John Miller Jr.

Ancestors

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My complete family tree is on Geneanet. I also have a tree on Ancestry.com -- without sources and not regularly updated, maintained to track DNA matches.

Bio: Retired from career in intelligence and security with U.S. Navy and Dept. of Defense. Served as an intelligence analyst and briefer, translator, publications editor and security director. BA, Williams 1968. PhD (history), Yale 1978. Commander, USNR (Ret.). Home: Rising Sun, MD.

Early Arrivals and Other Notable Miller and Weishaar Ancestors:

• Joseph Bolles, Maine, c. 1640. Descendent of Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Charlemagne, first King of Scots. Connection.
• Azor Curtis, Continental Army at Saratoga, Monmouth, Valley Forge (at age 60). Connection.
• Stephen and Mary Viola (Costeski) Federoff , originally Fedor. From today's Slovakia (he born there, her parents probably also). The only identified line of ancestry outside of Britain and Western Europe. Connection.
• Marselis Janse van Bommel, Schenectady, 1653; descendants took Marselis as their surname. Connection.
• John Martin, Swansea, Plymouth Colony, c. 1650. Connection. His daughter-in-law, Mercy Stafford(?) is Pam's earliest known "mitochondrial" ancestor. Connection.
• Peter and Eva (Roschy) Miller, first of our Millers to America, 1836. Eva's ancestry is traceable to the 17th Century in Rhineland Germany. Connection.
• John Ogden, a principal founder of the New Jersey Colony, 1664. Connection. Also: John Littell, NJ Founder, 1668. Connection.
• Johannes Theodorus Polhemus, Dutch Brazil, 1637; Long Island, New Netherlands, 1654. Connection.
• James R. Robinson, a major brick wall. Connection. Possibly related: Isaac Decker, Staten Island Loyalist.
• Thomas Walford, New England, 1623. Connection.
• Johannes and Eva Barbara (Scheidt) Weishaar, the original Weishaar immigrants to Chicago Heights, IL. Ancestors have been traced to 17th Century in Alsace. Connection.

Research & Resources:

• Wiki Resource Pages.
  • Swan Island Captives: The Lazarus Noble Family in Canada, 1750.
  • Surname Marselis, The Legend of Gabriel: Resolving confusion surrounding the origins of the Marselis family of Schenectady and other Dutch immigrants of that name.
  • "Lost" Census Returns for Arundel, Maine, 1810. Missing from NARA microfilm and online sites including Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. Include probable entry for Andrew Noble.
• Vital Records: Studies based on family documents recording lineal "missing links" not recorded elsewhere.
  • The Ancestry and Offspring of Andrew Noble, Alfred and Parsonsfield, Maine, 1796 - 1865, by John T. Miller (2019, Academia.edu). Presents a family document uniquely identifying the children of Andrew Noble and analysis of his ancestry, as descending from Benjamin Noble.
  • Biography: Memoir and Family Documentation, by Ellen Harmon Littell, John T. Miller, ed. (1930, commentary 2020, Academia.edu). A memoir of growing up in 19th-century Schenectady, and containing unique information regarding the Irish origins of Thomas Harman and Deborah Dudley. With commentary and Harmon genealogy.

• Family Genealogies: Genealogical charts by family researchers.
  • Roschy Genealogy: A genealogy chart compiled by the Roschy family of Waldfischbach, Germany, tracing connections to Infert, Seibert and other families of Rhineland-Palatinate back to the Seventeenth Century.
  • Hassinger Ancestral Chart: Compiled in 1970 by Bernice Hassinger (1915-2004) of Birmingham, AL, wife of Richard, from sources as annotated. Provided in 1981 to William H. Creighton. The chart traces the Schuber ancestry of the Mathis family, as well as Hassinger and related lines.

Watch:

Theodorus Polhemus (1755-1820) | Dupe

Ephraim Price (abt.1650-)

John Henry Wade Jr (1619-)

Mary (Thompson) Haines (abt.1650-abt.1736)

John Thompson (abt.1673-1734)

Nicholas Carter Sr. (abt.1629-abt.1681)

Joseph Bond (abt.1644-1709)

Isaac Hatfield Sr. (abt.1665-bef.1717)

Nancy Ann Tucker (1778-1845)

Mary (Ogden) Gunn (1795-1856)

Benjamin Ogden (1654-1722)

Daniel Ogden Jr. (1737-1809)

Draft

This Findagrave reference is pretty certainly incorrect. No citations are offered. There is no grave photo or record reference. If she had remarried to Isaac Winans she would normally have been buried under that name. This Ancestry family tree indicates that she married Winans, a prominent family in early New Jersey, but likewise with documentation, and no mention of birth in NC. (Reference reformatted to stop errors when updating due to differing dates.)

