Jacob & Anna Maria Miller of Red Lion, PA (submitted)
York County’s Civil War People: Jacob and Anna Maria Miller
I have long been fascinated by the human side of the Civil War. In particular, I enjoy reading, researching, and writing human interest stories from the soldiers as well as the civilians they left behind on the home front. These citizens tried, as best as they could, to live normal lives despite the newspaper reports of the ongoing war and the occasional uncertainty for many in the South and along the southern borders of several Northern states if the war was coming to their doorstop. Ordinary people here in York County, Pennsylvania, went about their jobs, whether in factories and businesses or on the farm. Babies were born, marriages performed, and funerals preached. Life went on.
The civilians here in York County included Jacob and Anna Maria (Anstine) Miller of Red Lion. Cannonball reader Tom Brenner sent me an email with some information on his ancestors, as well as a link to his interesting website on his family history. The Millers, married in September of 1841, worked a farm that Jacob purchased from his parents. They raised seven children who were educated at a school that Windsor Township erected on the Miller homestead.
When the Civil War erupted in April 1861, the Millers still had four children who were under 10 years old. After Anna Maria passed away on July 3, 1862, Jacob continued on as a single parent, likely helped with the older kids. To read more of their family history, see Tom’s website linked above.
Feel free to send me photos of your Civil War ancestors who lived here in York County and their stories.
The blog post looks good Scott, thanks for sharing. One thing I forgot to mention and don’t have on my website is that I believe the bible that Anna Marie is holding in the picture might be the same bible still in family possession (and what I have a couple pictures of on my website).
The bible in family possession looks like the bible in the photo and was printed in 1841 and lists the births of all the children and the deaths of 3 of their children in childhood.
Jacob was too old to have been drafted in the Civil War and his oldest son was too young, but something tells me based upon the fact Jacob’s wife was deceased and their financial resources would have allowed them to either hire someone to take their place or pay the $300 to get out of serving, even though Jacob was a staunch Republican and therefore I presume a supporter of Lincoln.
I’ve seen you post that southern and western York County voted heavily against Lincoln, how did Windsor Twp vote in 1860 and 1864?
Hello Tom!
In 1860, Windsor Township residents cast 141 votes for Lincoln; 132 for the Democratic “Reading Ticket” (a fusion ticket of VP John C. Breckinridge and Sen. Stephen A. Douglas); 18 votes for Senator Douglas; and 4 for Constitutional Union Party candidate Sen. John Bell of Tennessee.
In 1864, Windsor Township, sick of the war, voted overwhelmingly for the Peace Democrat, Major General George B. McClellan. The tally in the township was 226 votes for McClellan and only 147 for Lincoln. You can also see by the total vote how the township was growing in population.