#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 42: Conflict
CANZADA JANE MILLER
AFTER-WORDS
Canzada Jane Miller left home never to return. Such is the story of the conflict between Canzada Jane and her deeply religious father, John Thornton Miller, a hundred and thirty eight years ago. What happened for anger to run so deep it caused permanent division?
Canzada Jane Miller was born 4 Nov. 1862[1] in Rising Fawn, Dade County, Georgia. The state was a political hotbed, a boiling cauldron of anger as a result of the War Between the States. Dade County residents had wanted to secede, but Georgia was cautious. The Dade County citizens were so impatient that in 1860, they announced their own secession from Georgia and the United States, being the first county in the south to secede. Canzada’s uncle-in-law, Hardy Tatum, rode through the night to deliver that pronouncement to the Georgia Senate (History of Dade County, Georgia, Dade County Historical Society, published 1950).
Canzada’s world was fraught with the tension of an absentee father, John Thornton Miller, who was at war during the time of her birth and absent for the first year of her life. Prior to her birth, he had enlisted as a private in Co. K, 10thRegiment Ga. State Troops on 16 December 1861. He was mustered out in early May 1862. He enlisted in Co. F, 34thRegiment Georgia Infantry on 17 May 1862. A year and a month later, 4 July 1863, he was captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and paroled there on 8 July 1863.[2] The horror of the war left its impact on John Miller and his family. The south was devastated; life would never again be the same.
John Thornton Miller wrote an autobiography in his seventy-fifth year that provides insight into the tremendous loss and tragedy that unfolded and impacted Canzada’s life. I include the first few entries that offer compelling supportive narrative to the challenges the Miller family faced.
An Autobiography of My Life
by John Thornton Miller
 |
April 1st, 1914- The task of writing an autobiographical sketch of my life is requested of me by one of my children - a work had I begun a few years ago would have been much lighter, for then I could see good, and now my eyes are dim and my mind is not so clear, and my memory is so impaired that many incidents I would gladly record will be forgotten. I was born in the great old state of Georgia. The very name is precious to me, and I still love not only the name of the state, but the county of Dade, and the town of Rising Fawn - now quite a town - on the Chattanooga and Wills Valley Railroad. My mother and father recorded the day of my birth as the 14th day of October, 1839; I being the sixth child, with three brothers and two sisters older, and three brothers younger than I. The older brothers married and went away, and the farm work and leadership fell on me. The three younger brothers and myself did most of the farm work. What piles of corn and garners of wheat we made! What fine hogs, meat and lard! To get out on the road, or farm, with a fine yoke of oxen and a good wagon was a fine past time. It was fun to load the team and see them get down to pulling. Sometimes I would walk out on the wagon tongue and get astride Old Buck and get ditched. This was not so funny, but it mixed in occasionally.
April 2nd, 1914- My father's farm of 420 acres lay in a little creek, which I shall call Cove Creek, because it drained what was in the early days of that county called the Lost Cove. Sometimes this stream would get out on our land. It was crooked, and in the crooks the land was very rich. Bill and I called these little crooks 'newks.' My, what corn we made in those newks! This Cove Creek emptied into Lookout Creek - a larger stream, and it in turn emptied into the Tennessee River 20 miles below us and at the mouth of the Lookout Valley about eight miles southwest of Chattanooga, to us a big town then. We did our marketing there. Corn, meal, potatoes, and other farm products were hauled there. We did not grow much cotton then except for home use. We had no gins, and had to pick the seed out of the cotton with our fingers. This we usually did after supper before bedtime. And now, children, you may think this is a romance, but it is a fact as sure as you are born. Then mother carded the cotton and made our summer wear. One pair of red leather shoes - homemade, at that -was our share of shoes a year. These we got about the first week of December. We were proud, and stepped high. On these creeks, we boys would fish, and swim, and kill moccasins. I dream of the creeks, and newks, and swimming holes, and canebrakes now some nights. They all look just like they did sixty years ago - that is, in dreamland. The old foot-logs, the wash place, the mill over on the bank, the big scaly-bark tree just there by the wash place - I shall never see them again only in dreams. Well, children, I have said enough about the creeks and the farm. I could write all day of reminiscences of the days spent up and down the creeks, of hairbreadth escapes, snake scares, strangles, and deep wadings.