Stephen's birth date has not been documented, and little is known of his life.

He died in Jan. 1781, when he was hanged by Loyalist militia in today's Bayonne, NJ. Local and family histories have said that he was a spy for the Patriot side.^[1][2][3][4] DAR recognizes this as Patriotic Service.^[5][6] Recent histories have failed to find evidence that he was engaged as a Yankee spy. Rather, he was a New Jersey merchant active in selling provisions to the British on Staten Island -- which Patriot authorities considered to be treasonous.^[7][8][9]

In 1781, Ball was abducted by Loyalist partisans when he crossed to Staten Island with a carcass of beef for sale. The British commander had declared a safe conduct for those bringing supplies. But Stephen was accused of participation in the recent hanging of a Loyalist spy and this was apparently in retaliation.^[10][3]

The party of seven Loyalists was led by Cornelius Hatfield, with his cousin John Smith Hatfield as the prime instigator of vengence against Ball. John Smith was a particulary aggressive Loyalist combatant, called a "terrorist" even by the United Empire Loyalists.^[10]

They brought Ball first to Gen. Patterson and then to Gen. Stirling, British commanders in New York. Both evidently did not believe that he was a spy and declined to convene a court-martial. Skinner ruled against prosecuting "a person who came to bring them relief". The generals however don't seem to have taken steps to protect Ball, and the Loyalists brought him over to the New Jersey side and hanged him without pretense of a trial.^{[7][11][8][10]}

Gen. Skinner, playing Pontius Pilate, protested to Patriot authorities that he had nothing to do with hanging, and "those alone who had perpetrated the act ought to suffer for it.”^[10] But he evidently made no attempt to take action against the perpetrators.

Both John Smith and Cornelius Hatfield were later charged with the murder of Ball. John was jailed in Essex County in 1789 but was released on bail when witnesses failed to appear for his trial. He then fled to New Brunswick, Canada. British authorities complained to the U.S. Secretary of State that the arrest contravened the Treaty of Paris which provided a blanket amnesty for hostile actions during the war.^[8][10][12] In 1807, Cornelius rather audaciously returned to New Jersey from England hoping to reclaim confiscated property. He was arrested and charged with the murder, but an Essex County judge dismissed the case, again based on the 1783 Treaty. ^[3]

1. ↑ Littell, John, Family records: Or, Genealogies of the first settlers of Passaic Valley (and vicinity,) above Chatham (Feltville [Berkeley Heights], NJ: Stationers Hall Press, 1851), p. 31; Archive.org.
2. ↑ Maerz, Claudette, Edward Ball family of New Jersey: a study (Bloomington, MN: [1996?]), pp. 32, 60, 67; FamilySearch.org.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Hatfield, Edwin F., History of Elizabeth, New Jersey: Including the Early History of Union County (New York: Carlton & Lanahan, 1869; Carlisle, MA: Applewood Books, n.d.), pp.. 501, 650; Archive.org.
4. ↑ Munn, David C., Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey (New Jersey Geological Survey, 1976), p. 13; Online.
5. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, Lineage Books, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Washington, DC: DAR), 13:11; GenealogyGophers.com.
6. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research System (GRS) (DAR Library, Washington, DC.). Ancestor #A005496.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Wiser, Eric, "Outlaw Cornelius Hatfield: Loyalist Partisan of the American Revolution", Journal of the American Revolution(Oct. 2020),Online.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Sabine, Lorenzo, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (New York: Little Brown, 1864), 1:524; Archive.org.
9. ↑ Walsh, Gregory Francis, Splintered Loyalties: The Revolutionary War in Essex County, New Jersey (Dissertation, Boston College, Boston, MA, 2011), p. 207; Online.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4} Stephen Davidson, "A Terrorist (Loyalist) Refugee", Loyalist Trails (United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada); Online.
11. ↑ Connecticut Courant and Weekly Intelligencer, 3/6/1781, p. 2; Newapapers.com.
12. ↑ Wikipedia: Treaty of Paris; Treaty text.