"Samuel Miller's father, James M. Miller (other name - James M. McFarland) fought in the American Revolution. The family had the papers from his service into the 1900s when it was lost in a house fire. I have a copy of paperwork from his wife requesting pension money payment, dated from about 1825. He had a distillery in Tippecanoe, Indiana.
"Samuel Miller worked in the family business and married Margretta Scott in 1826. Shortly after his father, James M. Miller, died, the Distillery was sold and the Samuel Miller family moved to Iowa, along the Mississippi river. The money from the sale of the distillery was used to purchase land in the "bottom" along the river. The land was said to have consisted of 13-40's or about 520 acres. This was considered the best and most valuable land because it was fertile and a plow could turn it over. A flour mill was also built. Samuel, in the spring of 1838, went inland into Iowa with a hired hand to get the grindstones he had ordered for the flour mill. On returning with the stones and descending a steep hill, the stones slipped from the wagon and crushed to death Samuel Miller. It was still cold and must have been in the March/April/May, 1838 time frame. The hired hand buried him at the site, since it was a long way to the family home. he hired hand returned to the home where Margretta Miller was and told her the news. The site where he was killed was at present day Clinton, Iowa (it was not there at the time) and in the summer when some people went in search of the grave it could not be found.
(nee Miller)
"There were a lot of children from Cornelius Dunham's first marriage, from Margretta's first marriage and from their marriage. My ancestor, James Scott Miller, acquired about a thousand acres in Woodbury County, Iowa. He got cattle from Cornelius and Margretta (a good quality of cattle) and built a home for his family.
"Stories come down through the family that show that Cornelius accepted the Miller children well enough. An amusing story is told about a trip made by Cornelius Dunham with some of the older children, James Scott, Cornelius "Jr." and others, from western Iowa to the Mississippi river. They traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois, which was established about 1839 by the Mormons. Nauvoo, Illinois, was a center of commerce and the family went there for business.
"The Mormons were a large group at this place and at that time. They were said to have been very busy converting new people to the religion. The way it was told was that they did a "Walk on Water" to help in the conversion. This was done on a muddy backwaters of the Mississippi by putting planks just under the muddy water for the appointed one to walk on. Well the younger boys (Millers and Dunhams), James Scott and Cornelius "Jr." among them, got into the water at night and removed one of the planks. The next day the Mormon appointed to walk on water was said to have had a momentary lapse of faith!
"Another story about the Mormons is told. This story shows me what a great woman Margretta was and the whole family for that matter. The Mormons were burned out of Nauvoo, Illinois, in about 1845/46. Joseph Smith was killed and many Mormons crossed the ice in that winter and moved west. Several thousand Mormons moved west in February 1846. Some of these Mormons made it to western Iowa and there stopped for the winter. Several of these families stayed at the Dunham place and were taken care of by Margretta. In the spring the Mormon families moved on to Utah. One of the families that stayed at the Dunham place had a small and very sickly baby girl. The baby was not expected to live and since the family had little choice they left the baby with Margretta and went to Utah. The baby lived and at about age 15/16 went to Utah to reunite with the family. She stayed but a few months and returned to the Dunhams, saying she could not be a Mormon. Accepted back she eventually married and settled in the Dunlap, Iowa area." [This may be the story of Emma Lane, but there is no way to be sure. - Ed.]