But there are some other matters of which I must tell you. There is Old Pleasant Grove Log Meeting House, and the school a mile away. Professor A.R. Morrison is teaching. He was the best teacher I ever had. The house was a big pine-hewed log house with great cracks. We boys who were in arithmetic would sit out of doors to study, throw stones at the birds, talk and laugh and have a good time generally. Well, the preacher preached in this old house and when it was Circuit Preaching Day, we quit work about ten o'clock in the morning and went to meeting. (I wish the people would do that way now.) The preacher would sometimes come home with us, and Bill and I were always glad, for mother always fixed something good to eat when he came. We would likely have chicken, biscuits, ham and gravy, or sausage and such like. Somehow, I learned to love the preacher, and that learning has been a habit of my life. I still love a man of God. There have been many changes since those days in the modes of living and acting, but the Word of God has not changed, and the Word is not lost. If I could I would go back there and walk over the old places so sacred to me, made so by the scenes and experiences of my youth. There are mountains there one of which I would balance against all the mountains of Montgomery County (Arkansas). I desire to stand in the valley of my birth and gaze on those lofty peaks and cliffs!
When I was seventeen years old I began to feel the need of an education, and asked my father for the sum of one hundred dollars, which then would pay my way ten months in an academy at Trenton, Georgia., the county seat. Father said, "All right, John, make a big crop this year, and I will send you next year." We made the crop and when we got it harvested, I asked him for the money. He told me that that was more than he had been able to do for the other boys and so put me off. As a result of my disappointment, I started to Texas. I started from home on the sixth day of October 1858, with my now sainted brother, Joe. As I remember the big comet was in the West. (I wonder - was this Halley's comet? I think it was.) My brother located in Pike County, Arkansas. Then moved to Dallas, in Polk County. He bought the Little John Longacre Farm, now owned by B. F. Thompson. There, Joe's wife died in September of 1859. Later my father and James, my oldest brother, moved to Polk County, and in December of 1860, I went back to my native state. I married, there, Miss Sarah L. Russell, a sweet little Christian girl of seventeen summers, with whom I lived sixteen years, having born to us five children -three boys and two girls. We had passed through the War Between the States, and we moved to Arkansas, settling near Charleston at Hickory Ridge, Sebastian County. There we buried my wife - leaving me almost a wreck. The sadness and loneliness and sorrow of such an ordeal no one knows except those who have experienced it! Having five small children, their mother gone, poor in worldly things, one hundred miles from and of my people, set me in serious straits. I could not leave my children and I could hardly stay with my children. What could I do? It began to be a serious question and rather difficult to solve. I was then thirty-seven years old. Time sped on. Gloom impenetrable settled down about my home.
+++
In the aftermath of the War, the ensuing violent uprootedness, poverty, loss of dreams, came grief unimaginable. John Miller’s beloved Sarah, mother of 13-year-old Canzada and her young siblings died. “Gloom impenetrable settled down about my home.”
In the next sentence, John Miller added, “But the Good Lord always 'tempers the wind of the shorn lamb.' So I was married to Mrs. Joan Lackey, with whom I have lived these thirty- seven years happily. She proved to be indeed a wonderful mother to my motherless children and a congenial companion to myself.”
Canzada Jane, being the oldest child, would have shouldered a great deal of responsibility following the loss of her mother. It is difficult to say how she would welcome a new stepmother that also included a three-year-old stepbrother, Richard Cotton Lackey. The crowded Miller home may have been a perfect teapot to brew a tempest.
The tempest came in the form of John Gragg Ellison born 1854 in Floyd County, Georgia to Jonathan Gragg Ellison (1828-1899) and Nancy Minerva Whitlock (1832-1917). If Canzada had openly announced her plans to marry John Gragg Ellison before the spring of 1880. John Thornton Miller’s objections were to no avail. Canzada left home with John Ellison never to return.
