clifford Primers. Clifford, PA: printed for the author, 1879-1891. A series of pamphlets on the history of Clifford, PA, written by Joseph Seward Miller, grandson of Adam Miller. They are titled Clifford. Primer First; Clifford. Primer Seond, and so on. Copies of all but "Primer Seventh" are in possession of John Hull.

• Stocker, Rhamanthus M. Centennial History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: R T Peck, 1887.

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Leslie Newell who created this profile in 2014 from her family memories.