Family of George and Mary Alice Miller

Bette Baker Home Page	Family of Nathan and Susan Baker	Family of Polly Bollinger and Eliza Smith	Parents of Eliza Smith	"The Centennial History of Oregon"	Site Home
Family of Felix Baker and Laura Smith	Family of George Miller and Alice Smith		Daniel Smith and his Ancestors	Cooper Mountain Cemeteries in Aloha, OR
Family of Otto Rudolph Martin and Agnes Franzenbach	Family of Wilhelm Martin and Mollie Spindle	Family of Casper Franzenbach and Susanna Schmidt

Ancestors of Bette Baker Clarno

Family of George Washington Miller and Mary Alice Smith

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George Washington Miller and Mary Alice Smith were married 6 Jan 1877 in NC. This page tells what we know about them after 1877.

To read about Alice Smith in the years before 1877, look at the Bollinger-Smith web page.

About their marriage:

I found a marriage registration which shows an Alice Smith marrying M.M. Bollinger on 6 Jan 1877 in Catawba County, NC. We have not found any other information about him. Based on evidence in the 1870 census from North Carolina, I now believe that there was no such person named M.M. Bollinger. Look at the 1870 census sheet that shows Polly Bollinger, Eliza Smith and Alice Smith.

Polly was living next door to nephew Michael Bollinger. Michael had remarried to Minerva Deal. Minerva's first husband was John Wesley Miller (died about 1863 as a result of the Civil War) and they were the parents of George W. Miller. If you look at this census sheet, you can see the combined families of Michael Bollinger and Minerva Deal Miller. You can see four of Minerva's children with John Wesley Miller: Martha, Andrew, George and Sarah. The surname of the four children is shown as Bollinger in the census but should be Miller. So in 1870, George and Alice were children living next door to each other!

Now, I'll bet that when they got married in 1877, there was some confusion in the record. The M.M. Bollinger we saw marrying Alice Smith must REALLY have been George W. Miller. (Don't ask me to explain how that happened but I'll bet that was what happened!) There was never any such person as M.M. Bollinger.

From "The Centennial History of Oregon", the family moved to Oregon in 1889. Alice's mother, Eliza Smith, joined them in 1891. Click on the link to read a biography of George Miller. Here is an 1880 photo from the book (daugher: Emma):

