Ellen Nugent Miller - Epitaphs In Stone

The photographer was Albert Anthony, a traveling photographer. 

On the front is written:

Epitaph - “If she was not what she might have been, hers the sorry, mine the sin” 

The stone that marks her grave reads:

“If she was not what she might have been, hers the sorrow, mine the sin”  

On the reverse is written:

Ellen (Nugent) Miller 

age 16 b. 12 - 5 - 48

d. 2 - 9 - 79

Her full name was Rachel Ellen (Nugent) Miller and she didn't die on Feb. 9th.  That was the day she gave birth to twin boys; one who did die that day.  Ellen died the following day, on Feb. 10, 1879, aged 31 years, 1 month, 2 days.

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Rachel Ellen Nugent was born Dec. 5, 1848 in Steubenville, Ohio, the daughter of John Hutchinson Nugent and Ruth Eckles.

In this photograph she is 16.  Two years later, one week after her 18th birthday, she married Elihu Lovejoy Miller (27) on Dec. 13, 1866.

Elihu Miller, the son of Joseph Baughman Miller and Elizabeth Conrad, was born in Bollinger County, Missouri on July 26, 1839.

During the Civil War he served in Co. K of the 10th Missouri Cavalry and Co. I, 2nd Missouri Cavalry.   His record of battles and marches included much of Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and also Kansas and Arkansas.  He listed his soldier’s pay at $156 per year.

After he returned from the war Elihu married Ellen Nugent and they had 8 children; 6 sons and 2 daughters.

Edwin Howard Miller       b. Nov. 1867            d. July 17, 1877
Wilburn W. Miller             b. Mar. 20, 1869      d. July 17, 1877
Clara Belle Miller             b. Feb. 02, 1871      d. April 6, 1954
Anna Elizabeth Miller       b. Mar. 17, 1873      d. 1904.
Eugene Aldrew Miller       b. Nov. 21, 1874      d. Mar. 29, 1967
Ira Albertus Miller           b. Dec. 15, 1876      d. Sept. 18, 1958
Twin Infant Miller             b. Feb. 09, 1879      d. Feb. 09, 1879
Joseph Hutchinson Miller b. Feb. 09, 1879      d. Sept. 06, 1951

Their first two sons, Eddie (10) and Willie (8) were killed July 17, 1877 in Schumer Springs, Missouri, when the team they were driving with a load of hay became frightened by a hornets nest.

Eddie and Willie were buried together.  Their stone reads …

Eddie and Willie

were killed

July 17, 1877

Aged 

10 and 8 years

Children of E. L. and

Ellen Miller

Together in life, together in death, together in heaven

On Feb. 9, 1879, Ellen gave birth to twin boys.  One of the boys died. Ellen died the following day.

And so it was written in stone …

Ellen

wife of Elihu L. Miller 

died Feb. 10, 1879

aged 31 yrs. 1 mo's. 2 days

If she was not what she might have been, 

hers the sorrow, mine the sin.  

Elihu Miller was left a widower with 5 children, all under the age of 8. The surviving twin, Joseph Hutchinson Miller, was primarily raised by his grandmother and his Aunt Sara.  There is an account of his early life given by his son, Ralph Connor Miller, in the book The Last Wagon.

After Ellen’s death, Elihu married Elizabeth Lee Nations, the widow of George Nations.  Elizabeth had a small daughter, and she and Elihu had four children ...

Quintin Octavius Miller   b. 24 Nov 1882   d. 20 Mar 1972
Flora Ellen Miller            b.  6 Apr 1886    d. 15 Aug 1886
Ruth Viola Miller            b. 17 Dec 1889   d. 14 Mar 1979
Noble Lovejoy Miller      b.  2 Oct 1891    d. 17 Apr 1988

Elihu died Jan. 9, 1914 after being thrown from a wagon.

(unknown) Newspaper Obituary:
Elihu Miller, Dead

He was killed by his team or in other words, was so badly hurt that he died the following morning. Mr. Miller had driven over to Hilderbrand to get some material for repairing his house, and on the way home and near the house he missed his purse. He was standing up in the wagon looking for it and in some way the horses became frightened and ran away, throwing him out with the above stated results. The subject of this sketch was born July 26, 1839, and died Jan. 9, 1914, making him at the time of his death, 74 years, 4 months and 14 days old.

