... he comes of a historic family that deserves more than a passing mention of this article. He is of Scotch-Irish stock, transplanted from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, whence his parents came to Indiana in 1829.
His grandfather, William Miller, was a soldier under Washington, and while in camp at Valley Forge, that dreary winter of 1777-8, he, on a foraging expedition in the hills of Pennsylvania, found a bee tree and took a mass of the honey to his commander-in-chief, whose words of personal thanks were proudly remembered by him till his dying day.
His mother was Jane Lee, and with just pride a relationship is claimed with that historic family, the Lees of Virginia. His grandmother Lee lived near the Old Red Stone Fort, on Monongahelia river, not far from the junction of the two mountain streams that form the Ohio. She distinctly remembered seeing the British and American troops under General Braddock and Colonel Washington proudly march by her father's cabin, on their way to the terrible disaster known in history as Braddock's defeat. She was then fourteen years of age. She came to Indiana with her daughter, and died at the age of ninety years, at the Miller's homestead in Decatur county. Mr. Miller had three uncles that served in the war of 1812-- Alexander Miller, Joseph Miller and William Lee. A number of old letters and papers that would show much light on the family history were kept in an old trunk in the log cabin on the Montgomery farm, and destroyed by rats as late as in the seventies.
William Lee Miller, the subject of this sketch, was born in Flemming county, Kentucky, October 28, 1827, on a farm about two miles from Flemmingsburg. His parents, William T. Miller and Jane Lee arrived in Decatur county, Indiana, November 1, 1829, and settled four miles northeast of Greensburg, on land now owned by John T. Meek. His father died in 1857, and his mother in 1869. The family consisted of seven children;
- Eliza Miller McWilliams, the mother of Eph McWilliams;
- Rachel Miller Meek, the mother of ex-Sheriff Taylor Meek;
- Martha Miller Rankin;
- Mary Miller Weed;
- William L. Miller;
- John Miller, a prominent young attorney who died at Versailles in 1859, and
- Isabella Miller, who died at the age of twelve. ...