According to Dorothy Ellison Miller, an Ellison historian and a cousin of John G. Ellison, John Miller strongly objected to Canzada’s marriage to John Ellison. He felt John was too old for his daughter. John’s religious zeal or lack of may have been questioned. Further objections may have stemmed from John’s marriage to Julia Robins in 1874; Julia was deceased before 1880; their three-year-old daughter was raised by his parents. Here is where it gets hairy with few extant records to prove the truth or to locate Canzada and John’s whereabouts after leaving Polk County, Arkansas before 1880. It is helpful to review the few available records in a timeline.
Timeline
1860 U.S. Federal Census Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, John G. Ellison, 7, is enumerated in the household of his parents, John and Minerva Ellison.[3]
1870 U.S. Federal Census Arkansas, Cansada (sic) Miller is enumerated in the home of her parents, John T. and Sarah Miller.[4]
15 March 1874, Marriage - Julia D. Robins, to John G. Ellison, Montgomery, Arkansas,.[5] There is not a death or cemetery record to prove a death date.
1880 U. S. Federal Census Polk, Arkansas, Fanny Ellison, 3, is enumerated in the home of her grandparents, Jonathan G., and Nancy Minerva Ellison. Dorothy Miller and various numerous Ancestry.com trees report John G. Ellison’s first wife, Julia, died in 1880, Montgomery County, Arkansas. Julia was the mother of his daughter, Fanny Ellison, who was apparently raised by John’s parents.
1889 – Death, John G. Ellison,. Ellison historian Dorothy Miller reported John G. Ellison was deceased before 1900 based on the family tradition. Ancestry trees offer a death date Nov.1889, Polk County, Arkansas, with no supporting evidence. The excellent Polk County cemetery records do not have John G. Ellison listed, nor is there a death record or cemetery record in Arkansas, Oklahoma or Texas.
1900 - U. S. Federal Census, Detroit, Red River County, Texas,[6]Jane Ellison, b. 4 Nov. 1862 Georgia, widow, farmer, rents; she is enumerated with three children:
Allie Eugene Ellison b. Indian Territory 15 October 1880
Odie Thornton Ellison b. Arkansas, 19 Dec 1882
Alfred Jones Ellison, b. Arkansas Aug 1889
The 1900 census record of Jane Ellison, widow, indicates this is indeed Canzada Jane Miller Ellison, born on 4 November 1862, matching family records from Dorothy Ellison Miller. Odie’s middle name is the same as her father’s middle name. John G. Ellison is apparently deceased by 1900.
1903 – Death of Canzada Jane Miller. Donald Miller, John T. Miller’s grandson (by his second marriage), wrote an unpublished biography[7]of John T Miller. Donald’s research report states Canzada died 18 Sept.1903 in Shreveport, Louisiana. The death location is likely an error because Mrs. Ellison who died on that date was black and born in 1875[8]. Donald Miller may have found the 1903 listing and assumed Mrs. Ellison was Canzada. Online Ancestry trees give the same un-sourced date.
1910 – Canzada’s three children continued to reside in the vicinity of Red River County, Texas. No further information is available for Canzada Jane or John G. Ellison despite an exhaustive search of census, tax, property, or probate or records for Arkansas, Oklahoma or Texas.
Allie Eugene Ellison married Wesley G. Epps; they had 3 children; she died 12 Nov 1966 in Quitman, Wood County, Texas. She reported her birth location as Oklahoma. Alfred Jones Ellison married Virgina “Vergie;” he died.in 1945; his death certificate was signed by his brother, O. T. Ellison. Odie Thornton Ellison married Etta Florence Keeth in 1910.[9] Odie reported his birth location as Oklahoma throughout the remainder of his life. Odie died 19 Sept 1952.
Thanks to Myra Vanderpool Gormley for providing Odie T. Ellison’s death records and obituaries that report his mother’s name as Mattie. Canzada may have changed her name to Mattie Jane Ray at some point.
Death Record Index from microfilm in the Clarksville Library, batch #46007 name as Odie Thornton.