At the breaking out of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Home Guards and afterwards in the State Militia at Cape Girardeau, Mo. He re-enlisted in Company K, 10th Reg. and I, 2. Regiment for three years. He leaves to mourn his death, seven children; 5 boys and 2 girls, 2 brothers, 1 sister and 22 grand.

His life and death, in their beauty, emphasized a great truth, and that truth is, that no one can be truly great unless that greatness is used to advance that which is truly good, wish that all would properly realize and appreciate that truth.

We, the neighbors, with our united hearts of sympathy, offer condolence to the bereaved family and would comfort them with the thought: Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. From henceforth yea saith the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. He rests from his labors, but his work still lives, they follow him and they are good. We laid his body away in the White Water cemetery to await the Judgement morning. A large crowd followed the remains to its last resting place. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. Miller, of Sedgwickville.

Pease to his ashes.
A Friend.

Elihu Lovejoy Miller and his first wife Ellen are buried together at Whitewater Cemetery.

On Elihu’s stone is written:

I have fought a good fight.

I have finished my course.

I have kept the faith.

******

There is nothing to identify this second photograph; no name, no date, no location.  The seller merely said he thought it was a photo of a confederate soldier, the family name was Miller and both of the photographs came from the same estate sale.

I don’t know if this is a photograph of a confederate soldier or if it even dates to the right time period.  The photo is small (2 ½ x 3 ½) and crudely cut.  But they were found together and so they will stay together.


Update: I am leaning more towards the 2nd photograph dating from the time around the Spanish American War (1898).

Sources:
familytreemaker source1
familytreemaker source2
findagrave

Mary Orvis Marbury - Author & Fly Tier

Mrs. Mary Orvis Marbury

Charles Frederick Orvis and Laura Ellen Walker were married on April 25, 1855. Their first child, Mary Ellen Orvis was born March 6, 1856 in Manchester, Vermont; the same year her father opened his tackle shop in a small stone building next to his brother’s hotel, the Equinox House.

Mary had 3 younger brothers; Frederick Charles born April 26,1858, who died when he was just 2 years old; Robert Judson born July 16, 1861 and Albert Charles born Aug. 7, 1863.

Their father, Charles Orvis established his company before the Civil War.  After the war, as the railroad brought more tourists and anglers in to fish the Batten kill, his company prospered and orders for his rods and fishing tackle grew.

As the company grew, one of the challenges he faced was finding an adequate supply of the flies his customers ordered.  Even when he tried other dealers, he found no consistency of pattern and was, he said, “continually disappointed.”

It was a problem that would ultimately be solved by his daughter’s interest in fly tying.

Mary Orvis grew up exploring the Batten kill and meeting many of the great anglers of the day.  When she expressed an interest in learning to tie flies, her father employed one of the best fly tiers in the city, John Haily, to train her.  

Mary became an expert at making flies and in 1876 she began supervising the Orvis fly tying staff.  Her workforce, generally from 5 - 7 girls was small compared to other fly tying operations. These flies helped drive the sales of her father’s invention, the lightweight fly reel.

Mary held great influence over the family business. Her brothers became prominent Manchester citizens but it was Mary who contributed the most to her father’s business.  Anglers often placed orders for flies by name but there was no way they could know that the fly they ordered would be the pattern they thought it would be, and what they received was often different from what they were expecting.  Charles and his daughter recognized the need to standardize fly patterns by name and type.

Charles Orvis surveyed anglers from fly fishing areas across North America, soliciting information on the finest flies and how they were made and used.  Mary undertook the task of compiling the responses and editing the book.  Much of her book, Favorite Flies and Their Histories, consisted of the replies her father received from anglers.

Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892) contained 32 color plates and 290 illustrations of regional patterns. It was an immediate best seller and became the standard reference for identifying flies, dressings and patterns. The acclaim Mary’s book and fly tying brought her surpassed that of any of her contemporaries. She was an expert fly tying artist, a successful author, and a recognized authority in her field, and much has been written about her contribution to fly fishing, but precious little about the woman herself.

