Contableville’s Annie Miller deCamp, Part One

Writing about Julia Lyon deCamp’s role in the building of the Raquette Lake Railway, I included information from a 1905 obituary for William Scott deCamp.

In addition to naming the children from his marriage to the late Mrs. deCamp, it added that William had married Constable-ville’s Jennie Miller, a daughter of the late Stephen Miller, a few years before.

Two items drew my attention: I and perhaps others did not know William remarried and Jennie was not the second Mrs. deCamp’s name.

It was Annie Miller, the oldest daughter of Stephen Todd Miller.

Following is a brief history of the Miller family and Annie Miller deCamp.

Constableville, named after the Constables of Constable Hall, is a small village within the town of West Turin.

Constable Hall is reputed to be the inspiration to Moore’s “Twas the night before Christmas.”

Stephen Todd Miller’s grandfather, Seth Miller, came to the Constableville settlement from Connecticut in 1797.

Stephen’s father, known as Col. Seth Miller, was born in the family homestead that year, the first male child born in what would later be West Turin.

Col. Seth Miller began a merchant trade around 1816, later partnering with James Duff to run the village’s largest store.

They “dealt in cattle, packed pork, and bought butter and cheese for shipment”.

Col. Miller also established a cheese factory that used the dairy production of neighboring farmers to supplement company cows.

Credit in the 19th century involved selling goods on the promise of farmers’ fall sales of dairy and crop products, and Col. Seth obtained a reputation for successful debt collection.

Duff later left the partnership after many years of service.

Col. Seth Miller married Laura Todd and they had several children, born in this order:

Stephen (1823-1900), Mary Elizabeth (1824-1866), Cornelia (1826-1882), Watts (1828-1904), Emily (1830-1905), Charles A. (1832-1834), Jane (1835-1901), Charles Addison (1837-1897) and Helen (1839-1912).

Of this group, Jane married a career army officer named John Stotsenburg and moved to New Albany, Ind.

Helen married James Young, a reputable doctor in the nation’s Capital.

Charles Addison became a successful broker for Miller & Doubleday in New York.

Watts married Harriet Mann, a descendant of a Bunker Hill company commander, who was a famed children’s story novelist and noted naturalist with the pen name Olive Thorne Miller who at the time of her death in 1918 was the oldest member of the American Ornithologists’ Union.

Her companion naturalist, Florence Merriam Bailey, and a Lyon family relative, wrote an extensive eulogy in the “The Auk” publication.

Around 1862, Col. Seth Miller established his own cheese factory partnering with cheese maker named James H. Smith, who later purchased a Houseville cheese company at a foreclosure.

His first-born son, Stephen, succeeded Duff as partner, left then returned after a brief period in California to rejoin his father’s merchant store which now became Miller & Son.

Col. Seth Miller died in 1867 and Stephen continued as a successful businessman, partnering with a Charles Allen in 1868, who started with Miller & Son in 1864.

The business was now Miller & Allen.

The separate cheese factory became one of the largest in the state and operated for the benefits of the Col. Seth Miller estate heirs.

Stephen, like his dad, was also born at the family homestead on May 23, 1823 and married Hannah Burrell in 1852.

Their children were Harry (1853), Seth (1852), Annie (1857), Jennie (1862), Elizabeth (1866) and Charles Addison (1871-1881).

In an age before airplanes and highways, Stephen’s children, except for Elizabeth who never married, would leave Constableville.

Jennie (“Jennie Miller” in the obituary) married attorney William Hamlin and moved to Des Moines, Iowa.

Harry worked in New York with the Arbuckle Brothers coffee firm and later became a member of the N. Y. Coffee Exchange.

Seth moved to Dallas, Texas, married and worked for the Texas Seed and Floral Company.

Annie Miller attended Houghton Seminary, a private school in Clinton.

With a family heritage of male business managers, Annie Miller in 1890 lived in New York and was superintendent of the training school for nurses of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.

Stephen Miller became a good friend of Lyman R. Lyon, Julia deCamp’s father.

He was named as co-executor by Lyman in his will, but was later determined ineligible for some unknown reason, and the other executor, Ela Merriam, performed these duties with Lyon’s heirs.

Perhaps Stephen became familiar with the Lyon family through business connections or even through politics.

When Constableville incorporated in 1877, Stephen was its first President.

Through the 1890s, Stephen would continue to be the leader of its July 4th ceremonies.

As early as 1873, Stephen had a “shanty” on Fourth Lake and news notes in the Lowville paper would inform readers that he was often in the Fulton Chain with Miss Jennie, Annie or Harry.

Sometimes, these trips would include members of the Merriam family.

In 1897, Stephen stayed at Clearwater Station with his son, Harry.

Stephen’s business interests took a bad turn in a major Constableville fire in 1887.

In addition to losing the Miller & Allen store, his business block including a section used by Philo Wood was destroyed.

Two years later, Miller & Allen loss liabilities were settled mostly by the auctioning of Stephen’s home, cattle, land and wagons.

Fortunately, brother Charles was able to buy the homestead and much of personal property, including Stephen’s share of the Col. Seth estate.

The cheese factory, separate from this sale, was later sold to Michael Heiley in the fall of 1891.

Subsequent judgments to clear these liabilities, many of which included personal loans from Stephen’s brothers, sisters, and his own children, would continue in the decade ahead.

 

 

Charlie Herr’s Annie deCamp story continues next week with Part Two…