Obituary: Clarksville Times26 Sep 1952 born in OK, married Etta Keeth 28 Dec 1910 in Detroit, died at his home in Detroit,
Obituary: Detroit News Herald25 Sep 1952 from microfilm in the Clarksville Library: Odie T. Ellison, 69, passed away at his home in Detroit last Friday about 5 a.m. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Martin Pike of Clarksville at the First Christian Church at 2:30 p.m., Saturday with burial in the Detroit Cemetery by Clarksville Funeral Home. Mr. Ellison was born in Oklahoma December 19, 1881, and had lived in this vicinity practically all his life and engaged in farming until he retired from active work a few years ago. He was married December 20, 1910, to Miss Etta Keith at Detroit. He was a member of the Christian Church and Masonic Lodge. Besides Mrs. Ellison he is survived by a daughter, Mrs. A.B. Carter, Detroit; a son, Jack Ellison, New Orleans, Louisiana.; 4 .grandchildren: Misses Carolyn and Abby Carter and Jack Carter, Detroit, and Keith Ellison, New Orleans; a sister, Mrs. Wesley Epps, Quitman.
Clarksville Funeral Home Book 4 page 92: child of John Allison and Mattie Ray
to estate, the order given by wife Mrs. Etta Ellison.
Obituary: Bogata News, Friday 26 Sep 1952, from microfilm in the Clarksville Library: Funeral of Odie Thornton Ellison, 69, who died at Detroit Friday, was held Saturday at the Christian Church. Interment was in Detroit Cemetery. Mr. Ellison, a farmer, was a member of the Christian Church and of the Masonic Lodge. He was born in Oklahoma, Dec. 19, 1882, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Ellison. He married Miss Etta Keith at Detroit, Dec. 20, 1910. Surviving besides his wife are two children, Jack Keith Ellison, New Orleans, and Mrs. A. B. Carter, Detroit; four grandchildren and a sister, Mrs. Wesley Epps, Quitman.
Summary
Canzada Jane Miller did indeed leave home, and she did not return. According to extant records, she and John G. Ellison ventured forth to Indian Territory where their first child, Allie Eugene, was born October 1880. It is unclear why Odie and Alfred reported their births as Oklahoma, although Indian Territory was just across the line from Sebastian County, Arkansas. After a sojourn in Sebastian County, Arkansas, the family eventually settled in Detroit, Red River County, Texas, a growing area between 1880 and 1900 due to mines, cotton, and railroads. The obituary records for Odie and Alfred Jones Ellison give their mother’s name as Mattie[10]and Mattie Ray.
Canzada Jane and John Thornton Miller had no further communication after she left home. There can be no doubt she loved and missed her father because she named her firstborn son Odie Thornton. If John T. Miller had communication with Canzada before 1914, he would have at least known she was a widow. If she was deceased, he would have said so. He would not have written 19 May 1914 in the present tense, “The girls have grown up and married.” I take this to mean he believed they were currently married. Dorothy Ellison Miller was elated to have discovered Canzada’s whereabouts in Texas, reporting, "Canzada's descendants were unaware of the conflict causing her to leave home forever." A descendant of Odie's said she told her daughter her bags were packed to go to boarding school when she left. Leaving home forever is a long time.
 |
| Miller Cemetery and Plantation, Date Co. Georgia |
 |
| John T. Miller 1839-1921 |
 |
| Sarah Russell Miller |
The gravestone photos were posted on Ancestry trees.
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde-Beatty, AAPC
The Swedish Colonial Society Genealogist
P.O. Box 598
Hempstead, Texas 77445
[1]Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 4, Red River, Texas; Page: 12; Enumeration District: 0107; FHL microfilm: 1241665
Source Information
Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
[2]Georgia Roster Co. F, 34thRegiment Ga.
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89059402263
[3]Source Citation
Year: 1860; Census Place: Chulio, Floyd, Georgia; Roll: M653_121; Page: 310; Family History Library Film: 803121
Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
[4]Year: 1870; Census Place: Fulton, Polk, Arkansas; Roll: M593_61; Page: 295A; Family History Library Film: 545560
Source Information
Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
[5]Ancestry.com. Arkansas, Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001. Original data: Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp.. Arkansas Marriages, 1851-1900. See the extended description for original data sources listed by county.
[6]Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 4, Red River, Texas; Page: 12; Enumeration District: 0107; FHL microfilm: 1241665
Source Information
Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
[8]Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, USA
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.
[10]Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, USA
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.