After I wrote my first story, my mom (Charlotte Jamison) asked if I had found out anything about the Miller side of the family. I really hadn’t, other than a family picture I posted last summer. But I knew I had to do more research and put it together as another story. And so I have.
Do not be overwhelmed by the size of the documents (just over 300 pages - You will be overwhelmed if you try to print it all). I took a different approach with this story. Rather than cutting snippets of supporting documents like census forms into the story, I just wrote the story - all text. The supporting materials are what makes up most of the other files. You can explore these materials if you wish to. These are the documents I used to pull together this narrative.
The story itself, File 12 is 20 pages. File 12A. includes a simple family tree of the people involved in this story. It is a good reference when trying to keep straight who’s who. Also included are some historical maps that compliment the story and finally a photo gallery of family members - you will want to see this.
File 12B. contains census data and other supporting documents. At the beginning is a table summarizing the census data followed by each individual census tabulation sheet. I think these are interesting - note how names are spelled, how hard they are to read, interesting questions asked in different years. You really may struggle to read these. I put red lines next to where family members are listed to help. After the census information are copies of other documents I used to prepare the story. These include birth and death certificates, a Land grant patent, handwritten notes and ships logs listing our family immigrants. I really like these documents and think you will also.
File 12C. includes listings from the Des Moines and Sioux City directories showing when family members lived in town, where they lived, who lived with who, what jobs they held. This can be interesting, but there is a lot of material here.
File 12D. is Frank Miller in the news. There are some good stories here, but largely document a scandal that he was intimately involved in. Not good news for Frank. Sorry.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading about the Miller, Smith, Waniata, Gentch side of your family.
Enjoy Your Family History!
More to come…