	1880 Census 1 Jun	1900 Census 1 Jun	1910 Census 15 Apr	WWI Draft Reg	1920 Census 1 Jan	1930 Census 1 Apr	Spouse & Children	Death	Notes
George Washington Miller Apr 1859 Catawba NC	21y Newton Catawba NC	40y Reedville Washington OR	51y Reedville Washington OR Married 33y 10 children, 9 living.	--	61y Aloha Washington OR	deceased	Mary Alice Smith	22 Dec 1929. Buried at Cooper Mountain Evangelical Cemetery in Aloha, OR.	Informat on death certificate was Thomas Miller. It states birth was Jun 1860. Father was George Miller. Signed the death certificate of his mother-in-law, Eliza Smith, in 1920. An IGI record at familysearch.com shows the name as George Washington Miller. Father as Wesley Miller and mother as Minerva Deal. All World Tree at ancestry.com shows: Father: John Wesley Miller b: ABT 1829 in Lincoln County, NC d: 1863 Mother: Rosannah Minerva Deal b: 5 Aug 1832 in Catawba County, NC, died 17 Oct 1905, buried in Fairgrove UMC Cemetery next to second husband, Michael Bollinger (9 Nov 1814 - 26 Jun 1891). Note: John Wesley Miller apparently died during the Civil War. Minerva remarried to Michael Bollinger, Polly Bollinger's nephew. To read more, click here: "The Centennial History of Oregon".
Mary Alice Smith 26 Sep 1858 Hickory Catawba NC	"M.A." 21y Newton Catawba NC	40y Reedville Washington OR 9 children, 8 living Eliza Smith, 67y, is living with them, mother-in-law	51y Reedville Washington OR Married 33y 10 children, 9 living.	--	62y Aloha Washington OR Elizabeth M Miller, 87y, is living with them, enumerator states her as being the mother, but she`s actually the mother-in-law. So this is Eliza Smith. Says she was born in NC and her parents born in Pennsylvania. Tom Young, 59y, and Laura Smith Baker, 58y, living with them	deceased	George Wesley Miller	19 May 1925 Aloha Washington OR Lived in OR for 34y Buried at Cooper Mountain Evangelical Cemetery in Aloha, OR.	Death cert signed by son E.H. Miller in 1925. To read more, click here: "The Centennial History of Oregon".
Emma J. 23 Feb 1879 Catawba NC	"E.J." 1y Newton Catawba NC	21y Reedville Washington OR husband + 1	31y Portland Multnomah OR husband + 2	Husband George Webur Taylor Portland OR	40y Portland Multnomah OR huband + 2 married children	51y Portland Multnomah OR husband	George Webur Taylor 18 Apr 1873 OR - Berta 1901 - Bertie 1898	not found	Could not find Berta or Bertie on ancestry.com. Per 1920 census, Berta married Charles Wallace. Per 1920 census, Bertie J. married Tina.
Dora Lee 18 Sep 1882 Catawba NC	not born yet	17y Reedville Washington OR	26y Reedville Washington OR husband + 2	Husband Alois Gassner not found	39y Portland Multnomah OR husband + 2	47y Portland Multnomah OR husband	Alois D. Gassner Jr. b: 11 Jan 1877 d: 14 Mar 1942 - Hilda M. 1901 - Leola L. (died at age 2y) - Ethel J. 1907	7 Jun 1942	Husband from AWT. In the 1910 census, Alois' parents lived next door to George and Alice Miller. To read more, click here: "The Centennial History of Oregon". Alois and Dora are buried in the Cooper Mountain Catholic Cemetery. I was contacted by Cindy Cole who is a great-granddaughter of Dora and Alois. She sent me a lot of new information about her branch of the family. See the emails below.
Laura 9 May 1885 Catawba NC	not born yet	15y Reedville Washington OR	25y Reedville Washington OR Married 3y to Rambo with 3 children (husband not listed)	Husband William Dye not found	35y Portland Multnomah OR married to William Dye + 2 children.	not found	Husband's name not listed in 1910 census but he was born in NY - Chester George 24 Dec 1901 - 4 Mar 1969 Multnomah - Harold C 24 Oct 1904 - 7 Apr 1973 San Francisco, CA - Alma 1908	not found	Laura's son, Chester Rambo, is in the 1930 census Portland, Multnomah, married with 1 daughter Rose M 1925. Russo, Jennie & Rambo, Chester G Marriage: 12-31-1923, Benton Co. OR The 1912 "The Centennial History of Oregon" lists her husband's name as William Guy (but that is not correct, it is Dye), a printer. They appear in the 1920 census with daughers, Alma 11y and Lila 7y.
Mary R. 18 Nov 1887 Catawba NC	not born yet	12y Reedville Washington OR	Possible: 22y Reedville Washington OR Married 4y to Herbert H. Ulery + 1 daughter	Husband 36y Harold Herbert Ulery Hillsboro OR	32y Hilllsboro Washington OR Married to Harold H. Ulery + 1 daughter	42y Hillsboro Washington OR Married to Herbert H Ulery + 0 children	Herbert H. Ulery 16 Feb 1882 WA - Elva M. 1910	not found	1920 census, living next door to Andrew Miller, 63y, born in NC and son Raymond, 10y, born in OR. Andrew is the brother of George Miller. "The Centennial History of Oregon" lists the siblings.
Georgia A. 23 Jul 1890 OR	not born yet	9y Reedville Washington OR	18y Reedville Washington OR husband + 1	Husband Alfred Richard Meinel Beaverton OR	28y Aloha Washington OR husband + 4	38y Hillsboro Washington OR husband + 4 (Georgia married at 18y)	Alfred R Meinel 1882 Germany - William G 1910 - Eva F 1912 - Alice R 1915 - Ernest R 14 Oct 1917 - 22 Feb 1977 (LA, CA)	29 Mar 1945 Washington OR	In 1920 census, living next door to parents George and Alice Miller, Tom and Laura Young, and Eliza Smith. Marriage 10-14-1908 Meinel, Alfred R & Miller, Georgia Two of their children, who must have died as babies, are buried at Cooper Mountain Evangelical Cemetery in Aloha, OR. See email below from a descendent of Georgia Miller.
Jakey ~1892 OR	not born yet	deceased					None	Before 1900	Based on the "The Centennial History of Oregon", Jakey was born between Georgia and Thomas. The 1900 census says that George and Alice had 9 children, 8 of whom are still living. So Jakey is the one who died (in 1905, they had a 10^th child).
Thomas A. 7 May 1894 or 1895 OR	not born yet	5y Reedville Washington OR	15y Reedville Washington OR	Beaverton OR	24y Portland Multnomah OR wife + 2 children Living with Harvey R. Miller (1872 in IA) and Elizabeth Miller (1873 in IA) and their 3 children	34y Aloha Washington OR wife + 4 (living next door to Tom and Laura Young, Laura's first husband is Felix Baker)	Hazel Danford 1899 - Virginia 1918 - Margaret 1920 - Ruth 1922 - Jean 1922	25 Sep 1964 Multnomah OR	Signed the Death Cert of George Miller in 1929. See email below from a descendent of Thomas Miller.
Edwin Harold or Edward Harold 22/27/29 Aug 1896 OR	not born yet	2y Reedville Washington OR	13y Reedville Washington OR	21y "Edward" Beaverton OR	23y "Edward" Aloha Washington OR	not found	Barbara N. ? 1914-1983 Buried at Cooper Mountain Evangelical Cemetery in Aloha, OR.	3 May 1973 "Edward" Buried at Cooper Mountain Evangelical Cemetery in Aloha, OR.	Signed the Death Cert of Mary Alice in 1925. His funeral notice gives DOB as 29 Aug 1896.
Wesley John 24 Mar 1898 OR	not born yet	2y Reedville Washington OR	12y Reedville Washington OR	Portland OR	21y Aloha Washington OR wife + 1	32y Palo Alto Santa Clara CA married at 20y wife + 2	Ester V./W. 1902 OR - Warren W. 1919 OR - Lorraine E 1921 OR	25 Apr. 1959 Buried at Cooper Mountain Evangelical Cemetery in Aloha, OR.	Married about 1918. In 1920 census, living next door to parents George and Alice Miller, Tom and Laura Young, and Eliza Smith.
Mary A. or Martha A. Feb 1905 OR	not born yet		5y "Mary A." Reedville Washington OR	--	not found (She was not living with her parents. She would have been 15y. She may have died.)	not found	unknown	unknown	She is listed in "The Centennial History of Oregon" as Martha. May have died by the 1920 census.

