;
Who Was John L. Miller Who Died in Wiconisco in 1918?
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 1, 2019
In researching Civil War veteran John L. Miller, who served in the 173rd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company F, as a Corporal, a Pension Index Card was located at Fold3 (shown above), that indicated that he died at Wiconisco, 31 December 1918.
The Military Index Card, also from Fold3, confirms the service of John L. Miller in that regiment and company. But no other military records are available from that source. Information from regimental sources states that this company was mustered into service on 1 November 1862 and mustered out on 16 August 1863, which as to the muster-out date, matches the date on the Pension Index Card.
Because the regiment was a “drafted militia,” Veterans’ File Card from the Pennsylvania Archives contains no personal information about him.
From records on Ancestry.com, it appears that John L. Miller was the son of Jonathan Miller (1811-1900) and Hannah E. [McAllister] Miller (1815-1892).
Census records provide the following information:
- 1870 – John L. Miller, age 33, a teamster, was living in Tremont, Schuylkill County, with his wife Susan Miller, age 30, and four children: Charlie Miller, age 13, attending school; Priscilla Miller, age 9, attending school; Jonnie Miller, age 6, attending school; and Cassie Miller, age 5, at home.
- 1880 – John L. Miller, age 44, works in coal mine, living in Tremont, with his wife Susan E. Miller, age 37, and five children: John F. Miller, age 16, works in coal mine; Catherine E. Miller, age 13, in school; Elizabeth Miller, age 8; Henry Miller, age 5; and Lyman Miller, age 1.
- 1890 – John Miller, living in Washington Township, Schuylkill County, reported service in Company G of this regiment. However, this is probably not the same as John L. Miller. Note that there was also a John Miller in Company G and in Company B, so this is most likely not the same person as the John L. Miller being researched here. As of this writing, no John L. Miller who served in Company F has been located in the 1890 Veterans’ Census.
- 1900 – John L. Miller, age 64, a stationary engineer, was living in Wiconisco with wife Susan E. Miller, age 62, with two children: Harry A. Miller, age 24, laborer in coal mine; and Lyman T. Miller, age 22, clerk in music store.
- 1910 – John L. Miller, age 74, working odd jobs, was living in Wiconisco, in the household of a Harry Miller, age 37, possibly his son Henry as enumerated in the 1880 census.? Or, possibly a daughter Hattie Miller who married a Miller? Also, he indicated service in the Union Army, a question asked on this census.
John L. Miller‘s death certificate (available from Ancestry.com), confirms his date of death as 31 December 1918, and place of death as Wiconisco Township, Dauphin County. At the time, he was a widower (confirming the 1910 census), and his parent’s names were stated as given in Ancestry.com family trees (as noted above). The cause of death was given as “exhaustion” with contributory “chronic dysentery.” The undertaker was Reiff and Helt of Lykens, and the place of burial was Wiconisco.
In searching Findagrave, a memorial was established for John L. Miller in the Wiconisco‘s Calvary United Methodist Church Cemetery (formerly the Methodist Episcopal Cemetery). However, there was no grave marker photograph provided with the memorial.
In 1911, this cemetery was extensively photographed for this Civil War Research Project and no grave marker was discovered for John L. Miller.
In a search of the Lykens Standard and the Elizabethville Echo for the end of December 1918 and early January 1919, no obituary was located for John L. Miller. Likewise, a search of the available newspapers covering the Tremont area produced no obituary.
The Lykens G.A.R. Monument has a John Miller listed with “Privates” who were “not members of the Heiler Post.” Could this be the John L. Miller researched for this blog post? Probably not. Throughout this research, each time John L. Miller has been referenced in military, census, death, and other records, he has always been named as “John L. Miller.” And, if this is the same person, then why was he listed with the Privates, rather than with the Corporals, the correct rank that he held?
Further research still needs to be done on John L. Miller. Any blog readers who can contribute information are urged to do so by adding comments to this post.
Hello Norman,
John Lyman Miller (1835-1918) was my 3x great-grandfather, his son John F. Miller, my 2x g-grandfather.. I am just about done with my next blog post. After that, I will be digging in to see if I can find any further details for you about my John Miller. Hopefully, we can discover more together. Thanks my friend for posting this.
Brian S. Miller