The quote below is indicative of what I found describing her personality …

“Her moods were said to be unpredictable; at times she was ill mannered but one acquaintance recalled her as a delightful woman.”

I imagine being a successful woman in the 19th century,  in a business dominated by men, had its challenges.

That Mary’s marriage in 1877 was brief is evidenced by the fact that no one seems to have known her husband’s name.  That being said. I am not convinced that the general assumption that their brief marriage was unhappy is correct.  I think it may have been brief because he died.

There is not one census, from 1860 when Mary is 4 years old, to the one before her death, when Mary is not living in her father’s household.

In the 1880 census, the first after her marriage, Mary Marbury, 24, is found in her father’s household with her 3 year old son John Morton Marbury.  Her marital status is listed as single, which is doubtful.  In all succeeding censuses her marital status is “widowed.”

I wondered just when Mary Marbury became a widow, but the date of her husband’s birth and death, like so much of Mary Marbury’s life, remains a mystery.

Whenever I found mention of Mary‘s husband, he was referred to as John Morton Marbury born 1876. Which is impossible since he could not possibly have been born in 1876 and fathered a child in 1877. As it turns out her husband’s name wasn’t John Morton Marbury.

Yet, I found this particular bit of misinformation going as far back as 1922.

According to the death certificate of Mary’s son, who died as a young man;  his father’s name was William C. Marbury,  born in New York, NY.  Which unfortunately for me, didn’t make him any easier to find.

John M. Marbury, the son,  was born November 20, 1877. Some records show his birthplace as Manchester, VT.; in others it is recorded as Greenwich, NY.

He attended school at Burr and Burton Seminary (VT), St. John’s Military Academy and Norwich University (NY).  After 1895 he was involved in the newspaper business in Machester.  The 1900 census lists his profession as journalist.

His mother, Mary remained an active participant in the family business, assuming more responsibilities as her father grew older. She turned the fly operation over to her sister in law, Mrs. Robert Orvis in 1904, the same year her son died.

John M. Marbury died at age 27 on Sept. 5, 1904.  His cause of death was “uremia.” (kidney failure).

His stone is marked …

"He loved his fellow men"

"Warm, summer sun
Shine Kindly here
Warm, southern wind
Blow softly here
Green sod above
Lie light, lie light
Good night, dear heart,
Good night, good night"

Mary Ellen Orvis Marbury died November 8, 1914 at age 58.  After her death she was compared with the legendary Dame Juliana Berners, another mysterious woman who was thought to have written the first book on angling in 1496.

Mary‘s father, Charles Orvis, famed American tackle maker and author of  Fishing with the Fly (1883) died a few months later on March 24, 1915, at age 84.

A Piece of Fly-Fishing History: A Letter from Charles F. Orvis

Margaret Ella Winslow née Givens - Plymouth, MA

On the reverse is written:

18 years ?

Margaret Ella Winslow 

ne Givens

Photographed by Benj. Whiting 

Nos. 6 and 33 Main St., 

Plymouth, Mass.

******  

Margaret Ella Givens was born in Nobleboro, Maine about Dec. 23, 1844* to Benjamin Hall Givens, a seaman, and his wife Mary Ann (Hussey).

Margaret Ella Givens

On April 13, 1862, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 17 year old, Margaret Ella Givens married Charles Fuller, a 45 year old trader/merchant, 28 years her senior.  It was Margaret’s first marriage and Charles’ second.  Charles Fuller had been married previously to Susan Pope and together they had 3 children:

1. Ada A. born Nov. 30, 1852
2. Charles F. born May 8, 1855
3. Susan A. born Sept. 26, 1857

Susan, the baby, is 8 days old on Oct. 5, 1857, when her mother dies at age 36. I wasn't able to determine if the two older siblings survived childhood. In April, 1858 there is a record of the youngest child dying at age 6 months. Her cause of death is listed as “cachexia,” a wasting syndrome. But the only record of the two older children I find is the record of their birth and one census, then they simply disappear.