Descendent of Dora Miller

Date: Sun, 08 Jan 2006 09:03:40 -0800
From: Cindy Cole <cl_cndy

yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Miller-Smith Genealogy

Yes I received your letter. I was happy to connect with you also. Would love to hear more from you.
I am descended down from George W. Miller. His daughter, Dora, was my great grandmother.

Cindy

From:        Mark DiVecchio
To:              Cindy Cole
Subject:     Re: Miller-Smith Genealogy

Cindy,

I hardly know where to start.

First, I've copied Bette Baker Clarno and Angie Baker Ryan on this email. Bette Baker Clarno is my wife's mother. She is descendant from Laura Smith Baker Young, Mary Alice's sister. Laura is Bette's grandmother (through Laura's son, Charles Lee Baker). Angie is also descendant from Laura (through son Lester George Baker). Laura is Angie's great-great grandmother.

I also copied my wife, Sally, sister-in-laws Susan and Mary, and brother-in-law Rob, all are Bette's children.
--
I had been doing genealogy for my family for several years (DiVecchio and Frazzini from Italy):
http://www.silogic.com/genealogy/genealogy.html

I had been helping Bette, on and off, for a couple of years trying to trace her side of her family. Bette's son had aleady done a lot on work on her husband, Robert Clarno, who passed away several years ago.

