William
Charles
"Bill"
Miller
Born in Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario, Canada
Ancestors 
Brother of
Dora Eveline (Miller) Tompkins, Catherine Bartlett (Miller) Best [half] and John Russell Miller [half]
Husband of
Iola Enid (Welland) Miller
— married
25 Jun 1935 in Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario, Canada
Father of
Gloria Marilyn Miller
Died
at age 87
in Seminole County, Florida, United States
Profile last modified
| Created 23 May 2018
This page has been accessed 415 times.
Biography
William Charles Miller , known as Bill, was born in Owen Sound , Ontario, November 7, 1910, the second child of Charlie and Nell Miller. Sadly, Bill's mother died a few days after his birth. Bill went to live with Charlie's brother Harry Miller and his wife Maggie Russell. The brothers had a decorating business together and were very close. Bill grew up in the Harry Miller family without being told about his true parents. His sister Dora grew up with Charlie and Charlie's second wife, Florence Prichard. Charlie and Florence had two children, Catherine, born 1914 and John, born 1915. By the 1920s Bill was still believing that Dora, Catherine and John were his cousins. One day Dora said: "Why do you keep calling him, Uncle Charlie? He's your father." A shocked Bill ran home to Harry and Maggie and they told him the truth. Bill loved Harry and Maggie Miller but the way he learned the truth about his parents bothered him for the rest of his life.
Like Charlie Miller, Bill worked as an artist and musician. He married Iola Welland in Owen Sound in 1935.
Engagements: The Sun Times, Owen Sound, 27 June 1935, page 3
Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Welland announce the engagement of their second daughter Iola Karleine, to William Chas. Miller, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Chas Miller of Owen Sound, the marriage to take place on Saturday June 29th.
Bill and Iola had one child , Gloria Marilyn Miller, born in Owen Sound in 1936. Bill was working in Toronto when his daughter and her first husband decided to move to Florida. Bill and Iola said they weren't going to live that far away from their only child. They moved to Florida and bought a house in Redington Shores, near the Gulf of Mexico. Bill got a job as an artist at Morton Plant Hospital. He painted murals , signs, invitations. He was quite skilled at calligraphy. In the 1980s, my father, Bill's half brother, John and I visited often. They were the surviving children of Charlie Miller; Dora and Catherine were already deceased. Between visits the volume of mail between the brothers was massive. They even exchanged tape cassettes, having lived too early for cell phones. Both brothers died in the 1990s, John in 1994 and Bill in 1997.
Sources
- Ontario, Canada Births 1858-1913
- 1921 Census of Canada, Owen Sound, Grey,Ontario, William H Miller,26 (Note: Careless census taker, real age 58), painter/decorator, Margaret Miller 59, wife, George R Miller 23, son, salesman, WILLIAM C MILLER 10, son, student (William C was actually the nephew, see profile)
- U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index 1936-2007
- U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
- Florida Death Index 1877-1998
- Family information provided by Pat Miller
Memories: 1
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with William:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with William:
-
~12.50%
Pat Miller
:
AncestryDNA, Ancestry member p_a_miller28
+
Family Tree DNA Family Finder, FTDNA kit #IN59162
-
~0.78%
Sherry Wells :
AncestryDNA, Ancestry member sherry_bookkeeper
-
~0.78%
Claudia (Myers) Christie :
AncestryDNA
-
~0.78%
Faith (Horton) Stilts :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch QK7538175 [compare], Ancestry member horton_stilts
-
~0.78%
Vivian (Horton) Mitchell :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch YP8231339 [compare]
Images: 4
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I was visiting Uncle Bill and he driving around showing me the tourist sites. On the radio there was a contest to identify a song. Two notes into the song I said,"Time of the Season by the Zombies." Bill swerved into a mall. "Where's a pay phone?" he cried,pounding the steering wheel. "Uncle Bill," I said. "Someone's called in. It's a famous song." Sure enough they found a winner before we found a pay phone. Said Bill, "So why doesn't somebody invent a travelling phone." A few decades later,yes, they did.