When Margaret married Charles Fuller in 1862, the record of their marriage shows both of them fudged a bit on their ages; Margaret added 7 years to hers, making her 24; Charles subtracted 5 from his, making him 40.

On Jan. 22, 1863, 9 months after their marriage, Margaret gives birth to a daughter, Ella Margaret Fuller.  Six weeks later, on March 8, 1863, her husband, Charles Fuller dies at age 46 of typhoid pneumonia.

Margaret has gone from wife to mother to widow in less than a year.

After the death of her husband, Margaret and her infant daughter move into the home of her older sister, Hannah (Givens) McDuffie, and her husband, John McDuffie, who'd been appointed Postmaster of Cambridge by President Lincoln in 1861.

Margaret doesn't appear to have been in any hurry to remarry or to leave her sister’s home.  In 1870, she and 6 year old Ella, still reside in the McDuffie household.

But she does marry again, in 1874 she marries Henry Winslow, a young lawyer.

Henry Hedden Winslow was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, May 5, 1847.  He was the son of Joshua Baker Winslow, a sea captain and Mary Dehart (Bruen), who made their home in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where their son was educated.  Henry Winslow graduated high school May, 1864 at age 17.  One week later he shipped out on board the whaler “James Arnold,” sailing the Atlantic until Nov. 4, 1865.  In 1866 he shipped out again on the same vessel, and sailed around the world on a trip that took over 3 years.  The trip was considered a success, the catch being about 3,000 barrels of sperm oil.

In 1870 Henry Winslow commenced to read law with the firm of Chandler, Thayer and Hudson.  He graduated Harvard Law School in 1872.

Henry H. Winslow

On Feb. 4, 1874 Henry Hedden Winslow married Margaret Ella Fuller in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1876 they moved to Cambridge where their three children were born:

1. Mary H. Winslow born Feb. 11, 1876
2. Edith Baker Winslow (Stearns) born Aug. 10, 1878
3. Henry Joshua Winslow  born June 27, 1880

Margaret Ella (Givens) (Fuller) Winslow lived to be 54 years, 7 months, and 13 days.  She died from a cerebral hemorrhage in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 5, 1899.

Mary H. Winslow
daughter of Margaret and Henry Winslow

Edith Baker Winslow Stearns &
Margaret "Peggy" Winslow Stearns
1907

*I came up with the approximate date of birth for Margaret Ella Givens by taking the date of death, July 5, 1899, and subtracting her age; 54 yrs. 7 mos. and 13 days.

William & Helen LaPoint - Ottumwa, Iowa

In my search for William and Helen La Point, I didn't find much information … but I do have lots of pictures.

William La Point was born March 24, 1860 in Hampton, Rock Island County, Illinois.  His father, Peter La Point was French Canadian; his mother, Emeline Lee was born in Connecticut.

On Dec. 23, 1880 William La Point married Helen Freed, the daughter of Benjamin Olson and Johanna Anderson (North) Freed, in Moline, Rock Island Co., IL.

Helen Freed was born Oct. 6, 1861 in Geneseo, Henry County, Illinois.

In 1887 Mrs. William La Point opened the Paris Millinery Store at 319 E. Main Street in Ottumwa, Iowa.

And had 3 children …

1. Verona Dell La Point (Peters) born Sept. 13, 1890 Ottumwa, Wapello, Iowa
2. Juanita Rene La Point (Burgess) born  Apr. 6, 1893 Ottumwa, Wapello, Iowa
3. Euphrates “Tate” La Point born Sept. 22, 1895 Ottumwa, Wapello, Iowa

These little booklets; Historical Evolution of Woman's Head Wear, were souvenirs for patrons.

This one, published by Mrs. Wm La Point, Ottumwa, Iowa. © 1895 by Rand, McNally and Co., seems to indicate that Mrs. La Point had her shop open until at least 1895.

Helen La Point died Dec. 14, 1940 in Hedrick, Keokuk Co., Iowa at age 79.

William La Point lived to be 92; he died Feb. 27, 1953 in Ottumwa, Wapello Co., Iowa.