As I mentioned in my letter to you, Bette's father, Charles Lee Baker divorced his wife when Bette was very young. Because of that, Bette never knew very much about the Baker family. She remembers, though, that her father told her once "You have a lot of cousins".

Angie was the first one I found. Angie had been researching her line descendant from Lester George Baker. Angie had posted messages on a lot of boards but by the time I found those posts, the email address was not any good any more. Well I posted on those same boards and Angie saw one. She emailed me and we have been continuing our research together.

Angie pointed me to bunch of US census scans that showed Eliza Smith and her daughters, Laura, Alice and Lulu. With that family, we always found Polly Bollinger. For a while, we thought Polly was Eliza's mother. We later learned (from a Bollinger descendant) that Polly "raised Liz Smith". So Eliza was raised by an adoptive mother. Details are on the web site.

At that point, I didn't think we would be able to trace the family any further back.

In the meantime, we were able to trace George Miller and Alice to Oregon (where Laura had also gone and where Bette was born). We just recently found from their death certificates that they were all buried in Cooper Mountain Evangelical Cemetery.

We also found Dora Miller and Alovis Gassner buried in the Cooper Mountain Catholic Cemetery (BTW, Cindy, this Cemetery is about a mile from the first cemetery, on the northwest corner of Kemmer Rd and 190th Street. Susan, who lives in Beaverton, had already visited that cemetery and is going again to update our tombstone photos.)

Then we saw your tree on ancestry.com. Unfortunately, the contact data was missing. On a whim, I checked genealogy.com and I found the same tree but it had you as the contact. I paid my $10 to access the tree and I was able to get an address for you. I wrote my first letter to that address. It was returned (Rene Ave in Gresham). I went to zabasearch.com and found a several more addresses and sent out a few more letters. Then I received your letter reply.

You have added tremenously to what we know.

Have you looked my web site for the Baker family at: http://www.silogic.com/clarno/Bette%20Baker.htm

Right now, it shows everything that Angie and I have been able to find out up to when we found you.

Eliza is certainly a mystery to us. Here is a summary of what we know:

1. We are pretty sure that Eliza is person #4 in the wedding photo of Cornelius and Fay Baker. The photo you sent (of Geroge Miller and Mary Alice Smith) confirms (at least to me) that person #5 is Mary Alice Smith Miller and that person #11 is most likely George Washington Miller (but I'm not 100% certain).

2. Eliza's adoptive mother Polly Bollinger, was born to PA Dutch (German) parents and moved to NC. So it seems like all the players here are German.

3. We have no idea what happened to Eliza's parents or why she was adopted. BTW, I don't think back then that there was an "official" adoption. More likely, Polly just took her in. (Mark's update - we now know more - click here.)

4. In census from 1850 on, she is always listed with surname Smith.

5. In 1850, she would have been 17y. Was she already married to Daniel Smith by then? We have never seen her listed with surname Goens.

6. At NO time, in the census, did we see Eliza's husband. Its odd. In 1850, she was Eliza Smith with no children. Living with Polly Bollinger. In 1860, she was Eliza Smith with child, Alice. Living with Polly Bollinger. In 1870, she was Eliza Smith with children, Alice and Laura. Living with Polly Bollinger. In 1880, she was Eliza Smith with children, Alice, Laura and Lulu. Living with Polly Bollinger.

7. Until we saw your tree, we did not know of Eliza's surname of Goens or that her husband's name was Daniel Smith. In the census, we never saw Eliza's surname as Goens. But censuses before 1850 only showed the surname of the head of household.

8. On Eliza's death certificate, it says her mother's maiden name was Lenard or it might be Leonard.

9. In the records of Catawba County, NC: Alice Smith married M. M. Bollinger on 6 Jan 1877 in Catawba County. Both were 18 years old. M.M. must have died within a short time of their marriage because by the 1880 census, Alice was remarried, to George Miller (her neighbor in the 1860 census), and had a 1 year old daughter.

So this is confusing as well, we don't know who this M.M. Bollinger is.

10. We figured that Eliza's daughter Lulu had died young. We saw her in the 1880 census (9 years old) but never again. We were not sure of the name as the 1880 census was very hard to read. We thought it was Lon or Loni.

11. We did not know about the book "The Centennial History of Oregon" by Joseph Gaston 1912. So this is all new information for Angie and I.

12. In the 1920 census, it showed Laura and husband living with George and Alice Miller. That must mean that the wedding photo of Laura's son (1919) was taken on the farm owned by George.

13. Do you know of Keith Black? He has posted some tree information including George and Alice Miller. I have emailed him but I have never heard back from him.

Cindy, we would like to hear your comments on all of this. Maybe together, we can make sense of it.

Mark

Date:        Sun, 08 Jan 2006 18:15:34 -0800
From:         Cindy Cole
Subject:      Re: Miller-Smith Genealogy

Thank you so much for your letter and for the information regarding the cemetery I had been looking for. I am going to attempt to make it out there next weekend. I believe that when I was out there 2 years ago, we drove by it, but my mom didn't think that was it. We didn't remember it having a name, etc. As I said before though, everything out there has changed so much. It does make sense that it is a Catholic one though as my grandmother was raised Catholic and attended St Mary Academy. As a child I remember going out there every year. My great Aunt Hilda Pierson (Dora's daughter) lived on Miller Hill Road. Hilda's adopted son Ted Pierson still lives on Miller Hill Road now. We would go to visit and once a year or so we would all go to the cemetery and take care of it. Us kids would play and the adults would mow the lawns, etc.

I have started looking at your website. It is great. I have worked on my family tree off and on. I will work on it quite a bit and then take a break. I have an older computer and dial up internet, so it is pretty slow. So I get frustrated when I am doing research. I will start working on it again now though and hope to update my computer soon. That should help.

I will write more later, but wanted to write and thank you for the cemetery information.

From:          Mark DiVecchio
To:             Cindy Cole
Subject:       My apoligies in advance
Date:           Mon, 09 Jan 2006 16:14:24 -0800

Cindy,

I am sorry for sending you all of these messages.

I'm just excited that I found you and so much new information. The book - we didn't know that it existed.

I would be interested in any historic photos that you have. Every photo adds some piece to the puzzle. That photo of George and Alice from the book confirmed for us that these two people were in the 1919 wedding photo of Laura's son Cornelius. We could tell that by just looking at their faces.

I have the death certs for George and Alice Miller. I can email those scans to you if you like. I also have Eliza Smith and Laura and Tom Young.

I'd be happy to send you a CD with all this on it as well.

Mark

On 9 Jan 2006 at 21:38, Cindy Cole wrote:

Date:            Mon, 09 Jan 2006 21:38:52 -0800
From:           Cindy Cole
Subject:        Re: Other Descendants of George and Alice Miller

I am not in contact with any other descendants of George and Alice and have not been able to track any down yet.

Dora had two daughters that lived past childhood Ethyl(my grandmother) and Hilda. Hilda had one son by her first husband, but he died fairly young. She adopted two children with her second husband. One of them Tedd still lives on Miller Hill Road. The other one Viola - we have lost contact with. As a child I knew great Uncle Ed and his wife Barbara. I dont believe they had any children, but will verify with my mom. I also remember Great Aunt Alice (Mary Alice). She had one daughter but I dont think her daughter ever had any children.

I dont really know much about the rest of Dora's siblings. Dora died before I was born. My mom remembers some of them as she was growing up. I dont know if they all just lost touch or what happened. It gets harder to research as far as censuses, as 1930 is the newest one we can access. I wish I would have gotten interested in the family history while my grandmother was still alive. She knew so much about the family and all the pictures we have. We have pictures that we dont know who they are. My grandma died 16 years ago though. My grandfather just died a year ago, but he was in his late 90s when I started and his memory was going. He told me little bits of information about his family, but not much. I have been slowly piecing things together about the Joblings and the pictures I have. I just have to be patient and actually work on it more.

Cindy

From:          Mark DiVecchio
To:             Cindy Cole
Subject:      Cooper Mountain Cemeteries

Cindy,

You should be able to find the Cooper Mountain Catholic Cemetery. Here is a web site that lists all the tombstones still there:
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/or/washington/cemeteries/coopmtcc.txt

Here is a website lists all the grave sites in the Evangelical Cemetery:
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/or/washington/cemeteries/coopermt.txt

That list includes Eliza Smith but it says the tombstone is missing. I've asked Sue to look around especially for that plot (or where the stone could have been at one time).

Mark

Date:           Sat, 18 Mar 2006 10:14:13 -0800
From:          Cindy Cole
Subject:       Picture of Millers

Here is a group school picture of Dora Miller and some of her siblings. There are also a couple of Gassners in it. There are Kemmers too who also lived in the area. I already had it scanned in and thought you might enjoy it. I will try to see what others I have you might be interested in. (Mark's note: some others that she sent follow this one.)
Take care, Cindy

Hazeldale School 1898
Mark's note: The Miller children in this photo (Dora, Laura, Mary and Georgia) are first cousins of Bette's father, Charles.
Click on the photo for a high resolution version (500Kb).

From the writing on the photo (Click here for index drawing):

1 Willard Fleck
2 Maud Morton
3 May Halterman
4 Joe Kemmer
5 ??
6 Jake Kemmer
7 Aunt Babe (from Cindy Cole: "Aunt Babe is Justina Gassner and she was Alovis' sister. She was named for her mom and they all called her Babe. It took me awhile to find out her name as my mom just knew her as Aunt Babe." Her mother, Justina, is buried at the Cooper Mountain Catholic Cemetery.
8 Ulie Gassner
9 ??
10 Ann Morton

11 ?? Teacher
12 "Momma" (from Cindy Cole: "My grandmother, Dora Miller")
13 Lillie Curtis
14 Pearl Taylor
15 Laura Miller
16 Orpliea Morton
17 Mary Miller
18 Clem Kemmer
19 Brother of #22
20 Wilkes girl
21 Georgia Miller
22 Sister of #19

Alois (1877-1942) and Dora Miller (1882-1942) Gassner
Both are buried at the Cooper Mountain Catholic Cemetery.

Gassner-Taylor General Store, Reedville, OR

As described in the "The Centennial History of Oregon", Alois and his brother, X.A., were partners in a store. Cindy told me that this Taylor sold his share to X.A. sometime after this photo was taken. X.A is buried at the Cooper Mountain Catholic Cemetery.

Gassner-Taylor delivery wagon.

Not sure who is driving.

Descendent of Thomas Miller

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:04:09 -0600
From: JanaLee Petersen <frozenscouts7

gmail.com>
Subject: George W Miller descendents?

Mark,

I found your webpage yesterday when I was searching for information on Thomas Miller who married Hazel Danford in Oregon. They had a few children, two of whom were Ruth and Margaret.

I am trying to find out who these daughters married. I am pretty sure that Ruth married Dale Rinehart and need to know if Margaret is the Margie Miller who married Elmer Buster Rinehart. Do you have any information on Thomas' children?

Your website is wonderful. There is so much information there and you have been so thorough in your research! It is amazing.

I am not related to Thomas Miller but am helping a friend with his research, he would be a great grandson if I can make the connection.

Thanks for your time,
JanaLee Petersen

Descendent of Georgia Miller

Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:27:03 -0800
From: Jim <jim

meinel.org>
Subject: Miller web site

I ran across your web site of the family of George Washington Miller. I am a direct descendent of one of his daughters, Georgia Anna Miller (b. 7-27-1890, d. 3-29-1945, m. Alfred Rinehart Meinel c. 1908).

If you could put me in touch with someone from that family I would be happy to exchange info.

I was at a dead end in my research at Wesley T. Miller and Minerva Deal (George's parents). I see at the website someone has done a ton of work on that line.

Thank you in advance.

Jim Meinel
GG grandson of G.W. Miller

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